PSA: Please note, this article can be reviewed just for the writing, or for the humor, or both. You decide. If you know a good joke, leave it in the comments. I am always looking for new materials.
If careful calculation is correct, this is the third time I have written about humor, the power, the majesty, and the gut-splitting good times humor provides. Oddly enough, I am a big fan of dad jokes, but not a dad. I prefer humor that is funny for the fun, not the shocking or profane, merely a good laugh. Of the funniest songs I have ever heard, Arthur Freed and Nacio Herb Brown take the top billing with the song, “Make ‘em Laugh.” Cole Porter also tickled my funny bone with a similar song, “Be a Clown.” However, since I detest clowns, I cannot like this song very much. Both songs are linked for your listening and watching pleasure. Do you find clowns creepy in the Stephen King kind of creepy?
One of the truths about humor is embedded in the lyrics of Make ‘em laugh:
Cosmo:
Though the world is so full of a number of things,
I know we should all be as happy as
But are we?
No, definitely no, positively no.
Decidedly no. Mm mm.
Short people have long faces and
Long people have short faces.
Big people have little humor
And little people have no humor at all!
And in the words of that immortal buddy
Samuel J. Snodgrass, as he was about to be lead
To the guillotine:
Make ’em laugh
Make ’em laugh
Don’t you know everyone wants to laugh?
(Ha ha!)
My dad said, “Be an actor, my son
But be a comical one
They’ll be standing in lines
For those old honky tonk monkeyshines.”
Now you could study Shakespeare and be quite elite
And you can charm the critics and have nothin’ to eat
Just slip on a banana peel
The world’s at your feet
Make ’em laugh
Make ’em laugh
Make ’em laugh
Make ’em…
Make ’em laugh
Don’t you know everyone wants to laugh
My grandpa said go out and tell ’em a joke
But give it plenty of hoke
Make ’em roar
Make ’em scream
Take a fall
But a wall
Split a seam
You start off by pretending
You’re a dancer with grace
You wiggle ‘till they’re
Giggling all over the place
And then you get a great big custard pie in the face
Make ’em laugh
Make ’em laugh
Make ’em laugh
Make ’em laugh
Make ’em laugh
Don’t you know… all the…wants..?
My dad…
They’ll be standing in lines
For those old honky tonk monkeyshines
Make ’em laugh
Make ’em laugh
Don’t you know everyone wants to laugh?
Ah ha ha ha ha ha há
Ah ha ha ha ha ha
Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha
Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
Make ’em laugh, ah ah!
Make ’em laugh, ah ah!
Make ’em laugh, ah ah!
Make ’em laugh
Make ’em laugh
Make ’em laugh!
“Don’t you know that everyone wants to laugh?” There is much truth in this line, but laughing is a choice. We choose what to laugh at, decide when to laugh, and choose, with the resulting consequences, what is found humorous. The first time I saw the movie “Singing in the Rain,” from whence the song “Make ‘em laugh” originated, I thought this song was ridiculous. Recently I saw the movie again, and this song was hilariously funny and laughed so hard I cried. What changed; certainly wasn’t the movie which was made in 1952; the acting had not changed, the actors are dead; I changed. The first time I saw this movie, I was exhausted after prepping for a holiday meal, I was strung out from too much work, and nothing was funny. This last time, I had changed mentally and physically, which made all the difference.
What is the lie in the song “Make ‘em Laugh?” Simply put, nobody can make you emote if you choose not to, a powerful lesson indeed. I grew up in a big family, and there are seven of us kids; my uncle brought his four and then had a couple more, aunts, uncles, cousins, and more if you took the Salisbury family, those still living could still essentially fill a couple of venues. My older brother was always trying to “make you laugh.” He failed for many reasons; the first was I never thought he was funny.
My older brother could take a joke I laughed at and kill the joke in the retelling. I never met another person so anxious to make people laugh and like him, who failed so completely and miserably. Take the funniest joke you know, put that joke in my older brother’s mouth, and that joke will fall flat, and you will wonder why it was funnier previously. It never ceases to amaze me how this person can kill a joke, especially when he is such a joke himself.
Long have I maintained the following formula:
[(Dark Humor + Intelligent Humor + a Warped sense of Humor) (Shaken not stirred)] = Me laughing hysterically!
I like to laugh. I need to laugh, or the depression and anxiety become too great and I am angry. This last week has been no picnic with the continuing crush from the VA-OIG, add the IRS and several state departments of revenue, and I needed to find humor. Combined with the ongoing dissertation pains and the need for a good chuckle was mandatory! Without further ado, here are things that leave me laughing in the aisles. If repeats are found from previous posts, you have my apologies!
May you choose to enjoy!
© Copyright 2022 – M. Dave Salisbury
The author holds no claims for the art used herein, the pictures were obtained in the public domain, and the intellectual property belongs to those who created the images. Quoted materials remain the property of the original author.
Dale Dauten authored “The Laughing Warriors: How to Enjoy Killing the Status Quo,” who, alongside Robert Fulghum, author of “Everything I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten,” have taught me much about the sword and shield of humor. Humor is a tool; it is the best tool in a leader’s toolbox, and “Dad Jokes,” especially those that are “a parent,” work the best. Interestingly, when killing the status quo, one must first become creatively useful.
Dauten (2003, p. 10-11) went further and added that creative usefulness is also ambitious helpfulness; this motivates people. When your employees creatively use their talents, skills, and abilities, they become helpful to the whole brand, the full organization, and guess what, you never have to talk about employee morale or engagement. How many fewer meetings would executives have per day if they were not discussing just these two items; a lot. Meaning they could be on the floor listening, helping, and enjoying what they created: ambitious helpfulness and people’s growth. Just remember, mediocrity is okay!
Mediocrity is acting in a mediocre manner. Mediocre is nothing special; in fact, mediocre happens. Mediocre is indistinguishable, lacking quality, indifferent. In being indifferent, mediocre becomes deadly. Avoiding mediocre attitudes and mediocrity in actions is not a perplexing problem; embrace mediocrity. Sounds absurd, doesn’t it. The whole world wants us to chase quality, nag people into higher performance, and organize differently into success. Guess what; none of those things will bring happiness to ourselves, success to our organizations, and fulfillment to the employees around us. Our brains will go on full alert in embracing mediocrity because we have been taught that mediocrity is dangerous. Guess what; mediocrity IS dangerous. Why embrace mediocrity; because therein, we find the problem with hierarchies, organizational designs, and strategical goals; we forgot the people! Psychologists and geneticists find that the best way to reach people and get the best out of them is to remind them of their weaknesses.
During my MBA, the current buzzword for improving people was “Management by walk-around,” and this philosophy has been incredibly popular while also being fantastically useless! Why; because getting out and taking a walk helps only the manager, not those managed! Worse, management by walk-around brought out the worst egos from their offices, and employees tuned out, turned off, and fell into mediocrity as a shield of protection from “know-it-all” leaders. Want to change that; embrace a “learn-it-all” mentality. When you walk out your door, ask the first person you see to teach you something. Repeat for as many people as you encounter.
Which would be more preferable, employees who ask questions or know answers? How you answer this determines a lot about you and speaks volumes about what a consultant will find in your operations, employees, and customers. As a consultant (since 2004), the number one expression I have heard consistently across the lower 48-states has been “No Way!,” followed closely by “Impossible!,” and “You are out of your mind!” Why; the first excuse, “That is the way we do things here.” Announcing for the world that processes never change, procedures never flex, and customers never change, so why not just keep doing what we have always done, ad nauseam ad infinitum. When reality bit, all of these organizations saw stars, all lost tremendous amounts of capital, shrank operations, and many went bankrupt!
Looking through encouraging eyes is refusing to do the same thing over and over, expecting no changes ever to result; not looking through encouraging eyes is a short bus to insanity! Looking with encouraging eyes is all about asking, “Why Not?” Repeatedly. Consciously. Then looking at the answers and still stepping into the unknown with confidence. Why not; when faced with a problem, ask your employees for solutions, input, and ideas; this leadership style uses “Appreciative Inquiry” to the fullest extent possible. Why not; shake off the status quo, laugh, and enjoy the human element as a tool for creating great people dedicated to your brand. Why not; ask the impossible, explaining the why, and see how the results occur.
I am asking you to choose to become a laughing warrior, slaying the dragons of status quo one idiosyncratic obstacle at a time. Having fun, growing people, improving business, and being adventurous. Never forget, dehydrated water, in a can and pet rocks, sold like wildfire!
© 2021 M. Dave Salisbury
Camden, Maine, I am wandering through a bookstore and randomly select a book, “Politically Correct Bedtime Stories,” authored by James Finn Gardner. I laughed so hard; people chose to become offended. From 1995 to the present, I have read and re-read these books, and they just get funnier! Yes; I own all of Gardner’s books on being politically correct and read them often for a good chuckle!
Here I am, a person without memory for names, but I can tell you the details of these events like they happened yesterday. Heck, just thinking about that bookstore in Camden, Maine, brings back the smell of the bookstore, the wood fire stove heating the place, and the person who suggested I visit that particular store. Thus, the power of humor and the adventure of a good book.
Helmy and Frerichs (2013) pointed out the first and most significant role of humor “both as a sword and a shield.” The Egyptian Revolution of 2011 was some dark days in the Middle East, but the terror of a revolution was significantly reduced through the use of humor, and “Egyptians laughed themselves into a democracy.” Quoting Orwell (1945), Helmy and Frerichs (2013) related, “Every joke is a tiny revolution,” “humor is at its best when it is upsetting the established order.” “Whatever …. brings down the mighty from their seats, preferably with a bump, is funny!”
Thus, bringing Smith (2009) into the mix of humor and seriousness by understanding the audience’s role in humor. Smith (2009) writes about the Danish Cartoon debacle from January and February 2006, calling this event a grim series of events that proves humor is not a trivial matter. Hello, the audience, for the most part, found the cartoons funny, and the only thing shown by those events in 2006 is that humor is also a choice. Choose to be offended, and you can justify your offense by acting like a rube. It happens daily when people choose offense, and then they start acting like a tantrum-throwing child in the grocery store cereal or candy aisle!
Helmy and Frerichs (2013) explained best why these aspects of humor are important, “humor is both a sword and a shield.” Political cartoons are one of the highest forms of humor, representing both a sword and a shield. I have seen political cartoons cover the entire spectrum of human efforts and find them priceless examples of how to protect (shield) and attack (sword) the cartoons’ subjects. For instance, I saw an “Iraqi SCUD Missile Launcher” political cartoon that has kept me chuckling for years. The camel in that cartoon has the absolute best face. In the US Army, a picture hung above my desk of a loon trying to swallow a frog, captioned, “Never Give Up!” A humorous reminder to me while working in my job at the time.
Watson, Matthews, and Allman (2007) remind us that humor relieves stress, facilitates social bonding, acting as an intrinsic reward, and powerfully activates significant portions of the brain, helping humans navigate complex social environments. Chemicals are released in the brain when we laugh that mellows moods, opens possibilities for problem-solving, and generates goodwill. As a nerd, I find the fMRI imaging used in Watson, et al’s. (2007) research fascinating.
I was behind a person in line; with my sense of humor, the cashier asked, “How are you?” The gentleman said he was “pooping square turds.” I laughed! I still laugh. What a line! But, the cashier’s face was indescribably funny! The gentleman paid for his groceries and left, as the next customer, the cashier, was still off her mojo during our transaction. I was there for her next customer and witnessed the cashier still was off her mojo for that customer. I have no idea what that cashier thought about this transaction, but I found it an incredibly great break from the ordinary.
Laughter is good! Use it, know it, and practice it. The best tool in the world is to make someone else laugh.
References
DNC-Consulting 