Originally published in 2017.
I’m reading a book about anti-gravity. It’s impossible to put down.
I’d tell you a chemistry joke, but I know I wouldn’t get a reaction.
When I first joined Toastmasters International, being funny was off my radar—yet it was a skill the curriculum insisted I develop. Why would communication and leadership require a laugh? Because humor is an emotional reaction, and emotion is what connects us.
We have all heard that laughter eases stress. That is reason enough to let some of it into the office. Laughter has been linked to lower stress hormones such as cortisol and to a lift in mood. Popular write-ups (including a widely shared Psychology Today piece by Pamela Gerloff) stack on endorphins, antibodies, and blood flow. The cortisol finding is the one with the cleanest research behind it. The rest is directionally plausible, not a medical guarantee.
Why at work?
Harvard Business Review’s May 2014 piece “Leading with Humor” put it this way: laughter can ease stress and boredom, lift engagement and well-being, and support creativity, collaboration, analytic precision, and productivity. The same essay notes that Gallup-style mood data for the U.S. shows we laugh less on weekdays than on weekends. Work is a sober endeavor.
Who would turn down more engagement, a team that can think together, and a little precision?
So how do you bring more of it in without becoming the captive-audience comic?
- Work at it. Good comics work the room. Joan Rivers kept enormous, categorized joke files—tens of thousands of cards, not a magic gift. Seinfeld is said to spend hours getting one bit right. You do not need a club set. You do need a few practiced stories that fit the people in front of you.
- Stay clever, stay kind. Never reach for the cheap, raunchy, or cruel laugh. If a sharp line slips out and people giggle, that giggle may be nerves, not applause.
- Watch the put-down wearing a smile. “Just having a little fun” at someone else’s expense is still at their expense. Build people up while you play.
- Use humor as a bridge. Laughing at yourself signals that the room is safe. It can take the heat out of a tense moment.
- Don’t overdo the self-roast. A little endears you. A lot starts to sound like you don’t believe you can do the job.
- Be real first. The laugh is secondary. Joan Rivers: “I think anyone who’s perfectly happy isn’t particularly funny.”
- Build fun into the system. You don’t have to be the act. Themed parties, a drawing at a meeting, a goofy award, a stock ticker with a wink (Southwest’s is LUV)—the list is long. Search “fun things companies do” if you need a spark.
Want to lead in a way people feel? Make ’em laugh.
“Life is very tough. If you don’t laugh, it’s tough.” —Joan Rivers