The A-2-Z of Business Blog Writing: J is for Jokes

Jokes aren’t right for many blogs. In fact for some they could be the kiss of death. But if you’re a talented business person and humorist like Sunil Bali, for example, you can combine serious information with the right kind of jokes that will help cement your relationships – and friendships – with your readers. Check out these examples…

I have written about using humor in general recently in this post a while ago, but I thought you might like to have a quick reminder about how to tailor jokes for your own purposes.

Adapting a core concept

This technique uses one core concept – the ridiculous notion that someone is so obsessed by his sporting interest that he will miss his own wife’s funeral – which can be adapted to a number of different circumstances. Here are two example …

The Master and the Huntsman were leading a small mid-week field, trotting along a grass verge to the next covert. Along the road came a funeral cortege. The Huntsman pulled his horse up and took off his cap respectfully.
“I’m pleased to see you observe old-fashioned conventions, Hartley,” said the Master, also pulling his horse up as hounds milled around expectantly. “Not many people have such good manners these days.”
The Huntsman replaced his cap and prepared to move off again. “Thank you sir,” he smiled. “But after all, we were married for twenty-eight years.”

A golfer and his buddies were playing a big round of golf for $200. At the eighteenth green the golfer had a ten foot putt to win the round, and the $200. As he was lining up his putt, a funeral procession started to pass by.
The golfer set down his putter, took his hat off, placed it over his chest, and waited for the funeral procession to pass. After it passed, he picked up his putter and returned to lining up his putt, and completed it, thus winning the game and the money.
Afterwards, one of his buddies said, “That was the most touching thing I have ever seen. I can’t believe you stopped playing, possibly losing your concentration, to pay your respects.”
“Well,” said the golfer, “we were married for 25 years.”

You could adapt the same core concept and make the joke about many other outdoor sports and activities including soccer, baseball, football, lacrosse, field hockey, cross-country or marathon running, etc.

Shorter jokes that depend on a play on the words

A substantial proportion of the jokes you hear and see depend on a play on the words to provide the humor. With a little imagination you can adapt these so that they’re perfect for your business or other audience. Let’s take a look at a few: I have highlighted the part of the joke that can be substituted with new words to make the joke work in a different context (excerpted from The Horse Lover’s Joke Book)…

The local Riding Club arranged a Christmas dinner for its large committee, but unfortunately the event was not up to much. One committee member complained to the Club Secretary.
“The food was awful,” he said. “Can you do something about it?”
“No,” replied the Secretary. “You’ll just have to bring it up at the next committee meeting.”

A young woman went to the doctor with a badly sprained ankle. The doctor strapped it up for her.
“Will I be able to ride a horse when it’s better?” she asked.
“Of course you will,” replied the doctor.
“That’s funny,” said the woman. “I’ve never ridden a horse in my life before.”

The husband was complaining again. “You’re that absorbed in your horses, I’ll bet you don’t even remember when we got married.”
“Of course I do, darling,” smiled his wife. “It was the day after I won my first ever Medium test on Aurora.”

During a particularly spectacular pirouette in canter, the horse cast a shoe and it flew over a hedge, down a bank and out of sight. The horse and rider left the arena and went back to the yard, to find their instructor was there waiting to give a lesson to another livery owner. The rider told the instructor about the cast shoe and how it happened.

“Aha,” said the instructor. “Do you realize that shoe went over the hedge, down the bank, on to the 4-lane highway below, and hit a motorcyclist hard on the head. He went out of control, a big truck and an RV swerved to miss him, collided, rolled over, and by the end of it 14 vehicles were involved and several people were injured.”
“Oh, my God,” said the rider, by now in tears and extremely distraught. “What can I do? What can I do?”
The instructor thought carefully for a moment. “In your shoes, I would use a little more inside leg and shift your weight slightly further round on the outside seat bone.”

The Head Girl in the riding school yard was furious as one of the working pupils arrived late again. “Angela,” she yelled, “you should have been here at half-past seven!”
“Why?” asked the pupil. “What happened?”

The stable lad got his courage together and went to see the yard manager to ask for a rise. When he entered the office, the yard’s accountant was there too. “I’d like a pay rise,” stammered the young stable lad.”
“Well, young man,” said the accountant while the yard manager nodded wisely, “due to the fluctuational predisposition of the global competitive equestrian economic climate as juxtaposed against the individual staff productivity within this particular enterprise, in my judgment I feel it would be fiscally inappropriate to elevate exponentially your specific increment.”
“Yer what?” said the puzzled stable lad. “I don’t get it.”
“Exactly,” said the yard manager.

Just for fun, try and adapt one of the above jokes, substituting appropriate words, for your own audience – and share it here in the comments with us…

I’ll go first …

The wife was complaining again. “You’re that absorbed in your business blogging and Social Media, I’ll bet you don’t even remember when we got married.”
“Of course I do, darling,” smiled her husband. “It was the day after I first joined LinkedIn.”

Your turn!

While you’re here, don’t forget to stop by my Bookshop…books and eBooks to help you write better – and to give to friends and family (don’t forget the Holiday Season is coming soon)…

photo credit: basheertome via photopin cc
photo credit: Mike Willis via photopin cc