This is a blog about humor writing, and so I’ve focused a lot on adding humor to your written and verbal communications. BUT another way to add humor is by writing or telling funny, real-life, stories about your experiences. I’ve been doing that on my Facebook business page – click here

Funny Stories GRAB people’s attention

Which is what you’re trying to do with jokes and humor. See some of the examples on my Facebook page. Here is how one story starts. . .

So I’m standing in my boss’s office many moons ago, getting absolutely reamed out. He had just seen the budget numbers, and we were wayyy over by like $200,000+! He couldn’t understand how I ran my department before he came on board in the last year because I apparently didn’t know anything about budgeting. Blah blah blah. After a few minutes of this tirade, I was able to break in and ask WHAT did I overspend on.

He grabbed the printout, and pointed at a line item, practically shoving the sheet of paper in my face. He said, “look, we are about 200% over budget from last year on this item alone!” I looked for a minute, and then said, “Well, Robert (not his real name). We ARE way over on that item. It’s personnel. We hired YOU!” Que in the moment of complete awkward silence with a few ahs and ahems tossed in. I left without an apology, but his stumbling and stammering around made up for it.

Find the rest of this funny story here, along with many others.

It’s a short funny story, but it’s effective .. . funny with a little seriousness. And then I let people know about my humor keynotes on using humor in business. Stories are a fun way to use humor without having to write a comedy routine.

Where do I find the funny stories?

Well, from my life . . .and you can find them in your life too. Just write down stuff that has or is happening to you . . . keep your phone (pen and paper) handy, for when a funny story pops up; and they will. Also talk with friends and family; they will jog your memory to the crazy stuff that happened as a kid.

What Should I Include?

A picture of course – such as the one of my cat Maizie above. I’ve also included a “call to action” to give some attention to my keynotes. As for writing the actual story thought, make sure to start your story off with some action, such as I did with me standing in front of my boss getting yelled at. And build a little with some details like him shoving the paper in front of me and me wondering what it was that I was over budget on. And of course, make sure the story really happened. When you write jokes, you can make stuff up and exaggerate, but with writing funny stories, the story and pretty much everything in it needs to be real – unless you promote yourself as a fiction writer.

That’s it! Most of us have had funny things happen to us all of our lives. It’s time to share those funny stories with the rest of the world! And speaking of funny, check out my website – www.TheWorkLady.com

And don’t forget about my short humor writing tips on youtube. Here’s a post about those!

Today is TAX DAY! Which is the perfect day to A. Write jokes about taxes and B. write a blog post about writing current events jokes.

Writing jokes based on current events

is a great way to stay relevant and engage with your audience. With the constant flow of news and information in today’s world, there is no shortage of material to work with.

Here’s the Joke.

Here are four quick tips to help you write jokes based on current events:

1. Pick a common “enemy” – Rich or poor, the majority of us HATES paying or (even if you don’t owe anything) doing taxes. It’s an extra headache AND hassle. Which makes it PERFECT for writing the joke.

1. Pair it with something similar. Make an analogy with another thing that many people hate (or like or don’t understand – pick one). In this joke I’ve done it with a form of entertainment, that many people aren’t particularly fond of.

1. Make it personal. Don’t say “we all hate taxes” . . . say that YOU hate taxes. If you say “we,” then there’s always someone who will say – nope, not me. But if you make it persona, people will see themselves in it, and agree with you.

• Exaggerate. Okay, the joke below is NOT true, because in reality, I would rather watch Opera. But it’s funy to THINK that Opera is so bad, I’d rather do my taxes.

Writing jokes based on current events is a GREAT way to stand out from the people who are complaining about current events. So keep your eyes open. There’s a current event on most every day that can use a little humor!

For more ideas on humor writing,

check out my Youtube Page where I have a series of “How to write Humor” videos. Each one is under 1 minute and will give you a quick humor writing tip. Click Here!

And check out my other blog posts by clicking Here!

You may not have $10 million to spend on a funny ad like the Super Bowl Commercials, BUT you can still write humor like a Super Bowl advertiser to make your marketing message stand out.

Here are 5 ways that many of the ads found the humor – and you can do it for your business too.

1. HAVE famous people doing unusual stuff. 

Get your “Ben Affleck” to sell your “donuts.” Who in your industry is famous and what silly thing can they “sell” to bring attention to your business/product /service? Or as in the Uber P-diddy ad, get your CEO to do something out of character – like P-diddy writing a jingle. It’s funny and it grabs people’s attention,

2. HIGHLIGHT a little-known fact in your industry that encourages people to explore further. 

How many of you knew about women’s flag football in the NFL? Seeing flag football star Diana Flores being chased makes me want to watch flag football!! And Tubi’s “Rabbit Hole” ad kinda makes you want to see what shows are on Tubi. Make a list of what people DON’T know about your industry and highlight that.

3. BRING a label or tag line to life. 

Workday, an online management company, had real-life rockstars getting upset because companies are using the word “Rockstars” for their employees. Is there a word or tagline in your industry that is used where it’s not supposed to be used? Illustrate THAT for the humor.

4.  LIST unusual things to do with your product. 

Bud Light had people drinking it while dancing to Muzak hold music. Who doesn’t feel like they need a drink while being on hold? And it goes with their tag line: “Easy to Hold, Easy to Drink.” They associated “hold” with holding a Bud Light and Being on Hold. What words are associated with your product that have other meanings that you can attach?

5. CONNECT your product or service with a popular show. 

T-Mobile connected with Grease and John Travolta and Popcorners, a chip company, associated themselves with Breaking Bad. Check popular, trendy or nostalgia shows that your clients/industry relate to and then make a connection with your product or service.

There are many other humor techniques that were used in the Super Bowl Commercials, but these are five that will get you started.

As with all humor, START SMALL. Add in 1 humor element, and have some fun . . . once you get that first laugh, you’ll have the comedy “bug” and will want to keep going.

Jan

Check out my Humor Writing Tips videos on Youtube. 1 minute videos with Humor Writing Tips for business or personal

For More humor writing tips, check out my other blog posts such as this one