This week on The Digital Download, we're excited to welcome Jan McInnis, a seasoned comedian, author, and keynote speaker who specializes in the art of integrating humor into business communications. Drawing from her acclaimed book "Finding the Funny Fast: How to Create Quick Humor to Connect With Clients, Coworkers, and Crowds," and her popular keynote "Finding the Funny in Communications," Jan will share her expert insights on using humor as a strategic tool in the workplace.

Join us as we discuss:

* Why use humor in the workplace?

* What are the rules for using humor, especially in business?

* What are some ways for finding humor in the workplace?

* How can I use humor in business if I don’t think of myself as a funny person?

* How can leaders use humor?

From writing for the Tonight Show to empowering top organizations like the Mayo Clinic and the Federal Reserve Banks, Jan currently travels the country showing business leaders how to use humor at work and marketing gurus how to use it in their message. Jan will share tips for finding humor easily, the many benefits of humor in business, and a few rules for using humor appropriately.

This promises to be a fun and engaging episode in which you can ask questions of someone who has made her living out of being funny. Humor is another tool in your toolbox that ANYONE can use, yet so many times we're afraid to use it. Let Jan show you how!

We strive to make The Digital Download an interactive experience. Bring your questions. Bring your insights. Audience participation is highly encouraged!

This week we were joined by our Special Guest -

• Jan McInnis, a seasoned comedian, author, and keynote speaker who specializes in the art of integrating humor into business communications.

This week's Host was -

• Rob Durant, Founder of Flywheel Results, a proud DLA Ignite partner

Panelists included -

• Tim Hughes, CEO & Co-founder of DLA Ignite, and

• Adam Gray, Co-founder of a DLA Ignite

Transcript of The Digital Download 2024-02-02

Rob Durant [00:00:01]:

Good morning, good afternoon, and good day wherever you may be joining us from.

Rob Durant [00:00:07]:

Welcome to another edition of the digital download, which is the longest running weekly business talk show On LinkedIn Live. Now globally syndicated on the IBGN Radio Network. That's it. Today, we're mastering humor in the workplace. We have a special guest, Jan McGinnis, to help us with the discussion. From writing for the tonight show to empowering top organizations like the Mayo Clinic and the Federal Reserve. Jan currently travels the country showing business leaders how to use humor at work and marketing gurus how to use it in their message. But before we bring Jan on, let's go around the set and introduce everyone.

Rob Durant [00:00:55]:

While we're doing that, why don't you in the audience reach out to a friend, ping them, and have them join us. We strive to make the digital download an interactive experience. Audience participation is highly encouraged. So with that, introductions. Tim.

Tim Hughes [00:01:17]:

Hi, Rob. Hi, everybody. Thank you so much. I'm really looking forward today. As I said before we went live, I've got my laughter pants on. And I said that in a, in a in I meant that in a a US way rather than a UK why. And just to introduce myself, my name's Tim Hughes. I'm the CEO and I'm the cofounder of, DLA Ignite.

Tim Hughes [00:01:41]:

And I'm also famous for writing a book, Social Selling Techniques to Influence Bias and Changemakers.

Rob Durant [00:01:47]:

Excellent. Welcome. Thank you for that. Thank you. Adam.

Adam Gray [00:01:52]:

Hi, everyone. I'm Adam Gray. I'm Tim's business partner. In interesting, we always used to start this Show with a joke, didn't we? And it seems very appropriate that today we're not doing exactly that.

Rob Durant [00:02:07]:

Nobody wants to try and out funny the comedian.

Adam Gray [00:02:10]:

Absolutely right. Absolutely right. So, it's great to be here as it always is.

Rob Durant [00:02:16]:

Excellent. Thank you. Glad to have you. And myself, I'm, Rob Durant. I am the founder of Flywheel Results and a proud DLA Ignite partner. Before I, introduce the guest, I I wanted to speak to one of the comments from the audience already. Mark Callison says, humor at work, Adam Gray, or even the green room.

Adam Gray [00:02:39]:

It's it's actually blue rather than green because there's a blue blind. Abbott. Yes. It does look that way, doesn't it?

Rob Durant [00:02:46]:

That it does. As I said, this week on the digital download, we'll speak with Jan McGinnis, a seasoned comedian, author, and keynote speaker. Jan will share with us her expert insights on using humor as a strategic tool in the workplace. Let's bring her

Jan McInnis [00:03:04]:

on. Hello. Jen. Alright, Jen.

Rob Durant [00:03:07]:

Good morning.

Rob Durant [00:03:08]:

Good morning and welcome.

Jan McInnis [00:03:09]:

Thank you. Thank you for having me.

Rob Durant [00:03:11]:

You bet. Jen, let's start by having you tell us a little bit about yourself and and how you got here.

Jan McInnis [00:03:18]:

How I got oh, it's a long story.

Rob Durant [00:03:20]:

We have an hour.

Jan McInnis [00:03:22]:

Oh, great. Well, Been doing this, gosh, over 20 years. This comedy keynote selling, comedy writing thing. Started As everyone else in a regular day job. You know? When I was a kid, I always wanted to be a comedian. Thought it would be kinda fun. You gotta do something for a living. Right? And Well, I remember going to college and graduating from college, having that nice dinner with your family at night at at the restaurant.

Jan McInnis [00:03:47]:

I'm LinkedIn, now is not the time to my parents I wanna be a comedian. They just spent a bunch of money. So, you know, went into the workforce and just kinda always had that, comedy, Interest. I didn't come from an entertainment family. There was no path to that I knew of. I always thought that, you know, entertainment was for someone else. And, finally just tried it, and I had a lot of starts and stops, but I always did well. I went got into a Jay Leno comedy contest, which was a nationwide search for a comedian to get on the tonight show.

Jan McInnis [00:04:19]:

I didn't, win my local comedy club contest, but I got right written up in the paper, and I'd never been on stage. So, you know, things like that. And finally, I just, took the plunge and and lots of starts and stops and went on at an open mic and, and Got hired from that and decided I'm doing this. And few more years, my day Rob, ended up, leaving it, Going into stand up comedy full time on the road with comedy clubs. And then got into, kind of doing corporate comedies, Which was great because it wasn't as many nights and weekends, and the pay was better, and the flights were better, and there was not driving my car into the Gray, And then got into keynote speaking. So, you know, just sort of a long weird path. I'm doing a I'm doing a career that I didn't even know existed. You know, I didn't know a keynote speaker.

Jan McInnis [00:05:08]:

I didn't know all this convention stuff when I when I started out. So Fantastic. Here we are.

Rob Durant [00:05:14]:

Wanna jump into it with some questions. But before we do, we have a couple of, comments from the audience. We have Assad Kazmi saying what an uplifting topic to explore.

Adam Gray [00:05:26]:

Oh, no. It isn't.

Jan McInnis [00:05:28]:

There's always 1 heckler in the crowd.

Rob Durant [00:05:31]:

Yeah. That that's why we have Adam. And then we have a Lorena time friend of the show, Adam Andrew Slessor saying good morning, good afternoon all. This is when we Live, and we, allegedly believe that Andrew waves back. Good. And then, Mark shares with us Jensen, someone recently asked me why I left my last job. The answer is that the company relocated and didn't tell me where.

Rob Durant [00:06:00]:

But it Jan,

Rob Durant [00:06:01]:

it might be one of those mornings.

Rob Durant [00:06:04]:

So much for not comedian. Yeah. That's right.

Jan McInnis [00:06:07]:

That's okay.

Tim Hughes [00:06:08]:

So on payroll 9.

Rob Durant [00:06:14]:

Let's start with a foundational question.

Jan McInnis [00:06:18]:

Yeah.

Rob Durant [00:06:19]:

Presuming that we should, why should we use humor in the workplace? Isn't it the business world a very serious business?

Jan McInnis [00:06:27]:

It is. And, first of all, I'm gonna just Let me clarify. When I say humor in the workforce, I'm not talking about bump bump jokes. I'm not talking about, you know, hey. I'll be here all night. That that I mean, that was funny. Abbott selling about, trying to be a comedian and trying to do You know, I do 2 or 3 3 or 4 jokes a minute when I'm on stages and doing my comedy act. That's not what we're talking about.

Jan McInnis [00:06:50]:

We're trying to talk about just using some well placed Hughes. And and again, we're not trying to make it kill her belly laugh funny. You're just trying to kinda get people to relax, laugh, make a connection, with others in the in the workplace. You're not trying to, it it's annoying. Isn't it annoying when someone like, I have comedian friends, hope they're not on this, That that that are always on, and it's that drives you nuts. You can't have a a regular Jordan conversation with someone. But, no, humor at work is just finding the funny things, pointing them out and it great benefits. I mean, makes you approachable, makes it quick connection with people.

Jan McInnis [00:07:27]:

Don't you feel like you can talk with someone who's kind of used a little bit of humor? You kinda, oh, good. They're kinda open. They're kind of, a fun fun person. So it's a nice way to make a quick connection with people. You can diffuse a little tension, get everyone kinda take a breath if you got a stressful, situation or you've got a stressful stat you know, you sit down to a staff meeting and you've just had some big thing go on. Everyone's tense. If you just maybe toss out a little bit of humor or, you know, a little, you know, funny top 3 things we hate about this thing that just happened. Get people to kinda take a breath and change the energy a little bit.

Jan McInnis [00:08:04]:

Lots of great benefits, to using humor at work. And and again, not being the annoying comedian that Raddles off jokes every single time you run into them. People start avoiding you.

Rob Durant [00:08:15]:

You you mean

Adam Gray [00:08:16]:

you mean you mean like Mark.

Jan McInnis [00:08:20]:

Oh, I I don't I'm not gonna hurt any of your,

Rob Durant [00:08:24]:

that's fine.

Jan McInnis [00:08:24]:

Okay. Good.

Tim Hughes [00:08:25]:

He brings tell tell Mark's joke, Rob.

Rob Durant [00:08:29]:

Okay. Sure. Last one, Mark. My doctor asked me to start a sales presentation with a joke. So I shared my paycheck as the, 1st slide.

Rob Durant [00:08:42]:

It's

Rob Durant [00:08:44]:

all in the Live. MD admitting director, not not doctor. Okay.

Jan McInnis [00:08:49]:

So Yeah. Mark is your resident comedian. I'm not sure who that is.

Rob Durant [00:08:52]:

He's not. Yeah.

Rob Durant [00:08:54]:

Cool. So, Jen, you said that, humor in the workplace is not a stand up routine.

Jan McInnis [00:09:00]:

No. No.

Rob Durant [00:09:02]:

So what then are the rules for using humor especially in business?

Jan McInnis [00:09:08]:

Well, a couple of rules in business. First of all, use your common sense. You know, sex, drugs, rock and rolls, probably politics, stay away from. Couple of couple of big ones. And and again, when you're in a comedy club, there's there's no rules. Be funny. That's your that's your rule. You know? But when you're in a work environment Durant you're just trying to point out some humor or start off with something, first of all, don't make fun of anyone of any any group that you are not a member of.

Jan McInnis [00:09:32]:

Meaning, if you're bald, you know, you can Tim, Adam, you can make a little bald, you know. If you're if you're overweight, you can make fun of that. If you've had a divorce, you can make fun of your divorce. Abbott don't make fun of someone else if you don't belong in that sort of group, and you can't it's not something part of you. You know, watch going for the low shots. I mean, you don't wanna be, you know, sometimes they're really easy to make fun of thing, Someone or something, but you don't know you know, you don't wanna hurt people's feelings. A good example, I guess, I did an event one Tim. 44 100 people and they ran out of dinner for 1500 people.

Jan McInnis [00:10:11]:

And it was plated. And it was their employee appreciation banquet. Alright. So the the easy shot would be for me to go on stage and pull the curtain and look behind the curtain and go, hey. I found Tim. But the meeting planner was backstage crying, and this is probably 15 years ago. But she was back there crying because she was you know, had really messed up. And To throw her under the bus and make a mean shot, wasn't wouldn't be nice.

Jan McInnis [00:10:35]:

So, you know, watch the the easy low shots. Watch the Obvious Stuff. You know, I did an event Rob, Live merchants association. And your first thought is, Well, I was Live the only sighted person in the room. You know? So you wanna get on stage and, hey. I'm naked. Don't do that. Okay? Because, they said and they wrote in my contract, We have heard every blind joke.

Jan McInnis [00:10:58]:

You can you cannot make blind jokes. We've heard them all. So, you know, I do don't don't do it. And they had a very good sense of humor, but they They've heard it all. I did a show for Postmasters, you know, and my friends were like, oh, yeah. Going postal. You know? It's back when all those issues are happening. I'm like, no.

Jan McInnis [00:11:13]:

That's That's not funny to them. You know? They not funny to a lot of people, but the postmasters have lived through this stuff to watch kind of the easy Easy shots, that could be hurtful. And I'm not saying you have to be all, politically correct and you can't be, you know, yourself, but just watch being The Easy Shots. I would say one of the big rules too would be just, do what you think is funny too. I mean, aside from that, Pull the humor out. Do so what you truly if you think knock knock jokes are funny, do those. You'll sell those better, and you'll have fun doing it. So Pull the humor on that makes you funny makes you think something's funny.

Jan McInnis [00:11:51]:

Don't be looking around as someone else think this is funny. You know? See what you think is funny.

Rob Durant [00:11:57]:

So I'm not a particularly funny person.

Jan McInnis [00:12:01]:

I hear that a lot. Yep.

Rob Durant [00:12:03]:

How can I use Huberman Business?

Adam Gray [00:12:05]:

You you are, though, Rob.

Rob Durant [00:12:07]:

Honestly Looks aren't everything, Adam.

Jan McInnis [00:12:10]:

There you go. See?

Rob Durant [00:12:11]:

Self coordination. Self depreciating.

Rob Durant [00:12:13]:

Yeah. Okay. Yep. For

Tim Hughes [00:12:14]:

those for those of you listening on the radio, Rob is actually naked.

Rob Durant [00:12:19]:

Oh, good. Yeah. Yeah.

Rob Durant [00:12:21]:

Oh, there we go again. Alright.

Jan McInnis [00:12:22]:

From the but we can only see his shirt, yeah, we don't know.

Rob Durant [00:12:26]:

So this is true. So how can I use humor in business if I don't think of myself as a funny person?

Jan McInnis [00:12:33]:

Okay. Well, first of all, Hughes kind of a muscle. You have to kind of work it. Most comedians aren't many comedians, I wouldn't say most, but many are not naturally funny. I Thought myself was naturally funny where, you know, the Rob Williams and the, I'm not sure what, UK comedians are a bit well, you've got a lot of big big ones over there. But, So stop thinking that you can't do it. Start looking around for the humor. It's sort of a muscle.

Jan McInnis [00:12:58]:

You wanna start practicing committees. We just know where to look because we've been doing it so long. That instantly well, yesterday, I got, it's been pouring rain here in Los Angeles, and I got, my water bill in the mail, and it was soaked. I'm like, oh, that's a little Ironic. You know, I I was at a, casino working a a a corporate event recently, and I walked by a room. Thankfully, it was not my hotel Ross, but the maid was in there cleaning and she was smoking. Okay. Little irony there.

Jan McInnis [00:13:30]:

So comedy a lot of comedy put is finding the irony in situations, pulling out sort of the disconnects, the things that don't make sense. So start looking around. I mean, just we go to the same job every day. We do the same commute. We don't pay Jensen, And there's so many funny things that go right by you without paying attention. So start looking around, first of all, and and start trying to, point them out at least for yourself. You know?

Rob Durant [00:13:54]:

Andres Lester has a question that, I I find insightful. How does self depreciating humor work within the workplace?

Jan McInnis [00:14:04]:

If you well, what what do you mean as far as I think it's a great way to Why would I want to

Rob Durant [00:14:10]:

show my employer and those that I work with, my faults.

Jan McInnis [00:14:17]:

Well, you're not necessarily your faults. I mean, if you're talking about, I don't know. Live, I I do jokes about my big feet. I have a size 12 triple a, which is a very large foot for everyone. Yes. Thank you very much. Making me feel good already. You can joke about some, you know, some things like that that aren't you know, you don't have to go in and say, yeah.

Jan McInnis [00:14:37]:

I really screwed up that report yesterday. We're not gonna get that, you know, that client. You can use it about yourself about I don't think it's Pointing out faults, people know well, they usually don't know if you've got a large foot, but, they know if you're bald or if you're if you're on a diet and you're trying to diet. You know, people can relate to that. And you can have some fun Abbott, I had to eat, you know, carrots today or whatever. Was on the diet that day. So and and it kinda connects people to you. You know? You get that instant connection.

Jan McInnis [00:15:09]:

It's not, you don't have to be mean to yourself and, and put yourself down. You just point out some funny things that have happened to you.

Rob Durant [00:15:19]:

So, what are some ways for finding humor in the workplace?

Jan McInnis [00:15:24]:

Well, pulling out ironies is a great way to Start looking around at what are the disconnects, what are the things that don't make sense. And after a while, they just pop out at you, You know, when you start looking around. Finding, If you want wanna show people you have you know, you can do, I don't know. If you want if you're writing a memo and you wanna just you wanna get people's Jensen, what One part of using humor in workplaces Gray people attention. Alright? You wanna have some fun. You wanna get people to read your email or something. Have a fun Subject Live. You know, say something counterintuitive, you know, that people I don't know.

Jan McInnis [00:16:06]:

Kid. Cats are better than kids or something counterintuitive that makes people go, oh, wow. What's she talking about? And then you kinda look in, it's social like a headline. Have some fun with, that or change around if you wanna, you know, an idiom. Idioms are like, you know, Give me an example of an idiom Live, a penny saved is a penny earned. You know? A penny saved is a penny earned and and change that around a little bit to make it funnier. Penny saved is a penny earned. So unless it's on your I'm not I'm not doing a very good job at the last the I'm gonna put a quick idiom.

Jan McInnis [00:16:44]:

But change an idiot, you can do some fast things. People recognize idioms. Oh, that's funny. I changed it around to to work with you, and using a little bit of humor and,

Adam Gray [00:16:55]:

this. So we've got some really interesting comments, a conversation going on between, Mark and Andrew in the audience where Mark has said, depending on your role in an organization, you really need to consider how the audience interprets what and how you say things. Get humor wrong, and you can lose credibility with some employees. And then Andrew says, for me, it shows that you're willing to make yourself the butt of the joke, which I guess makes you more approachable and more friendly.

Jan McInnis [00:17:21]:

Human. Yeah.

Adam Gray [00:17:23]:

Yeah. And and then, Andrew says, it it's about knowing your audience, which I I I guess it is, but I I guess to a certain extent, it depends on on your role within the business, doesn't it?

Rob Durant [00:17:37]:

Yeah. If you need

Adam Gray [00:17:39]:

a team of of gung ho salespeople, Lorena, actually, it's a it's a bit of a laugh, and it's a bit fun. And, you know, I'm gonna use an idiom. I'll pick Rob because he's really stupid. Oh, no. That's idiot. You know?

Rob Durant [00:17:52]:

And and See? No. No. I mean, you

Adam Gray [00:17:55]:

you you Tracy the jokes, and it's a bit of fun. But if you're if you're the chief executive of of a large organization with shareholders and investors, particularly if it's having a tough time. Probably, humor is is I don't know.

Rob Durant [00:18:08]:

Absolutely. Still usable.

Jan McInnis [00:18:10]:

Right. No. Your audience, you know, if you're going into a meeting words, and I say, first of all, you're trying to diffuse a little bit of Jensen. If Don't use humor if, if there's a lot of anger. If you're angry about something or the situation is, don't use it because it comes off badly. You're just trying to get people to take a breath and have some fun. If you're the CEO I've had I've joked around with CEOs at companies, they've said to me later, thank you for making me look human to the staff. But but, again, it's not mean humor.

Jan McInnis [00:18:40]:

It's not like, oh, look at him. He's, you know, what weighs 800 pounds and all. You know, you don't do that. You can find a little bit of humor in the day to day stuff. I mean, You're not CEO, you don't have okay. You don't have to do the self deprecating. But you could find a little bit of of humor in, you know, what you ate on your diet today or what you did on the way to work. And it doesn't mean you're making yourself look bad tiered employees.

Jan McInnis [00:19:08]:

Certainly, the type of humor you use is really important. And And, again, if if it's a really, you know, meeting where you feel you can't use humor, don't. Start with smaller, easier meetings and build up. Comedians start with, you know, 3 minutes at an open mic, and then we build to 60:90 minutes because you can't do a lot of humor. So try to just do it editing gradually and in easy spots where you where you think you'll get a little bit of success. And do it Don't do it thinking I'm gonna be I'm gonna be a comedian or I'm gonna add this humor in. Do it, Casually. You know? And don't put a lot of pressure on yourself.

Rob Durant [00:19:47]:

Oh, I hope they laugh when I

Jan McInnis [00:19:48]:

say this. Just point out something funny. Start something funny or, you know, kick off a conversation with something, funny that you noticed on the way to work or whatever And and get into it that Gray.

Rob Durant [00:20:00]:

You know? So are the rules different for leaders when it comes to using humor?

Jan McInnis [00:20:07]:

I would say you I would say you would have to Well, you have to know your audience. I I think, you're not gonna sit stand around the I don't know if they have a water cooler anymore in the Borreson. And, yeah, and joke about some things. But but I I think you can still use Hughes, but you have to, you know, be careful of, Make sure it's sort of either self deprecating or just sort of observational or something not you know, you've got a lot of inside knowledge. You obviously can't do that. So, yeah, maybe a little bit, but not, but the overall rule is you're not trying to be a comedian. You're not trying to, you know, do a standup act in there.

Rob Durant [00:20:56]:

Okay. You mentioned emails. What are the key elements to consider when using humor in professional communications Live emails or presentations?

Jan McInnis [00:21:09]:

Well, I don't know if there's any rules. I would say know your audience. Certainly, make sure it really is obviously you're joking. Live, your because some people can take emails the wrong Gray, but, you know, if you, you know, start out with, I don't know, my dog ate my homework or whatever. People know that's a joke. You start out with something, you know I guess you could put the little LOL emoji after it, but just make sure it's an It's an obvious joke and it's not a or obvious humor. I I keep wanting to not say joke because people are gonna think you're gonna have to write a setup and a punchline and and not in the office. You're just gonna use a little bit of humor.

Jan McInnis [00:21:46]:

But I like the sales idea when you when you Jensen with the sales because I think people A lot of salespeople are missing the idea of using humor to connect with, their clients and potential clients. And, you know, you wanna do business with people that are that are fun, that you wanna hang around the water cooler with and talk with. You wanna do business with them. You wanna, you know, buy from them. You wanna hang out with them. So sale I think sale people are missing the mark. A lot of clients are not using a little more humor in their sales presentations, and there's ways they can do it. There's easy ways.

Jan McInnis [00:22:20]:

If you're a salesperson, You know, you don't have to have joke, joke, joke, but you could do put some humor in your bio. You know? Hey. You know, Steve was a football player After getting tackled by 300 pound guys for a few years, he decided it'd be easier to go into sales. You know, something so have some fun in with the bio, and don't just make it Boring and nobody wants to read or the I look on a lot of pages with companies are about about our company. And certainly, you wanna be serious, but you could have some fun facts. You don't have to have all you know, we were started by John Smith in 18/69. You know? Put in add in some fun facts that that, About the company or about the the the year the company was started or, you know, why the comp have some a fun top list about why was the company Started. You know? There there's places you can add humor that show you have a humor muscle, and, And you don't have to come right out and say, hey.

Jan McInnis [00:23:18]:

I'm funny. Sit down and listen to this joke. The you know, Cartoons. I you see someone with a cartoon, like the little, cartoon on their desk. You oh, they they like humor. You know, that kinda opens the door and, oh, okay. Somebody. There used to be calendars with cartoons and such and, people gives people an idea that you have a sense of humor.

Jan McInnis [00:23:38]:

You know?

Rob Durant [00:23:40]:

So we talked a little bit about email and presentations. I'm hesitant to go there, but what about social media.

Jan McInnis [00:23:51]:

Yeah. Well you're competing with a lot out there everyone thanks or tries to think they're funny. But, you Durant certainly, I find I when I'm using social media and, of course, comedian, but there's funny weird signs. There's funny. I put the water bill thing on my social media yesterday just saying that, you know, I can't believe my water bill is soaking wet. Yeah. So start you can certainly show you have a Hughes must by putting some of that on. Abbott, again, you know, don't be mean about it.

Jan McInnis [00:24:24]:

Don't be you know? People there a lot of people go viral, in social media for embarrassing things. I know someone got really sick on a plane recently and Everyone's making jokes. Don't do don't jump on the bandwagon for those kind of things. Just have some fun with what you see that's funny, what you think is funny. And, and the not for me, I think the nonharmful, you know, jokes that aren't the easy mean are the are the best.

Adam Gray [00:24:53]:

You know And and I guess the making making yourself the the punchline.

Jan McInnis [00:24:59]:

Yeah. A lot of times you could do that, certainly. Yeah. Do Make yourself the punch Live, show. There's so many I mean, just signs. If you really pay attention, people put up some funny signs. The, on over As I drive the country, a lot of the highways, they're just now, deciding to take away some of the signs, but the highway workers used to have a lot of funny signs as you're driving down the highway. I loved it because shows you have a Jensen.

Jan McInnis [00:25:23]:

Hughes makes you wanna read it. Of course, sometimes they're kinda long and you take your eyes off the road a little too Lorena. But But it makes you read it, gets you a chuckle, and it kinda makes you do something. You know? Using humor is a Shorten of a say it without saying it. It kinda makes you moves you in a direction to do something. To so I thought those were good. I'm sorry that they're gonna stop stop taking them down.

Tim Hughes [00:25:45]:

They, There's a, a music venue in, in London called the o two. And, you get to it well, I get to it rather the As what we would call the tube, the underground.

Jan McInnis [00:25:57]:

Uh-huh.

Tim Hughes [00:25:58]:

And as you come out of the underground, there is a a whiteboard. And the the tube staff, what they always do is that if if if, the if the band's on, they write a story using the names of the the the, sermons from the, you know. So, you know, if it was the Eagles, you know, we were at the Hotel California and and

Jan McInnis [00:26:19]:

It is so many creative ways to use humor like that That again, not joke, joke, joke, but there's so many creative ways in in your business, in your personal life, on your marketing That people are missing. You know? You can certainly get the facts over. You can certainly get the information you need over. But how about a little bit of fun add some fun into it. I love going to, I don't know, Wikipedia or different places to find unusual facts about things And add it in to your story. You know? At the that's a great idea with the the songs. Get people to laugh and, oh, yeah. That I remember that.

Jan McInnis [00:26:53]:

And and it makes people stop and read it, gets people kinda excited for the con concert. Great idea.

Adam Gray [00:26:59]:

So so the the reason that I'm using humor is to humanize me and make me more accessible and less intimidating to to people. Is that right?

Jan McInnis [00:27:10]:

Yeah. One reason for sure. I mean, it's a good way, like I said, to diffuse tension. You know, if, if if if you sit down to a staff meeting and you wanna kinda kick off with with something, you know, like a top list of of something really weird just happened. No more free coffee in the break room, something like that, and the top three reasons we hate this. Or, You you can it's a way to acknowledge too something that's on everyone's mind. Social get the big elephant out on the Table. So a way to acknowledge what's on everyone's mind, without going up and saying, hey.

Jan McInnis [00:27:41]:

I know we just did this big policy that everyone hates. You know? But but if you don't talk about it, if you sit down to a staff meeting and everyone hates this new policy and you're not gonna talk about it, People are still thinking, oh my goodness. She doesn't know or he doesn't know what we're going through. They're not gonna address this at all. But with humor, it's a great way to address it quick and move on. You watch comedians on stage. A lot of them will we talk about, addressing what people see first. As a comedian, if you walk on stage and you're really tall or you're really overweight or you have a noticeable disability or you look like a famous comedian.

Jan McInnis [00:28:16]:

You wanna Ross that right away. Otherwise, people are gonna spend the whole time staring at you going, god. He looks like no. He looks like Jerry Seinfeld. Does he know? You know, they're not gonna move on Until you go out and say 1, you don't have to talk at length. I've got a friend of mine, Brett Leek, very funny comedian. He has muscular dystrophy. He has one joke about it.

Jan McInnis [00:28:35]:

He doesn't do his whole act because he goes out, boom, addresses, and moves on. And it's brilliant. And, the same in the office. You know? If you've had something big happen, you can address it real quick William little bit of humor. Switch around an idiom. Add some, top Live. Have pull out the irony in it. Have some fun with it a little bit so the people know, you know, what they're going through.

Rob Durant [00:29:02]:

So how important is that contextual relevance versus can I just tell any old knock knock joke?

Jan McInnis [00:29:11]:

If you like knock knock jokes, You'll be known as the knock knock joke guy. You know, like I said earlier, do the humor that you think Is, funny. You will sell it better. You'll have fun doing it. You'll get some a few people to laugh. And and, again, you're not trying to get everyone to Fall over laughing off their chair. Don't expect that. But you you wanna do more.

Jan McInnis [00:29:34]:

But there's not really 1, you know, aside from the few of the rules we talked about earlier. Not one standard for everyone. What do you like to point out? Would you like to point out the funny thing you saw on the way to work? Do you like to Talk about your dog that, you know, that does funny stuff. I don't know. All sorts of stuff you can point out and And have fun with. Whatever whatever makes you laugh.

Adam Gray [00:29:58]:

Okay. How about the question

Rob Durant [00:29:59]:

from the audience? Assad, Ross says, Jen, could you share a memorable example of how humor has, diffused a challenging situation in the workplace.

Jan McInnis [00:30:13]:

I'll tell you one of my stories. I've got, because I use a you know, I'm brought up in, a lot of events. And what I I do mostly keynotes now, but I was I've done a lot of corporate comedy, and I've been brought up after really Weird stuff. They've read off the list of people in the organization who died. They've done you know, and then they send you out there, and you gotta be funny. Alright? I did the Jordan Banquet, years ago, and they gave out, I'm not making this up, 292 Service PINs. It was for years of service at the at the health care place. 292.

Jan McInnis [00:30:49]:

People got up, Walked to the stage, got their pin, walked back. We literally sat at the table Ross Tim off. And about midnight or so, they sent me up there. And social can't go right into my act. People don't even wanna be there. The few that the people that stayed. So I kicked off with, you know, Good evening, everyone. You know, I think I got my 5 Ross service pin just sitting here and got everyone Connected instantly with the crowd and the people that were on the fence of staying stayed.

Jan McInnis [00:31:20]:

Right? I didn't do the hour I was gonna do. You know, you'd have to also use your use your brain on that. But I kinda pointed out what was going on in the room, what everyone's on everyone's mind, And kinda diffuse attention and got people to go, okay. She we're gonna listen, you know, for we can stay for a little bit longer. So, yeah, there's there's a lot of ways to kind of diffuse some tension and Kick off a tough conversation. Use a little bit of humor. You know?

Rob Durant [00:31:52]:

Do you have any exercises or or things that you practice regularly to help you, develop quick witted humor.

Jan McInnis [00:32:01]:

I would say, the the looking around your environment a lot. I mean, really pay attention to where you're when you're driving, excuse me. Or when you're going out to the store or to your office, really start looking for the ironies, the disconnects, the things that don't make sense. After a while, they just pop out at you. You know, if you get a a we Hughes using so many acronyms. Have some fun and you try to make up a different words for the acronyms. You know? And and after a while, they just kinda pop out and you can start doing that a little more and have some fun with it. You know, we use so many acronyms.

Jan McInnis [00:32:35]:

Nobody knows what those mean anyway. Okay? So just have some fun with it, and and, after a while, it'll kinda come more naturally.

Tim Hughes [00:32:47]:

Rob said there's a there's a there's Ross great comments if you go down. So there's a, Oh, I can push it push it out, can't I? So Oliver said an idiom, We'll burn that bridge when we get to it.

Jan McInnis [00:33:04]:

Oh, yeah. Oh, okay.

Tim Hughes [00:33:05]:

Isn't that great?

Jan McInnis [00:33:06]:

Yeah. We'll burn that breath. Yes. See? That that's funny. So the e and those are easy things. A good thing with idioms and topless and Things like that. People are they're familiar to people. You know? They think you go in one direction, you go a different direction.

Jan McInnis [00:33:22]:

But they're familiar, so people stop and listen or stop and read it Or whatever. And it's a way to show you've got a humor muscle without saying it. Some people don't wanna say the Hughes. But there's ways to show you you're you're funny, that you have a sense of humor, without actually getting out there and saying it. Like I said, you know, cartoons, on your desk, idioms, topless selling like that.

Tim Hughes [00:33:45]:

And and Assad makes a really good, comment, which is, Can we consider humor synonymous with sarcasm?

Jan McInnis [00:33:52]:

And I

Tim Hughes [00:33:52]:

think it's really Yeah.

Rob Durant [00:33:58]:

Yeah. But you know what? Watch when

Jan McInnis [00:33:59]:

you're doing the sarcasm that you, that is. I like I mean, I LinkedIn like sarcastic Hughes. But don't, do it. There is a bit of delivery when you do sarcasm.

Tim Hughes [00:34:10]:

Rob with sarcasm for, is that it's often seen as bullying.

Jan McInnis [00:34:13]:

Mhmm. It's almost yeah. Yeah. So you You know, you have to be a little careful on,

Rob Durant [00:34:20]:

sarcasm and how you and it really is

Jan McInnis [00:34:22]:

how you say it. I mean, if you say 1 if you Say a joke one way and another comedian says joke another way. People take it 2 different ways. You know? So

Adam Gray [00:34:30]:

Who was it that said sarcasm is the lowest form of wit?

Jan McInnis [00:34:34]:

Oh, really?

Tim Hughes [00:34:35]:

And and then someone said that it was the far highest form of humor.

Jan McInnis [00:34:40]:

Sunny doesn't like humor. Yeah. No. I, I mean, use it all use everything in your toolbox with what you feel comfortable with. Again Hi, the

Tim Hughes [00:34:52]:

Alex guy. We were we were doing a an account review, and he and, he meant to say he was talking to the head honcho because he tended to, selling in, in cliches. But he said that he was talking to the head poncho.

Jan McInnis [00:35:10]:

Funny. Yeah. Changing and and you mentioned I'm joking around leadership. Sometimes they they know when you're in the company I. Not making fun of the the CEOs and leaders, but they know they when they go to a conference, something can be poked a little bit of poke fun at. Right. Because they're the the people, that are sort of in in the, in the spotlight. So, you know, goes without selling, you can have sometimes a little bit of fun.

Jan McInnis [00:35:41]:

I I have done Events Jensen time where they said don't talk to our CEO. But it don't make and it's like, okay. Fine. You know, I always ask, is there some something There are there things in the office that I can have some fun with that people know? Like, I don't know. The computer system goes down all the time or whatever. I also ask, are there people do we know something about like, Joe golfs all the Tim, and he likes to golf. We can have some fun with that. You know, so Some parameters when I'm when I'm trying to figure out what I can what I can joke with.

Tim Hughes [00:36:11]:

So so Mark Harrison says, what what talks I think he's talking about himself. When you were looking for a job in a senior role, he was told, To, by a consultant to actually accentuate his fun side. Mark is the person who's been telling the jokes that we've been selling out. And, he's

Jan McInnis [00:36:32]:

Boyd because, those jokes were no. I'm joking. Alright.

Tim Hughes [00:36:38]:

And, he says his LinkedIn profile states a person centered leader with a huge sense of fun.

Jan McInnis [00:36:45]:

That's nice. Yeah. So sometimes in your bio, outright Gray it that you're that you're fun that may get kinda opens the door for people to come up and and and tell you jokes or come up and and, joke with you. They know they can talk with you.

Tim Hughes [00:36:59]:

And and Ian Bratz says, I was known as a punny person at

Jan McInnis [00:37:03]:

work. Goodbye.

Rob Durant [00:37:05]:

Yeah. He also responded to, your fan He did. Queen Adam an Except

Jan McInnis [00:37:12]:

for puns.

Rob Durant [00:37:14]:

Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit except for puns. Yeah.

Jan McInnis [00:37:18]:

Oh. I

Rob Durant [00:37:19]:

wanted to bring up this question, though. This this one I think is, important to clarify. Cheryl, Velabos?

Jan McInnis [00:37:28]:

I I tried. Lists.

Rob Durant [00:37:29]:

I know. Something. Are

Rob Durant [00:37:31]:

you saying topless? I have

Jan McInnis [00:37:33]:

you know what? I have to Write that one out sometimes.

Rob Durant [00:37:37]:

Yeah. Top

Jan McInnis [00:37:38]:

lists top things Top

Rob Durant [00:37:39]:

list as in top 10 list, top x Live. Yeah.

Rob Durant [00:37:43]:

Yeah. It didn't have to

Jan McInnis [00:37:43]:

be 10. You could be Yeah.

Rob Durant [00:37:45]:

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Top 3, whatever, but Right. Not top list. That's a different show entirely. I am

Jan McInnis [00:37:51]:

not good

Rob Durant [00:37:52]:

for radio.

Tim Hughes [00:37:53]:

And and, Cheryl, that's coming from Facebook. Yeah.

Jan McInnis [00:37:56]:

Cool. Nice. Wow. It's not coming from, I don't know. It was TikTok or something.

Tim Hughes [00:38:02]:

Well, we normally get them in the in most of the most of the traffic we get, champ, comes from LinkedIn. So getting Getting something from Facebook. We got something from x. I think it was the last week or the week after, which we'd never had anything beef from before.

Jan McInnis [00:38:15]:

Nice. Alright. Breaking new ground with our humor. Yeah. So yeah.

Rob Durant [00:38:20]:

And then, Mark Shorten, you also need to consider different international location. Humor or sarcasm in 1 country may be interpreted as bullying in another. Right. That's not just geographically. That that's thinking culturally as well, isn't it?

Jan McInnis [00:38:39]:

Yes. And I I'll tell you. I, early on in my comedy career, I got myself a little bit of, excuse me, a pickle because I did, I I had a nice call with the Gray, and they gave me some Gray it was a company. I won't say what they did, but it was a it was a company you could have a lot of fun with. And They gave me some great information about the company, and it was just it was the the, what they sold was very funny. And, so I went on stage and did a few jokes about it and this is killing. But the CEO who was, not US born was sitting at the table, and the glare coulda killed me. I mean, he he hated me.

Jan McInnis [00:39:23]:

And I did about 3 jokes in, 4 jokes in, and it it was killing. And, I mean, at one point, I stepped so I could get the, the centerpiece in between me and him. And I thought and the jokes weren't mean at all. They were just funny, light, you know, jokes about some of the the product, Abbott, I stopped after a cut and went into my act and, and had a great show after that except for him. He didn't like me at all after that. Later, they said, oh my goodness. We didn't we didn't take into account our CEO, that doesn't think it's funny to have fun about Joke about the company. Even though they were not mean, they was not making fun of the product.

Jan McInnis [00:40:02]:

I was joking around it and just having some fun in general. And, so I learned a lesson on that one. It's not

Rob Durant [00:40:08]:

That's really about reading the room. Right?

Jan McInnis [00:40:12]:

Wells. The room was doing great. Everyone except for the CEO, and sometimes that's the only person you have to make laugh. I've been in rooms where I didn't think I had a good show at all, and I tell the agent afterwards, you know, boy, that was a hard show, and get a call the next day and go, the CEO loved you. And that's the only person I had to make Live me, was the CEO, but I still didn't, you know, think it was a, a great show.

Rob Durant [00:40:37]:

So there's a parallel there with sales and and reading the room and and reading your ideal target audience.

Jan McInnis [00:40:45]:

Right. Don't go in with a you don't wanna go in with a prepared, I'm gonna say these jokes. I'm gonna because you gotta say Toss out a few things. And if it's not as any salesperson knows, if it's not the direction you should go, stop. You know?

Rob Durant [00:40:59]:

What are those cues that you're picking up on?

Jan McInnis [00:41:02]:

Well, this guy was glare. I mean, the

Rob Durant [00:41:05]:

Gray folded, glaring.

Jan McInnis [00:41:07]:

Glaring. Yeah. You know, you can you can tell by people's body language. I mean, if you if people are enjoying it, think it's funny, think you're being silly. Thank you, you know, or think you're you're being a jerk. You know? You can you can tell pretty quick. You know, so pay Jensen. Certainly, situational awareness and what's go and in fact, I've Tim myself in trouble when I'm not paying Well, I'm not paying attention to the whole room.

Jan McInnis [00:41:35]:

I did an event one time and, mostly women. And there was 1 guy in the back of the room, Really cute guy about, maybe early twenties, right out of college. And I started joking with him about dating, and I saw him get really embarrassed so I stopped. And I went on and just ended up the show. And afterwards, the women came up and said, oh my goodness. We're so glad you joked with him. He never joke talks about dating. I felt terrible because I I didn't want he didn't want any attention.

Jan McInnis [00:42:03]:

You're sitting in the back trying to, you know, be be quiet, and I didn't pay attention to his body language. Luckily, I didn't do much on him, but I still thought, okay. That was they might have thought it was funny. I didn't I didn't like that I did so yeah.

Adam Gray [00:42:18]:

I do think there's a there's a big gulf, isn't it, between what is acceptable, Depending on which environment you're in.

Tim Hughes [00:42:28]:

So, you know, you go to

Adam Gray [00:42:29]:

a comedy club. I've been to a comedy club. And if you have to go to the bathroom oh, dear.

Tim Hughes [00:42:36]:

You know? It's all sorts of a whole world of pain. So Live this guy that that you Live to joke with about dating. You know, they see that you're uncomfortable with the fact that you're the center of attention,

Adam Gray [00:42:46]:

and they just love it. And then

Tim Hughes [00:42:48]:

they go for the judgment. You know?

Adam Gray [00:42:52]:

But but, obviously, when it is a more formal business context, it's great to inject a bit of humor. Abbott, so it I

Jan McInnis [00:43:02]:

Don't keep pounding it. Yeah.

Adam Gray [00:43:04]:

Yeah. In in this country, we had we have a a a group called the institute of directors. And, everybody who who runs a company can join the institute of directors. And they have lots of local groups as well as having the big headquarters in London. They have lots of local groups around the country, and some of those social groups are Active. You know, they have, like, monthly breakfast meetings or lunches. And one particular one that I went to when I lived in just outside Jordan. It was, every every month, they had a breakfast.

Adam Gray [00:43:40]:

And every month, they had paid for a speaker to come.

Jan McInnis [00:43:43]:

Mhmm.

Adam Gray [00:43:44]:

These speakers would talk about Business by comparison with sport or whatever. You know? And we there would be a sportsman that would come along and speak, and there would be someone else famous for this. And this 1 guy had been a a company director, and I forget which company it was that he was he he was the chief executive of. But it was like a A global organization. And he took

Tim Hughes [00:44:08]:

Is this Ramnus?

Adam Gray [00:44:10]:

It isn't because he's a brilliant speaker. But the the this guy, it it was it wasn't General Electric, but it was something like General Electric, a British company. And he stood up, And everybody in the audience thought this is gonna be brilliant because he's gonna share some of His experiences of running this, like, uber successful organization and how he transformed it during his tenure as chief executive. And he stood up, and he just told a stream of vacuous online jokes.

Jan McInnis [00:44:57]:

Because Was he trying out his new comedy routine? What

Adam Gray [00:45:00]:

Well, he was. He had decided that he was gonna be he has moved from chief executive where he was earning a 7 figure salary To he he'd always wanted to be a professional speaker, and he thought the way to do that was just to tell jokes.

Jan McInnis [00:45:12]:

Oh. But they

Adam Gray [00:45:12]:

would they would they would just stupid jokes, like the sort of jokes you would tell to your 5 year old nephew and they would laugh.

Jan McInnis [00:45:19]:

You know, it's all about expectations. Okay? Clearly, he missed his expectation. He didn't whoever he talked to, he didn't, let him know what he was or figure out what he was supposed to do there because, God. A lot of different ways to go with this. In comedy clubs, you you mentioned comedy clubs, people are afraid to get up. When people hear comedian at a corporate event, sometimes they're afraid. It's like, No. It's a whole different whole different animal.

Jan McInnis [00:45:43]:

Funny speaker to at a, keen at a convention. Whole different animal. Comedy club, the comedian has to win. We have to be the funniest in the room. We have to make fun. We can do whatever we want. In the corporate world, we have to, sometimes the the CEO you can't always be the winner. Somebody's yelling something at someone's drunk or something yell at you.

Jan McInnis [00:46:03]:

You can't slam them like that. You know? And people a lot of times hear this comedian, they're like, oh, no. It's just gonna be a bunch of Jokes or or funny keynote speaker. Oh, it's just gonna be somebody up there telling jokes, and that is such not, what I do anyway. Kickoff with some humor, but use it and show people how to how to use humor in business. I don't go up there and just joke, joke, joke. But the expectations so many times are, oh Ross. It's a comedian.

Jan McInnis [00:46:30]:

I can't tell you how many times I've had people come up to me after a show and, say, oh, We have to apologize. A woman comedian, we thought it was gonna be awful because they think women are awful or they're dirty or something, and it was just great. That was in comedy clubs, and, I've had people come up after, keynotes ago. Oh my goodness. I usually don't like funny speakers, But you were great. You had a great balance of it. You weren't Live joke, joke, joke. But that guy clearly Durant do his homework or Or the organizer didn't Gray, here's what we want you to talk about.

Jan McInnis [00:47:01]:

I always have a conference call ahead of time saying, what do you need? You know, what do you want?

Adam Gray [00:47:05]:

I think it was more about the fact he was completely devoid of talent. I think that

Rob Durant [00:47:09]:

was the short one. It had

Adam Gray [00:47:11]:

it had it had Live to do with the fact that his his, his material didn't hit the bull's eye. It was more to do with the fact that he was useless.

Jan McInnis [00:47:19]:

Well, you know, also, as I said, comedians start small. We start with 3 minutes at an open mic here in the US because you can't go in at a 60 minutes and and do stand up or or a 60 minute keynote Off the top of your head, you have to start small and work work it up to it.

Adam Gray [00:47:36]:

It felt Live it was a lot longer than 60 minutes.

Jan McInnis [00:47:40]:

Every start, do not and in the office when you're trying to use your humor muscle, do not decide you're gonna roll in there with a 5 minute routine. Find one thing. Start slow. Find one thing that you see find as funny or one funny thing that happened or one funny thing about you, And then Ross in and start with that. Again, the it builds. You get a little Abbott laughter and and all of a sudden, you know, you think, oh, this is kinda fun. And, you know

Tim Hughes [00:48:05]:

There there was a speaker at the at the at the Institute of Directors, conference, called Gerald Ratner. And Gerald Ratner used to own what was the a jeweler's called Ratner's, which had 1500 shops, which is the it that's pretty much in every single high in the UK. Nice.

Jan McInnis [00:48:22]:

And he

Tim Hughes [00:48:22]:

stood up, and, he said and he'd actually been was doing a presentation he'd given many times before, Except, he didn't this particular one of the institute of directors, the press were there. And he stood up and he said, our products are crap. And and and the whole of the and the whole, all of the nobody went to his shops, and it and it just went into Within a week, you it was the

Jan McInnis [00:48:47]:

Why did he say that? Was that

Adam Gray [00:48:50]:

The the the build up was that it was He said about this pair of earrings, didn't he? He said, look at this pair of earrings. We sell these for £10. Do you know how we sell them for £10? Because They're Crap. That's How.

Jan McInnis [00:49:05]:

There's gotta be more backstory on that. Wow. That's

Tim Hughes [00:49:08]:

It's it it Google Gerald Lorena, at the IOD. You Rob find that.

Jan McInnis [00:49:13]:

Okay. So interesting. I know my sister said once in college, she started out with a she started had to do a speech, and she said, she started out selling, my dad told me whenever you Shorten speech, you should start out with a joke. But I never listened to his advice anyway, so not doing that. It was something funny. It was you know? And everyone, oh, yeah. Abbott, boy, cutting down your company. You're, Was he trying to be funny? That's well, that's good.

Rob Durant [00:49:38]:

Mark, you're on fire today. Mark says, I once had a job at a paperless office. Everything was great until I needed to use the bathroom.

Jan McInnis [00:49:48]:

Alright. He's getting better. See see they get better as you as you Hey.

Tim Hughes [00:49:51]:

He's warming up.

Rob Durant [00:49:53]:

He's Martin.

Jan McInnis [00:49:53]:

Yeah. Right?

Tim Hughes [00:49:54]:

So so Mark Mark actually makes a comment. He said, what about ornaments and pictures in the office? I have some in my office that are, funny conversation starters, e g, John Wayne. It helps break the tension with customers and suppliers.

Jan McInnis [00:50:10]:

Exactly.

Tim Hughes [00:50:11]:

And Andrew responds to Mark saying, get off your horse and drink your milk.

Jan McInnis [00:50:20]:

Okay. See? But it does. Yeah. Things will spark humor or let people know you have a, that you're that you're open to humor, that you're funny. You know? You don't always have to be saying it. Put something in your

Rob Durant [00:50:31]:

Is everybody funny?

Adam Gray [00:50:33]:

I I think some people are funny without selling, trying to be funny, aren't they? There was there was a friend of mine that once referred to Jordan someone referred to him as have having a self defecating sense of Hughes,

Tim Hughes [00:50:46]:

It Gray great deal funnier than they thought it was gonna be.

Jan McInnis [00:50:50]:

Yeah. And I don't know if everyone's funny, but, I think people can be funnier than they think they can. I I would say that. And I think a lot of people don't even go there because they think, oh, it's somebody else. You know, I was only told one time I should be a comedian back in back in high school, that I was funny rather than not be a comedian, but then I was funny. Back in high school, they have those, superlatives, like, at the end of the year, like best dressed and most athletic and I'm better than you, all those things they vote people. And my friend Judy said, You say funny stuff, I'm gonna put you down as, funniest. So I got 2 votes, me and Judy.

Jan McInnis [00:51:25]:

But at our high school reunion, years later, she said, oh, you're a comedian. That's just great. Everyone else was like, really? You're a comedian? Like, are you still living at home with mom and dad? Because we've never heard of you. So, you know, Just because no one thinks you're funny doesn't mean you should go out and and try. Why not?

Adam Gray [00:51:47]:

Yeah. Absolutely.

Jan McInnis [00:51:54]:

Tim any other, thoughts on on do you guys

Tim Hughes [00:52:02]:

Lorena questions.

Jan McInnis [00:52:03]:

Yeah. Oh, more questions. Great.

Rob Durant [00:52:06]:

I I didn't see anything else. Did I miss 1?

Jan McInnis [00:52:10]:

Do's and don'ts in the workplace?

Tim Hughes [00:52:11]:

Yeah. What about,

Rob Durant [00:52:13]:

Oh, yeah.

Tim Hughes [00:52:13]:

I'd add to everyone. What what's your Take on the do's and don'ts of the workplace wait.

Jan McInnis [00:52:20]:

As I I kinda gave a few rules, but I would say, yeah, just Don't, only make fun of a member you're a group you're a member of. You know? You can selling deprecating humor. Don't go for the the cheap shots. Don't go for the obvious Things that people have heard a William times. We're a little tired of that. Do the stuff that you think is truly funny. Watch, you know, as I said, sex, drugs, rock and roll, probably politics. Watch hot topics that are divisive.

Jan McInnis [00:52:47]:

You know, don't make fun of someone's effort. Somebody did a lot of effort on something and there's something, on a big party, Gray, and I don't know that one of the decorations looks horrible. You know, if you didn't do the decoration, Don't make fun of that. That person might feel bad. If they're making fun of it, sure, you can have some fun, but, don't go in there and and cut down other people, for workplace humor. You know? We're Yeah. Comedy club. Say what you want.

Rob Durant [00:53:14]:

Sounds good. Jen, this has been great. Thank you. Really. How can people, get in touch with you? How can they learn more about you?

Jan McInnis [00:53:23]:

My website because nobody can spell my last name, McGinnis. So they all point and put a g in it like the beer. So, you can go to LinkedIn. You can certainly, you can, Jan McGinnis, You can screenshot that. Or my website is theworklady.com. I did a lot of work humor.

Rob Durant [00:53:41]:

Enablement. Thank you. If you have something to say, we want to hear from you. Scan the QR code on screen or visit us that digital download dot live and fill in the be our guest application form. On behalf of our panelists, to our guest Jan, to our audience, Mark, Andrew, all that have Shorten comments. Thank you all, and we will see you next time on the Digital Download.

Jan McInnis [00:54:16]:

Thank you.

Tim Hughes [00:54:17]:

Thank you.

Adam Gray [00:54:17]:

Bye, everybody. Thanks, Dan. Bye.

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