The recent passing of Joan Rivers so soon after Robin Williams had me thinking this week about humor. What makes something funny? Why do we tell jokes? When do we tell jokes? There is so much more here than meets the eye.
At work, telling jokes can get you in a lot of trouble. If you think about jokes that stand up comedians tell, you know that they can’t be told to a general audience at work if only because of the amount of profanity used.
Humor is used to entertain, surely, but what else is going on. Is it to get attention? To change the way someone else views an issue? To create an inside and an outside group?
We use humor to poke fun at stereotypes or to reinforce them. Blonde jokes, for example. We use humor to form a bond with the listener, like a golf joke with a golfing buddy. We tell a joke to create a connection across a divide of company hierarchy or culture in order to bind the team together. People frequently tell a joke about themselves to acknowledge their own failings, and to let others know that mistakes will happen, that they should be admitted, fixed and move on.
Many times I have seen jokes told to lower the tension in a difficult moment. Sometimes, we tell a joke to rescue the group from going deep (not always best). Then again, I’ve seen brilliant uses of a joke to make a serious point in a way that communicates the message without putting anyone on the defensive.
This week, think of one good way to use humor at work in honor of two great comedians who brought us so much insight and laughter.
“You know you are getting old when you buy a sheer sexy nightgown and don’t know anyone who can see through it.” — Joan Rivers
“If it’s the Psychic Network why do they need a phone number?” — Robin Williams