Let's get funny: how to improve your humor and laugh more

In this lecture we'll discuss the three levels of humor use:

1.      Individual humor

2.      Humor in Interpersonal communication 

3.      Creating a humorous atmosphere around you

We'll also talk about the "holy grail" of humor use, Planned humor Vs Spontaneous humor. 

Can you be funny at the drop of a hat?

Humor is like a muscle - If you use it - it will thrive, If you neglect it-  it will wither.

It's not enough to buy a subscription to the humor gym - you have to show up and work out!

So let's start our humor workout with some practical exercises. 

A few simple tricks can take your comments from mundane to funny. The secret to humor is surprise - but how can you surprise people in different, interesting and funny ways? 

Most people tell me that they would love to tell jokes but that they always "ruin" the joke. 

There are a few simple rules to remembering jokes and telling them properly, which when followed will vastly improve your joke telling skills.   

Using humor is a great way to break tension - it helps people calm down. 

You know who needs to calm down the most? You! 

Plan ahead and have the "perfect joke" ready - then follow these simple rules. 

Telling funny stories is a great way to use humor, especially if you use stories that happened to you. If the story actually happened and you experienced it it's much easier to remember the details. An added bonus is that you get to rewrite a bad day or an unpleasant experience as a funny story - so you actually benefit from it happening to you!

If you are worried about offending people or saying the wrong thing i recommend using self-humor. 

I believe laughing about your faults is a sign of strength. You are confident enough to admit you have flaws, but you don’t let them stop you.

It's important to make a good impression when meeting people. Sprinkling a little bit of humor and having some funny comments when you introduce yourself is a great way to show confidence and be memorable. 

When you start working with humor you also need to be able to deal with other people's humor. Often your humor attempts will be countered by the group's "class clown". Almost every group has a class clown – even adults and professionals. So let's see how to deal with the clown. 

How likely you are to use humor and what type of humor you use are influenced by gender and social status. Studies show that men and women laugh about different things, in different ways. In addition your position in a group can also affect how much you use humor. 

Using humor to defuse a conflict can be particularly effective if you and your opponent are peers, or if the conflict is not terribly serious. Being humorous may involve looking at the situation in a comical way, poking fun at yourself for a style of reacting that frequently gets you into trouble, or generally making light of the situation.

Our children are probably the most important people in our lives. Did you ever stop to think what kind of interactions you have with them on a daily basis? Sometimes it feels like we are so busy trying to get tasks done, having dinner, taking showers, getting them ready and out the house - that we forget to have fun with them. And I don't mean going to the park or zoo, I mean enjoying the more mundane tasks. 

How do we get through all those pesky everyday tasks with our kids without getting annoyed? Can we make day to day tasks fun and even funny? Join me to see how I do it with my kids. 

Free laughs and giggles for a happier family with Debbie Iancu-Haddad and my real life kids 

Meal times with kids often look like feeding time at the zoo. Every family has different rules, but we all have to eat. How to enjoy your family meal without anyone getting sent to their room - and have some laughs along the way. 

Bonus film including my real life children! 

My children fight about everything, but I try to help them resolve their differences and calm down without getting annoyed. See how I do it...

Bonus film including my real life children! 

Funnily, humor and laughter are not the same thing. You can be humorous without laughing, and you can laugh a lot even though you don't use humor. in this section we'll see how you can use laughter to your benefit. 

What is Laughter Yoga?

The unique concept of Laughter Yoga and Laughter Club is the brain child of Dr. Madan Kataria, a physician from Mumbai, India. The method which has been practiced around the globe since 1995 encourages getting in touch with your physical laughter - no humor required!

People want to be taken seriously and even if you want to be funnier that doesn't mean you want to just be silly. 

but you know - having a well developed sense of humor sometimes means just letting go to what people think and acting a bit silly. It's fun. I dare you to try.

Bonus - watch me being really silly :-)

This is the end of our course - thanks for joining me.