One of the greatest tools in the proverbial junk drawer of the communicator is humour. Most of the messages that I still think about today are the ones that were filled with hilarious stories and sprinkled with jokes. The best had a dramatic quality and memorable punchlines delivered with the most incredible sense of timing. I can’t begin to describe all of the messages i’ve heard that lacked these memorable qualities – because I can’t remember them.
For those of you born without a sense of humour, let me encourage you to borrow one from someone else. As a communicator it’s worth your while to watch comedies and comedians. Take a course in improve, and ask someone to help you with your use of humour. It’ll make your messages more memorable.
Take a minute and watch this interview with one of the great comedians of our time, John Cleese, and then go ahead and “poke someone’s pomposity”.
P.S. IF you find all your jokes this weekend fail, remember what George Carlin said, “If you try to fail, and succeed, which have you done?”
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