Humor is scary. Anytime you use humor, you run the risk that no one will find the humor in your words. Haven't we all had the experience of launching a joke to a room full of dead air? It's humiliating. It's horrifying. But it happens. Rarely does it lead to instant death.
I watched the Emmys last night. I thought Jimmy Fallon did a great job and I enjoyed the humor. But other people didn't like it and didn't think some of the bits were funny. Especially the accountant intros, which I particularly enjoyed. That's the way humor is - it either hits your funny bone or it doesn't.
You can feel yourself at the edge of a precipice every time you prepare to add humor to a presentation or even a conversation. You stop for a second and consider chickening out (and I'm not talking about a rubber chicken). Once you decide to proceed, if the humor works, it is an unbelievable payoff when someone laughs. It's an adrenaline rush. Comics are just laugh addicts.
That laugh is what makes it worth taking a risk. It's like a gambler rolling the dice-- you keep suffering the pains of loss just trying to hit pay dirt once in a while.
It is worth it to an audience when you take the time to add spice to your presentation. So go ahead, take a risk.
You can feel yourself at the edge of a precipice every time you prepare to add humor to a presentation or even a conversation. You stop for a second and consider chickening out (and I'm not talking about a rubber chicken). Once you decide to proceed, if the humor works, it is an unbelievable payoff when someone laughs. It's an adrenaline rush. Comics are just laugh addicts.
That laugh is what makes it worth taking a risk. It's like a gambler rolling the dice-- you keep suffering the pains of loss just trying to hit pay dirt once in a while.
It is worth it to an audience when you take the time to add spice to your presentation. So go ahead, take a risk.
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