For many students learning English as a second/foreign language is an uninteresting, dull experience. Quite often teachers present words, sentence patterns, and grammar rules in a very mechanical manner. As a result, people come to think of the teaching of grammar and vocabulary as a monotonous job. But a resourceful, imaginative and creative teacher can always break this monotony using innovative techniques and authentic materials. The present paper is an attempt to demonstrate how jokes, anecdotes, stories and situations, and journalistic cartoons can be effectively exploited as supplementary materials to enliven the classroom atmosphere, ensure better learner motivation and participation, and make the teaching and learning of English an enjoyable, stimulating, and memorable experience.