We will give you suggestions on what you can put into your speech and examples of what we're talking about. But your speech will tell about your past and friendship with the groom. If you are married and your wife is the maid of honour, you can do a speech together and take turns talking.

Greet the guests and tell them your relationship to the groom, “Good evening ladies and gentlemen, my name is Tony, I'm the best man (give your lapels a little tug or do something else cool). Firstly, I would like to thank all of you for coming here tonight and hope you have a good time. I'd also like to thank Joey and Mary for giving me this honour...."

Talk about the groom. "Joey and I have known each other for...". You can speak of bad habits, the good old days when you went bar hopping, how long you've known each other, things you did when you where kids, what happened leading up to the wedding, how he told you that he was getting engaged, all kinds of stuff. Don't mention previous girlfriends or chicks from the men's bathroom. Tell stories but don't embarrass anyone too much or cause an argument.

Mention the bride. You can tell stories about things you've witnessed between the couple or "nice" things that the groom has said about her to you in confidence. "I can still remember the first time Joey saw Mary. He was so excited, grabbing my shirt, my beer was flying all over the place and then he pointed his finger across the bar and said "Holy shit, look at that". Well I didn't say it was romantic, I just remember it. Mary was the girls for him from the beginning and no one is more happy than me to be standing here today."

In closing be sentimental. Tell the groom how much his friendship means to you and wish the couple luck and raise your glass to them. "Joey, seriously bud, we've known each other a long time. The memories that I have of all the things we did together will be the same stories I tell from my rocking chair to my grandson. I'm proud to call you my friend. I'd like to make a toast to the bride and groom, May you be as happy 50 years from now as you are today, Cheers."

Walk over and hug the groom and kiss the bride. You're done and you did a good job.