Perhaps you enjoy a good joke every now and then, or you find yourself seeing the funny side of things. Did you ever think that you could use humor to make money? Many people use humor as a marketing tool to make money, and not just stand-up comedians and television writers.

If you are an exceptional observer and commentator, if you spend time analyzing jokes and why they are funny, if you want to spend many years working hard to make it, then you very well may have what it takes to be a successful stand-up comedian.

For most of us, however, getting on stage and speaking in front of people is not something we want to do. Some people are terrified of speaking in front of a group; it’s the number one phobia world-wide.

There are many other ways to make a good living using humor. Try to think of commercials that are particularly effective. Chances are the commercials you thought about were funny. This is because a good joke is memorable. Advertisers have understood this for decades.

Behind every great funny commercial, there is an ad writer. The ability to find the funny side of things is a hot commodity in the advertising business. Talented ad writers make a good living. Even in political campaigns, humor is used to make a point, or get folks to pay attention to a person or issue.

Humor is one of the most powerful forms of persuasion. For centuries, humor has been an effective way to sway people’s emotions or opinions. If you have a good sense of humor, you could even be a public relations representative for a firm or celebrity.

The ability to make people laugh helps them to see you or your company as approachable and friendly. This is why humor is such a powerful tool to persuade people.  It’s also why most speeches begin with a funny anecdote or joke. It “warms up” the audience.

Every year, funny books, stories, and memoirs reach the top of the bestseller lists. This is another way to make money with your sense of humor. Some of the most famous and popular columns in national newspapers are based on humorous observations of everyday life.

Do you run some kind of business? Try using a little humor in your marketing plan with your print, television, and online advertisements. Do not be so “professional” that you never smile at your customers. Chances are that you have a competitor in your area. Give your customers a unique and pleasant experience and you’ll have the edge on your competition.

Humor unites people. Humor persuades. It helps us through tough situations. It makes pleasant situations more enjoyable. For these reasons, and many others, humor will never go out of style and will always be in demand. Why not capitalize on this demand and make a little extra profit by making people laugh?

Advantages:

Unique. This Humorous Interpretation treatment is unique because you stand to potentially have the only funny interpretation of ——- around.  There is no competing with other Humorous Interpretations to see who has the better cutting and interp of “insert popular HI here.” Most HI’s are found through looking into humorous plays or short stories.  These crossovers are done from love, take an exuberant number of hours to perfect, and thus few seek out this type of piece.

Showcase of skill. If you posses the talent and dedication to take a dramatic piece, regardless of how easy it is to spoof (E.G. Twillight), and transform it into a gut-busting Humorous Interpretation then you are a true Forensicator.  Everything from the cutting, the interpretation, the characterization, EVERYTHING needs to be modified enough to add the edge of comedy while retaining the heart of the source material–and all this is asked as well as creating a good piece.  If you have the patience to do this, then you deserve a solid rank and a chorus of For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow.

Ridiculous fun. How many times have you been watching a great drama, or a poor melodrama disguised as a drama, and found yourself laughing?  Perhaps not while watching, but after viewing and you could laugh again?  Case in point: There Will Be Blood is a brilliant drama yet that milkshake speech, once you get over the chilling horror which is that scene, is HILARIOUS when quoted amongst friends.  Movies you love to hate are also wonderful targets if you can get over having to work with the source material.  Some dramas beg to be spoofed–either from love or from a desire to show the world how that movie is ridiculous.  Regardless, you are in for great fun if you find a project you adore and want to throw yourself into bringing out the comedy.

Built in fan-base. If you select a piece wisely, one that people love yet humor can be easily spotted, then you might be able to create a fan-base quickly.  Deliver a great performance, make the crowd laugh over a story they love, and you have a captivated audience who will cheer you and advertise your piece to others.  People are prone to go to Humorous Interpretation final rounds anyway, but tell them there is a funny interp of The Matrix and intrigue of what you will do will peek interest and draw Matrix fanboys and fangirls.

Disadvantages:

Groupie Hate. That Humorous Interpretation of Twilight: Breaking Dawn you have had playing in your head might be comical to you (with the characters mispronouncing Renesmee’s name as a gag), but if you push too far you might ostracize a vast majority of your audience.  Be careful to spoof lovingly and not insult your source material or die-hard fans will not be pleased.

Humor is not there. Finding the appropriate material for such a drama to comedy switch might prove a trifle more difficult than expected.  Your source material must support a spoof in all aspects (cutting, interpretation, etc.).  And though one scene or character can be made funny that does not mean you can do that for a full eight minutes.

Time consuming. The words might be there, but everything about this piece needs to be redone.  Sure, characters will hold some of the seriousness of the original, dramatic version, but humor must be superimposed.  It is like creating a parallel Humorous Interpretation universe for the material and that takes time you might not be willing, or able, to give.

Just a spoof? You might have a funny piece, but if it is just a spoof of one joke there really is no merit to elevate it above other pieces.  There needs to remain some heart and depth behind what you are performing to get the audience to connect and care about the characters.  No one wants to watch an eight minute spoof of the same joke–even SNL knows to give a spoof skit a five minute cap because any longer and the skit implodes.

As you search for a Humorous Interpretation do not forget this source of material.  Though failure runs high with this conversion, if done successfully you can have an outstanding, knee-slapping HI.  Just remind yourself that a drama turned Humorous Interpretation based around one gag/scene ultimately becomes a dramatic HI imposter, which is to be avoided.

Sense of humor is something people talk about but rarely understand in terms of what humor really is. It is often defined as having a different perspective on things. This way of looking at sense of humor is only partly correct. If you defined sense of humor as just having a different perspective, it would be like saying, “If you were just 6 feet tall, you’d understand this” and “If you just had a full head of hair, you’d be more comprehensive.

Changing your perspective means going back through your entire life and looking at all the belief systems and elements that went into making up your perspective. So it’s not a simple process. A sense of humor is a very particular developed sense of perspective that allows you to access joy even in adversity.

I’m not talking about going through life and laughing things off. Nor am I talking about the fact that you ignore a problem or don’t take it seriously. I am talking about first dealing with the problem and then putting a positive spin on it.

The idea is that a sense of perspective when it comes to humor allows you to see yourself in the scope of things rather than always at the center of things. Most of us have a tendency as to believe that any problem we are confronting and facing at particular moment is the most important thing that is going on in the world.

This way of looking at problems is a very heavy responsibility. It makes you feel as if the problem is everywhere and it becomes the focus of your being. This is why a developed sense of humor is so important, because it allows you to see yourself in the scope of things rather than always at the center of things.

When you look at things with a sense of humor perspective, it enables you to have a remarkable capacity to control how you see the things that are going on in your life. You cannot control the external events in your life, but you can control how you look at them.

An important part of a developed sense of humor is the capacity to take yourself lightly, even though you may take your work or your problem very seriously. A sense of joy in being alive is an intimate component of the human will to live. It’s not abstract, but it’s not easy either, you have to work at it.

One of the best ways to develop your sense of humor is to make a list of all things that make you happy, that put a smile on your face, or give you joy. Make of a list of the things you do or once did that you don’t have time for anymore, that nourish and sustain your sense of joy. List the things that enliven you and strengthen your spirit, so that when a problem occurs you’ve got a reason to combat it and have the flexibility to see it though to a successful conclusion.

The root form of humor is umar in Latin. It means to be fluid and flexible like water and that is what humor is about. It’s staying flexible so you don’t get broken by the difficulties you confront. Being flexible enables your creative mind to stay open so that you can still come up with solutions even in painful situations.

Making a list of the things that make you happy sounds simple, but it’s not. I’ve done it with thousands of people over the past ten years and what I’ve found is that most adults over the age of 35 cannot write down more than three things that give that make them happy. They will invariably start off with something such as, “my work, I love my work.”

You should never put work on your list, or anything that causes you or other people harm. Instead you should list things that make you happy and put a smile on your face. For example, you might want to list things like going to a movie, fishing, or kissing your spouse.

Don’t try to complete this list all in one sitting. You should spend at least four to six weeks completing it. I advise my clients to get a small diary or pocket folder and carry it with them. This way you can write down things as they come to mind or as you’re actually enjoying them. After six weeks time you should have over 100 things on you list that make you smile, laugh, or feel better.

This list is going to become a critical component in developing your sense of humor because it will help you deal more effectively with all those small things that are always chewing at you. If you have a big problem, you can handle it, you can see it, and get into it, but it’s all those little things that keep sneaking up behind you and nipping at your neck that having a good sense of humor helps you deal with.

Misery is not subtle. Pain is not subtle. Joy, humor, and laughter are very often subtle. So you have to pay attention to them to start activating them into your life and that’s what this list will help you to do.

Making a list of all the things that you enjoy and put a smile on your face will not only help develop your sense of humor but it also gives you the opportunity to find out more about the people in your life and what makes them happy and this will enable you to help them develop their sense of humor. When you are able to give other people joy and put a smile on their face, especially when they need it most, you will be giving them the greatest gift you can give.

Copyright©2006 by Joe Love and JLM & Associates, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide.

For centuries and even today, a desirable quality in human beings is a sense of humor. A sense of humor is essentially a sense or feel for what is funny. But this is precisely the question. What is funny?

If something is funny, it makes you laugh. Laughter is associated with positive feelings and an overall feeling of euphoria and enjoyableness. Laughter and funnyness fall under the umbrella of humor.

Humor is situational. It’s all about context. In comedy, timing is everything. People can laugh at jokes, situations, images, pictures, videos. Essentially the whole scope of life can contain humor.

It is no secret that many people have many different senses of humor. I’m sure you’ve heard the term “dry sense of humor.” I compare a sense of humor to personality: Some people have similar ones, but everyone’s (sense of humor, or personality) are different.

I may find things funny that you do not.

This leads us to something deeper: sense of humor in a cultural level. Some cultures, such as Australians, poke fun and each other and insult each other. In this culture, insults and name calling are all in fun. However, in other cultures, these insults will be taken seriously and personally. As most people know, being talked about by others in a negative light is not always pleasant, but depending on the situation and the culture, it can be a funny experience for all of the parties involved.

Sense of humor analyzed at a moral level also shows that different people and different cultures have different senses of humor. Some people laugh at other people’s misfortunes. For me personally, this is morally unacceptable. But to others, it is not. The point is that humor can also have a dark side with malice or masochistic undertones.

In the holocaust, there were accounts of using humor to survive. Even in the most hellish conditions on earth, a sense of humor was derived!

To me, the evidence is clear that there is no objective sense of humor. Everyone has a different sense of humor, while some are similar. Different cultures find different things funny, and people whose morals differ find different things funny.

There is no right or wrong answer to finding something funny. Everyone has different perceptions and everyone laughs at different things.

Will Rogers was an amazing person and one of the wisest men of any generation. His accomplishments include being a champion lasso thrower, a performer on the Broadway stage, the star of 71 movies, a radio broadcaster, an author of six books, and a syndicated newspaper columnist. Will Rogers traveled around the world three times and befriended presidents, senators, prime ministers, and kings.

Will Rogers was famous for his simple, insightful humor and his ability to connect honestly with everyone he met. His comments about politics in general and the politics of his generation are among his most memorable. The following are some of the best Will Rogers political quotes.

There’s no trick to being a humorist when you have the whole government working for you.

Ancient Rome declined because it had a Senate; now what’s going to happen to us with both a Senate and a House?

I am not a member of any organized political party. I am a Democrat.

I don’t make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts.

The more you read and observe about this Politics thing, you got to admit that each party is worse than the other. The one that’s out always looks the best.

The income tax has made more liars out of the American people than golf has.

On account of being a democracy and run by the people, we are the only nation in the world that has to keep a government four years, no matter what it does.

The man with the best job in the country is the Vice President. All he has to do is get up every morning and say, “How’s the President?”

An economist’s guess is liable to be as good as anybody else’s.

Alexander Hamilton started the U.S. Treasury with nothing — and that was the closest our country has ever been to being even.

If stupidity got us into this mess, then why can’t it get us out?

Be thankful we’re not getting all the government we’re paying for.

Politics has become so expensive that it takes a lot of money even to be defeated.

Diplomacy is the art of saying “Nice doggie” until you can find a rock.

A fool and his money are soon elected.

About all I can say for the United States Senate is that it opens with a prayer and closes with an investigation.

Our Constitution protects aliens, drunks, and U.S. Senators.

Anything important is never left to the vote of the people. We only get to vote on some man; we never get to vote on what he is to do.

Politics is applesauce.

Diplomats are just as essential to starting a war as soldiers are for finishing it… You take diplomacy out of war, and the thing would fall flat in a week.

I bet after seeing us, George Washington would sue us for calling him “father.”

There ought to be one day—just one—when there is open season on senators.

The country has come to feel the same when Congress is in session as when the baby gets hold of a hammer.

If I studied all my life, I couldn’t think up half the number of funny things passed in one session of Congress.

If you ever injected truth into politics you’d have no politics.

Things in our country run in spite of government, not by aid of it.

We don’t seem to be able to check crime, so why not legalize it and then tax it out of business?

Everything is changing. People are taking their comedians seriously and the politicians as a joke.

Liberty doesn’t work as well in practice as it does in speeches.

Ohio claims they are due a president as they haven’t had one since Taft. Look at the United States; they have not had one since Lincoln.

The 1928 Republican Convention opened with a prayer. If the Lord can see His way clear to bless the Republican Party the way it’s been carrying on, then the rest of us ought to get it without even asking.

There is no more independence in politics than there is in jail.

All I know is just what I read in the papers, and that’s an alibi for my ignorance.

Will Rogers was asked about the nature of his humorous remarks about politicians. “I have often said in answer to inquiries as to how I got away with kidding some of our public men, that it was because I liked all of them personally, and that if there was no malice in your heart there could be none in your gags, and I have always said I never met a man I didn’t like.”