1. Humor depends on capturing a moment. Timing is critical. That means that
   • if you have to explain the joke, the moment is lost;
   • if you have dead air/pregnant pauses, the moment is lost;
   • if you forget the line(s), the moment is lost.

2. Humor depends on some sort of shared understanding between the speaker and the audience. That means that unless you're a professional comedian, you have to stay away from
   • epithets/labels/broad generalizations
   • controversial issues -- unless your rhetoric wins the audience over, or you have the audience's agreement in advance
   • "in-jokes," shared between yourself and a small subset of the audience -- the joke becomes invalid if the crowd that shares it isn't present
   • anything else you're not sure about -- even if it's your response, because if you respond to humor at the wrong time or inappropriately, you leave a bad impression with others

   Humor is definitely not for the faint of heart. In engineering large systems, we learn that the more things a system has in it, the more ways it can go wrong. likewise, an audience has lots of things in it that can go wrong. You can make an enemy -- the worst thing to have go wrong. And one enemy can go a long way toward undermining a claim.

3. Humor depends on strong self-confidence. You have to be a bit of a show-off. I think that anyone who has difficulty mastering the basic material to be presented only compounds the problem by trying to master ice-breakers on top of it. Furthermore, a speaker is in a temporary position of authority over an audience. Bad humor, bad timing, and laughing at one's own jokes are just a few of the many ways we can see that authority suspended.

The rules of humor: there are no rules.

• In the English language, the word "funny" has multiple meanings.
• What is funny to the listener depends (of course) on the listener.
• Nobody can really tell you why they laugh when they do. Though I have had students say they laugh
  • when stupid situations are recognized for what they are and treated as such;
  • when funny stories are told with a straight face;
  • when a story with a funny climax, or punch line, is told in such a way that it's funny to listen to on the way to the punch line.
• There's no such thing as a "list of basic jokes," applicable to almost any presenter for almost any occasion.
• "The jester lives at the sufferance of the king." This means that what kind of humor you can get away with is a function of the environment, and you ought to try to check that out in advance. :-)

The effects of humor:

• On the audience
  • sets up a social context for shared response (and hopefully shared warrants)
  • provides "social lubrication"; enables the audience to put even tragedy into the background and move on
• Within individuals
  • sets up other positive emotions; allows them to work while the presentation continues
• On the presenter
  • provides instant feedback
  • enhances self-confidence

How to encourage your sense of humor:

• Be sensitive to environment and circumstances
• Recognize the potential humor value in events, phenomena and people
• Don't be afraid to "embellish" -- draw out the funny aspects and push back the others
• Surround yourself with humor of various kinds
• Ask a lot of "what-if" questions

Potential sources of humor

• The "Seven Deadly Sins" (pride, covetousness, lust, anger, gluttony, envy, and sloth)
• Relationships (e.g. men/women, workers/management, political right/left, parents/children)
• Words (e.g. "bare with me"; Allen's slur interpretations -- SKWOWTNA, AHMOANA, JEET, AHONO, CHLAFNAT)
• Yourself (habits, peeves, events)
• Products & advertising
• News & current events
• Recycling old jokes & routines
• Ad-libbing/stringing "one-liners"

During a presentation in one of my Rhetoric classes, comedian Ronnie Long told my students he couldn't put enough emphasis on "keepin' it real." And most of the students responded to that note willingly! That's OK -- if we recognize that "keepin' it real" means something like "speaking about something you personally think is important, and that motivates you," then almost anyone who knows anything about public speaking would tell you the same thing: that "keepin' it real" is the most important thing you can do to be successful in front of an audience. Long also indicated some critical information for the speaker who wants to be funny without being sure how:

• How we know the audience didn't think something we said was funny.
  • There's a change in the atmosphere. It gets quiet.
  • Brows furrow.
  • Arms cross.
  • People start to whisper or (Heaven help us) mumble.
  If we're alert, we can pick up some of these signs before it gets out of control.
• The best way to deal with a joke that goes flat is to make fun of ourselves for telling it.
• If you don't believe in yourself, the audience won't believe in you. In any kind of public speaking, especially humor, the audience depends on you to be the "expert" on what you're talking about. So that means that after "keepin' it real," the next most important things we can do are
  • know the material
  • believe in ourselves
  This can't be emphasized enough, particularly when the audience is hostile.
• Energy gets people involved. Don't stand behind a table or podium. It won't protect you. Get out there and move around. Get close to the audience. I have seen this myself, and I have nowhere near Long's people skills. Long helped my own students warm up to the idea of getting in front of an audience. Even if we're afraid, if we take charge of the situation we can become stronger. Plus, we will do our best work once we're relaxed, and if we spend some energy it'll relax us.
• Even in serious presentations, or presentations to serious audiences, a little well-placed humor will get the audience on your side. Audiences want to be relaxed too!
• You have to be professional even if the audience isn't. Comedians deal with hecklers; I've dealt with impatient, interrupting know-it-all bosses.
• Each of us have a "rhythm" of our very own. We just have to find it. To ME, that's the hard part. :-)

Final Word

Humor is still dangerous. Use with caution.

Like a madman shooting firebrands or deadly arrows is a man who deceives his neighbor and says, "I was only joking."
-- Proverbs 26: 18, 19

Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.
-- Proverbs 12: 18

References

http://www.eecis.udel.edu/~way/sysadmin.html
http://www.cis.udel.edu/~way/DMRD/index.html
http://cornfed.questgate.net/tech_support/
http://www.iinet.net.au/~bofh/
http://www.unixnerd.demon.co.uk/humour.html
http://www.vdgi.com/bizarro/bizarr13.htm
http://www.csun.edu/~hcmth014/comics.html
http://www.center-net.com/8888/
http://www.bandersnatch.com/eng.htm
http://www.princeton.edu/~pemayer/ScienceJokes.html
http://www.memh.ti.com/flash/engineer.html
http://www.4guysfromrolla.com/
http://www.improbable.com/
http://www.dilbert.com/

Ronnie Long's Web site