Humor Writing for Business or Personal
Want to use humor in business? Then learn how to find and write the humor yourself! Below is my quick – 1:30 – tip on humor writing. This is my fourth tip in cartoon format . . . a little more interesting than me just talking.
Writing humor is not rocket science, BUT using humor is a great way to connect with co-workers, staff, clients, and potential clients.
I offer humor tips in this blog, but also I put together quick videos on how to develop humor (and your humor muscle). Above is the video and below is the video as well as a link to it to my youtube channel where you’ll find similar How To videos.
Hey, also, why not follow me on my social media? I really need some friends! or followers or something!
Have a great holiday. . .
Jan
Click here for my main website
And click here for a great post on using humor in sales and marketing
About Jan
Jan McInnis is a top change management keynote speaker and comedian. She uses short funny stories to emphasize her tips on how businesses can use humor to handle change. Jan is a top conference keynote speaker, comedian, Master of Ceremonies, and comedy writer. She has written for Jay Leno’s The Tonight Show monologues as well as many other people, places, and groups—radio, TV, syndicated cartoon strips, guests on The Jerry Springer Show (her parents are proud). For over 25 years, she’s traveled the country as a keynote speaker and comedian, sharing her unique and practical tips on how to use humor in business (yes, it’s a business skill!). She’s been featured in The Huffington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post for her clean humor, and she’s the author of two books: Finding the Funny Fast – How to Create Quick Humor to Connect with Clients, Coworkers, and Crowds, and Convention Comedian: Stories and Wisdom From Two Decades of Chicken Dinners and Comedy Clubs. She also has a popular podcast titled Comedian Stories: Tales From the Road in Under 5 Minutes. In her former life, she was a marketing executive in Washington, D.C. for national non-profits, and she received the Greater Washington Society of Association Executives “Excellence in Education” Award. Jan’s been featured at thousands of events from the Federal Reserve Banks to the Mayo Clinic.
Humor About NOT Using Your Product
Lots of marketing campaigns use humor toting the benefits of using a product or service, but what developing humor about what happens if people DON’T use your product or service?
This Hilarious ad from Southwest Airlines
(below) promoting their hotel site is a GREAT example of using humor to show people the benefits of your product without making a boring list of benefits.
By asking the question above, Southwest Airlines ✈️ found a common experience – who of us has not slept on an air mattress in an odd room at a relatives house? And then they developed a funny ad!
Marketing experts say we are motivated by “fear, pride, and material gain” . . . I’d like to add humor coupled with fear/pride/material gain is even better. The fear of sleeping around creepy dolls, the lost pride of sleeping on an air mattress, and material gain of getting a good nights sleep are all wrapped up in this ad.
When writing business humor, start asking different questions to find fun ways to connect with your customers! What happens if they don’t use your product
Check out some of my other clips on humor at this link: CLICK HERE
About Jan
Jan McInnis is a keynote speaker, comedian, Master of Ceremonies, and comedy writer. She has written for Jay Leno’s The Tonight Show monologues as well as many other people, places, and groups—radio, TV, syndicated cartoon strips, guests on The Jerry Springer Show (her parents are proud). For over 20 years, she’s traveled the country as a keynote speaker and comedian, sharing her unique and practical tips on how to use humor in business (yes, it’s a business skill!). She’s been featured in The Huffington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post for her clean humor, and she’s the author of two books: Finding the Funny Fast – How to Create Quick Humor to Connect with Clients, Coworkers, and Crowds, and Convention Comedian: Stories and Wisdom From Two Decades of Chicken Dinners and Comedy Clubs.
And here’s to other business comedy writing posts so you can put humor into your sales pitches.
Humor and the Master of Ceremonies
“We have 400 people here and 99 awards to give out. So to 301 of you I’d like to say ‘enjoy the steak dinner!'”
. . . and with that we were off to the races! I recently emceed a gala for a fortune 500 company where I kicked off with 5 minute of jokes on them and their event.
This joke that I started with is a great example of how to use numbers to find the humor. Ask a few questions about the numbers. Questions such as “What do we associate with 99?” or “How many total people are in the room?” “What are the people NOT winning awards gonna do?” After a few questions, you can put 1 + 1 together to realize that 301 people are just there for the open bar and food. Okay they may be there also to support their partner too, but really for the food and drink. THAT is where you find the funny.
Don’t just look at the main attraction . . . the award winners. Look at the non-award winners.
Aside from making numbers funny, this was a great way to acknowledge the people who WEREN’T getting an award, AND it led to another great joke . . .”It’s your own fault we’re giving out 99 awards. If you all had just slacked off for the past 2 years like the rest of us, we’d only be giving out 10 awards and be done in 5 minutes.”
You can announce that you’re giving out 99 awards and hear the groans, or you can have some fun with the number and get people to embrace it!
As a comedy Master of Ceremonies (emcee) I know how to keep the show rolling and come up with the humor, but you can too! Check out some of my other posts on putting humor into your communications: click here. Or hit the “easy button” and check out some of the other Master of Ceremony things I’ve done and hire me! Here’s my comedy emcee website: ComedyEmcee.com
Jan
About Jan:
Jan McInnis is a keynote speaker, comedian, Master of Ceremonies, and comedy writer. She has written for Jay Leno’s The Tonight Show monologues as well as many other people, places, and groups—radio, TV, syndicated cartoon strips, guests on The Jerry Springer Show (her parents are proud). For over 25 years, she’s traveled the country as a keynote speaker and comedian, sharing her unique and practical tips on how to use humor in business (yes, it’s a business skill!). She’s been featured in The Huffington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post for her clean humor, and she’s the author of two books: Finding the Funny Fast – How to Create Quick Humor to Connect with Clients, Coworkers, and Crowds, and Convention Comedian: Stories and Wisdom From Two Decades of Chicken Dinners and Comedy Clubs.
On Being Specific for Writing the Joke
And now for part two of being specific. . .after your research where you’ve now got specific data, you need to actually write a joke that is specific. Take a look at the words you’re using and see if you can get very, very specific. Don’t use a rounded...
On Being Specific When Gathering Joke Material
During a client call last month in which I was interviewing them to gather information so I could customized jokes for their group – I had a hard time getting them to be specific. When I asked about their challenges they gave me stress and mergers. . .it...
10 ways to get your speech started with a joke – part 1
When people hear that I’m on stage for like 60 minutes telling jokes, they’re always amazed at me being up there THAT LONG. Actually the hardest part isn’t being there for 60 minutes (ok, a few shows have been rough!), the hardest part is GETTING STARTED....
Speaking in tongues
I’ve never done comedy in another country (ok, Canada, but they’re so close it doesn’t count), yet I’ve been in front of audiences sprinkled with international people because they come to us. And while of course you can’t appeal to EVERYONE in the group,...
Fun WITH The City
What happens when you’ve got a completely dry subject and you just can’t figure out a way to have fun with it? You have to think bigger. To find the funny when I’m speaking, I start with the group; if there’s not much there, I look at the room, then move...
4 Ways to Use Self-Deprecating Humor
Self-deprecating humor is one of the quickest ways to get the audience on your side. As I’ve said, a lot of comedy is about people feeling superior to the comic, so if people think you have a flaw then they’ll either feel superior OR be able to relate to...
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Joke Set Lists
People tell me that they’re afraid to SAY the joke after they’ve written it because they’re worried that they won’t remember it exactly. I kick off my keynotes with at least a dozen or so jokes on the group, so memory is a BIG issue for me. I’ve got a few...
Recovering with Comedy
Ok, this lesson is on recovering. What do I mean by that? Well today I had a great group of pharmaceutical people, and we had a lot of fun. But it could have turned out differently. . .Part way through my show, I did a joke about WalMart. Guess what? There...
Making a relatable joke in the moment
One of the best ways to connect with an audience is to make a relatable joke right in the moment. But how? Well, the problem most people have is that they don’t pay attention to what’s going on around them right before they speak – they’re too busy going...
Using Ignorance To Make The Joke
savannah GA Here I am yesterday! On the Riverfront of Savannah, GA - 10 second video is above! Ok, so I was just performing my comedy at a conference last night in Savannah, Georgia to a group who is BIG on networking. And while they had several keynote...
1 Huge Reason to Include Funny
Nutrisystem sales are down according to AOL. . . a CEO from Nutrisystem says they wasted 3 million on “cardboard”. . which I thought he was referring to the taste of the food, but it was actually the signs and posters of their spokesperson athletes. So how...
Recovering with Comedy
Ok, this lesson is on recovering. What do I mean by that? Well today I had a great group of pharmaceutical people, and we had a lot of fun. But it could have turned out differently. . .Part way through my show, I did a joke about WalMart. Guess what? There...
Making a relatable joke in the moment
One of the best ways to connect with an audience is to make a relatable joke right in the moment. But how? Well, the problem most people have is that they don’t pay attention to what’s going on around them right before they speak – they’re too busy going...
Using Ignorance To Make The Joke
savannah GA Here I am yesterday! On the Riverfront of Savannah, GA - 10 second video is above! Ok, so I was just performing my comedy at a conference last night in Savannah, Georgia to a group who is BIG on networking. And while they had several keynote...
How To Do A Joke When You Are Afraid To Say A Joke. . .
So if you want to add in a joke, but you’re scared of doing the set-up punch thing right off the bat during your speech because you’re afraid either no one will laugh at the punch line or you’ll mess it up. . . no worries. You can still add some humor by...
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