laugh and learn
95 ways to use humor for more
effective teaching and training
This Page Intentionally Left Blank
laugh and learn
95 ways to use humor for more
effective teaching and training
DONI TAMBLYN
AMERICAN MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION
New York

Atlanta

Brussels

Buenos Aires

Chicago
London
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Mexico City
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San Francisco
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Shanghai
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Tokyo
Toronto
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Washington, D.C.

Tel.: 212-903-8316. Fax: 212-903-8083.
Web site:
www.amacombooks.org
This book is dedicated with gratitude to every gifted
teacher I have been lucky enough to have. It is also dedi-
cated to Doug Ryan, who gave me a chance to grow from
a comedian to a teacher. Finally, it is dedicated to Edward
De Bono, who inspired me by saying, “Humor is by far
the most significant behavior of the human brain.”
contents
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
LIST OF THE 95 WAYS
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
INTRODUCTION
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
PART I THE WHAT AND WHY
CHAPTER 1
You’ve Got to Start Here: What Is Humor, Anyway? . . . . . . . 7
The Case Against Teaching Through Stand-Up Comedy . . . . . . . . . . 9
The Case for Using Humor in Teaching (and Life in General) . . . . . 10
CHAPTER 2
Come to Think of It, What Is
Brain-Compatible Learning?
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Uniqueness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Cycles, Rhythms, and Making Meaning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Intrinsic Motivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
The Von Restorff Effect. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Deposing the Brain’s Great Oppressors: Threat
and High Stress
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Stress-Buster #1: Give Your Learners a Sense of Choice . . . . . . . . . . 87
Stress-Buster #2: Keep It Positive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
VIII
CONTENTS
Stress-Buster #3: Keep Assessment Nonthreatening . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Making Sure Exams Measure Mastery, Not Fear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Some Next Steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
CHAPTER 6
Drawing People Together to Enlist “the Social Brain” . . . 105
Safety Item #1: Your Credibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Safety Item #2: Your Approachability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Safety Item #3: Rapport Among Your Learners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Some Next Steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
CHAPTER 7
Relevancy and Visual Memory—Tw o
Powerful Mnemonics
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Personal Relevancy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Visual Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Some Next Steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
CHAPTER 8
Engaging Emotion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Step 1: “Reading” Ourselves Accurately . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Step 2: Accepting the Emotions of Others . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Step 3: Emotional Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Some Next Steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
CHAPTER 9

ENDNOTES
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
BIBLIOGRAPHY
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
APPENDIX
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
INDEX
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
X
CONTENTS
acknowledgments
First and foremost, thanks to Eric Jensen for talking me into writing this
book way back in 1997, and for his continued assistance as it was being
written.
Thanks also to Malcolm Kushner, whose many insights and rigorous
research on humor in business have long acted as a catalyst to my think-
ing. And thanks for all your personal help and encouragement, Malcolm.
My first book might not have gotten written if not for you.
Thanks to Pat Wolfe of Mind Matters, Inc., who took time from her
enormously full schedule to talk with me about the brain.
The team at AMACOM has been wonderful to work with. First, my
warmest thanks to Jacquie Flynn for giving so generously of both her time
and her superb ideas for improvement; this is a far better book than it
would have been without her. Editor Niels Buessem not only polished the
book but also “got” it, a fact that must bring moisture to any writer’s eyes.
Thanks also to Jim Bessent for his patience in the face of deadlines, and to
Vera Sarkanj for her work in promoting this book.
And finally, to all those talented comedians at Traffic Safety Taught with

Cross Lateral #3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Cross Lateral #4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Cross Lateral #5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Cross Lateral #6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
“Do It Without Instructions” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
“Dr. Truth” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
“Find a Common Enemy” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
the 95 ways
Finish-the-Sentence Ball Toss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
“Fortunately . . . ” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Fun Ways to Break Study Buddy Duos into Partners A and B . . . . . . . . . . 189
“Game Show” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
“Go” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69
Goal Assessment Charts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Group Brainstorming Behavior #1: Never Deride Anyone Else’s Idea . . . . . 52
Group Brainstorming Behavior #2: Share “Bad” Ideas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Group Chants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
“Group Count” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
“It’s Tuesday” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Joke-Telling Technique #1: Keep It Short . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Joke-Telling Technique #2: Make It Specific . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
Joke-Telling Technique #3: Put the Punch Line at the End . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
Joke-Telling Technique #4: Pause . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
Keep It Simple . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Laugh at Your Learners’ Jokes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Light Answers to Heavy Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Make Positive Choices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Messing with Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Metaphor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Mind Maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146

“The Look” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
“To d a y ’s Experts” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
Treats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
“Two Minutes of Heaven” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Unusual Sounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
Ways to Compile Quirky Show-of-Hands Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
“What, You Thought I Was Einstein?” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
“What’s in the Box?” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Where to Find “Game Show” Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
“Which One Is the Bomb?” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
“Wounded Trainer” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
“Yes But/Yes And” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
I
N
TR
O
DU
C
TI
O
N
everybody’s
a comic
THE MINUTE
people find out you used to be a comedian, they pos-
itively burst into life. They move closer; they tell you about their
favorite club. They ask, who’s your favorite stand-up? Didn’t they
see you on Comedy Showcase?
And then they always, always do one thing: They tell you a joke.
Verily spoke the vaudevillian: “Everybody’s a comic.”

Another reason teachers and trainers resist using humor is that they fear
the possible negative repercussions. Maybe they will “bomb.” Maybe they
will inadvertently make an inappropriate joke. Maybe their topic is too
serious for humor. Maybe a humorous, playful audience will be too hard
to control. Some of these fears are well-founded. Most, as you will see in
reading this book, are not.
Perhaps the most immediate cause for the reluctance to use humor,
however, is the simple fact that professional development costs money.
When it comes to allocating scarce funds, training managers must think
carefully. Sure, speakers’ and trainers’ evaluation scores may go up when
they use humor—but will their listeners actually learn better? Will they
make the desired behavior changes? Will they score higher on exams? Will
2
LAUGH AND LEARN
“
The mediocre teacher tells.
The good teacher explains.
The superior teacher demon-
strates. The great teacher
inspires.”
William Arthur Ward,
college administrator
they do better on the job? Is there any proof that humor actually improves
retention or retrieval of information? Is humor really an effective teach-
ing tool, or just a feel-good contrivance? Aren’t we safer using the budget
to build the currently-needed technical skills rather than training train-
ers to be funny?
This book is written to provide a low-risk, affordable way for teach-
ers, trainers, and speakers to start putting humor to work for them. In
the process, however, I freely confess that I hope to lead

(Speaking of fear, Chapter 10 is devoted to the concerns, noted above,
that many people have about using humor. If you’re really trepidant, you
might want to read that chapter first.)
Finally, the appendix offers an example of a teaching module designed
with humor, and the bibliography provides a list of resources for further
learning.
It is my intent that after reading this book you will:
❖
Feel clear about the benefits humor can bring to the invaluable
work you do
❖
Be convinced to start using humor
❖
Have a ready “tool box” of tried-and-true techniques to draw on
❖
Feel fearless about using humor in your classroom (and outside
it, too)
So let’s not waste any time. With a subject as big as “humor,” the ques-
tion is, where to start? Fortunately, I think I have the answer.
4
LAUGH AND LEARN
PART I
THE WHAT AND WHY
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C
HA
P
TER
1
you’ve got to

Then, when I’m
prepared, you understand, I get: ‘Cat deceased.’ See? That’s how you give
someone bad news. Jeez.”
The butler, of course, could only apologize profusely and assure his
employer this gaffe would never occur again. The businessman tried to put
the whole thing out of his mind and enjoy the rest of his holiday as best
he could. A week later, just as he was starting to relax once more, he
received a telegram. It said:
“Your mother is on the roof.”
❖ ❖ ❖
The reason I share the above joke with you (besides the fact that it’s my
all-time favorite) is that it illustrates the fundamental fact on which this
whole book is based: It doesn’t work to know the letter of the law and not
the spirit. In other words, you can learn all the right moves, but, like the
businessman’s butler, you can still get it wrong.
Take humor, for instance. People have trouble pinning it down. Indeed,
humor seems to be like art—it’s hard to define, but you know what you
like. Ever hear someone tell a joke, and then hear a listener say,“That’s not
funny, that’s sick”? You just witnessed a clash in definitions. So let’s take
an important moment to define our terms: What is humor?
8
LAUGH AND LEARN
The Case Against Teaching Through Stand-Up Comedy
In presenting this topic to thousands of people, I have always started by
asking attendees to raise their hands if they think they tell great jokes. In
virtually every group (worldwide, by the way), at least 95 percent of the
audience sits in resolute stillness. I then ask them to raise their hands if they
like to laugh, if they like people who don’t take
themselves too seriously, if they sometimes wish
the whole world would lighten up a little, and so

an open one.”
Malcolm S. Forbes, capitalist