Question of the Week: When is humor appropriate and what kind of jokes are OK?

One of my readers emailed me this question after I posted my last blog entitled, “Public Speaking Jokes: Don’t Let The Joke Be On You. “This reader wanted to know if I thought trying to put humor into a speech is a bad thing in speeches.

Here is his question:

“I read your blog on Public Speaking Jokes. I’m a little confused. Are you saying humor in speeches is a bad thing? When is humor appropriate and what kind of jokes are OK?”

 I think it is an excellent question and one that has been asked by more than one professional public speaker.

Self effacing humor can be quite effective. Many executives that I know tell a little story about themselves or their family that illustrates their point. One well known executive in Seattle is famous for his “Maddie Stories.” Every speech he gives a little anecdote that is the latest shared moment of connection with his daughter Maddie to the great delight of his audience. This approach can be quite endearing and allows the people listening  a little glimpse into that executives private life or mind. It allows their audience to relate to them on a human level and this can go a long way toward creating rapport.

And humor doesn’t always have to be in words or in the form of a stand up comedy routine. Some clients choose to put up a picture or a comic on their Power Point slides and that can be quite effective too. One of my highly regarded cancer doctors at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center came to me with a challenge she did not know how to solve. She felt that she wanted to get some humor into her speech and yet there didn’t seem to be much funny written or even spoken about colon cancer. So we took a different approach.

Since this physician was well known for her research in her field, I asked her to look in the comics for something related to advancements in medicine. She found a comic. In the comic, there was a drawing of a very old man standing at St Peter’s gate waiting in line to get into heaven. He gets to the front of the line and with this expression of bewilderment and hands raised high, The man exclaims to St Peter. “Hey I would have been here much sooner without the advancements of modern medicine!”

This well regarded physician set the entire tone at the beginning off her speech with a simple picture of a comic. This comic allowed my doctor client to begin her speech talking about all the many advancements that had been made in her field both by her and her team at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center as well as acknowledge others in the audience who were in her field. This demonstrated her well respected style of camaraderie and teamwork. It also let the audience know that this woman’s speech wasn’t going to be the usual long list of rather boring facts and numbers, graphs and charts that were normally expected at these high level medical conferences.

This comic also served another purpose. My client was very nervous about giving a speech, as most competent professionals are.  The moments of laughter at the beginning of her speech gave her a few moments to adjust to being at the podium, take a few deep breaths and take in her audience without feeling rushed. It also helped her to feel connected to her audience and soothed the critical judgmental voices in her head with a moment of shared connection with her audience.

So the use of humor in general is not bad. It is just the way or form in which the humor is delivered that makes the difference. You cannot afford to alienate your audience as a speaker.  Self effacing humor and using a picture or comic to communicate humor are two examples that are much more effective than telling a joke that might be really funny to some people and really offensive to others.

Great question! Thanks!