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Why you seriously need to stop trying to be funny at work
Using humor at work can enhance relationships and creativity, but it carries risks. Instead of attempting to be funny, individuals should focus on “thinking funny” by challenging norms, collaborating for innovation, and tailoring their ideas for specific audiences to drive success. to stop trying to be funny at work
Last Updated on October 10, 2025 by Daily News Staff
Peter McGraw, University of Colorado Boulder; Adam Barsky, The University of Melbourne, and Caleb Warren, University of Arizona
How can you get ahead in your career and still enjoy the ride?
One solution offered in business books, LinkedIn posts and team-building manuals is to use humor. Sharing jokes, sarcastic quips, ironic memes and witty anecdotes, the advice goes, will make you more likable, ease stress, strengthen teams, spark creativity and even signal leadership potential.
We are professors of marketing and management who study humor and workplace dynamics. Our own research – and a growing body of work by other scholars – shows that it’s harder to be funny than most people think. The downside of cracking a bad joke is often larger than what you might gain by landing a good one.
Fortunately, you don’t have to tell sidesplitting jokes to make humor work for you. You can learn to think like a comedian instead.
Humor is risky business
Comedy works by bending and breaking norms – and when those rules aren’t broken in just the right way, it’s more likely to harm your reputation than to help your team.
We developed the “benign violation theory” to explain what makes things funny – and why attempts at humor so often backfire, especially in the workplace. Essentially, humor arises when something is both wrong and OK at the same time.
People find jokes funny when they break rules while seeming harmless. Miss one of those ingredients when you tell a joke and your audience won’t appreciate it. When it’s all benign and there’s no violation, you get yawns. When it’s all violation and not benign, you could end up triggering outrage.
It’s hard enough to get laughs in the darkness of a comedy club. Under fluorescent office lights, that razor-thin line becomes even harder to walk. What feels wrong but OK to one colleague can feel simply wrong to another, especially across differences in seniority, culture, gender or even the mood they’re in. https://www.youtube.com/embed/PhGe50BXb2M?wmode=transparent&start=0 The hit sitcom ‘The Office’ pokes fun at the cringeworthy jokes cracked by a hapless boss.
An advertising study
In our experiments, when everyday people are asked to “be funny,” most attempts land flat or cross lines.
In a humorous caption contest with business students, described in Peter McGraw’s book on global humor practices, “The Humor Code,” the captions weren’t particularly funny to begin with. However, the ones that were rated by judges as the most funny were often also rated the most distasteful.
Being funny without being offensive is of paramount importance. This is particularly true for women, as a robust literature shows women face harsher backlash than men for behavior seen as offensive or norm-violating such as expressing anger, acting dominantly or even “making asks” in negotiations. https://www.youtube.com/embed/_s8CUzXQ4G0?wmode=transparent&start=0 Don’t be that guy.
You might end up getting no respect
Research by other scholars who examine leader and manager behavior in organizations tells a similar story.
In one study, managers who used humor effectively were seen as more confident and competent, boosting their status. Yet when their attempts misfired, those same managers lost status and credibility. Other researchers have found that failed humor doesn’t just hurt a manager’s status – it also makes employees less likely to respect that manager, seek their advice, or trust their leadership.
Even when jokes land, humor can backfire. In one study, marketing students instructed to write “funny” copy for advertisements wrote ads that were funnier, but also less effective, than students instructed to write “creative” or “persuasive” copy.
Another study found that bosses who joke too often push employees into pretending to be amused, which drains energy, reduces job satisfaction and increases burnout. And the risks are higher for women due to a double standard. When women use humor in presentations, they are often judged as being less capable and having lower status than men.
The bottom line is that telling a great joke rarely gets you a promotion. And cracking a bad one can jeopardize your job – even if you’re not a talk show host who earns a living making people laugh.
Flip the script
Instead of trying to be funny on the job, we recommend that you focus on what we call “thinking funny” – as described in another of McGraw’s books, “Shtick to Business.”
“The best ideas come as jokes,” advertising legend David Ogilvy once said. “Try to make your thinking as funny as possible.”
But Ogilvy wasn’t telling executives to crack jokes in meetings. He was encouraging employees to think like comedians by flipping expectations, leveraging their networks and finding their niche.
Comics often lead you one way and then flip the script. Comedian Henny Youngman, a master of one-liners, famously quipped, “When I read about the dangers of drinking, I gave up … reading.” The business version of this convention is to challenge an obvious assumption.
For example, Patagonia’s “Don’t Buy This Jacket” campaign, which the outdoor gear company rolled out Black Friday in 2011 as a full-page ad in The New York Times, paradoxically boosted sales by calling out overconsumption.
To apply this method, pick a stale assumption your team holds, such as that adding features to a product always improves it or that having more meetings will lead to smoother coordination, and ask, “What if the opposite were true?”
You’ll discover options that standard brainstorming misses.
Create a chasm
When comedian Bill Burr has his fans in stitches, he knows some people won’t find his jokes funny – and he doesn’t try to win them over.
We’ve observed that many of the best comics don’t try to please everyone. They succeed by deliberately narrowing their audience. And we also find that businesses that do the same build stronger brands.
For example, when Nebraska’s tourism board embraced “Honestly, it’s not for everyone” in a 2019 campaign, targeting out-of-state visitors, web traffic jumped 43%.
Some people want hot tea. Others want iced tea. Serving warm tea satisfies no one. Likewise, you can succeed in business by deciding whom your idea is for, and whom it’s not for, then tailoring your product, policy or presentation accordingly.
Cooperate to innovate
Stand-up may look like a solo act. But comics depend on feedback – punch-ups from fellow comedians and reactions from audiences – iterating jokes in the same way lean startups may innovate new products.
Building successful teams at work means listening before speaking, making your partners look good, and balancing roles. Improv teacher Billy Merritt has described three types of improvisers. Pirates are risk-takers. Robots are structure builders. Ninjas are adept at both, taking risks and building structures.
A team designing a new app, for instance, needs all three: Pirates to propose bold features, robots to streamline the interface, and ninjas to bridge gaps. Empowering everyone in these roles leads to braver ideas with fewer blind spots.
Gifts aren’t universal
Telling someone to “be funny” is like telling them to “be musical.” Many of us can keep a beat, but few have what it takes to become rock stars.
That’s why we argue that it’s smarter to think like a comedian than to try to act like one.
By reversing assumptions, cooperating to innovate, and creating chasms, professionals can generate fresh solutions and stand out – without becoming an office punchline.
Peter McGraw, Professor of Marketing and Psychology, University of Colorado Boulder; Adam Barsky, Associate Professor of Management, The University of Melbourne, and Caleb Warren, Professor of Marketing, University of Arizona
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
STM Daily News is a vibrant news blog dedicated to sharing the brighter side of human experiences. Emphasizing positive, uplifting stories, the site focuses on delivering inspiring, informative, and well-researched content. With a commitment to accurate, fair, and responsible journalism, STM Daily News aims to foster a community of readers passionate about positive change and engaged in meaningful conversations. Join the movement and explore stories that celebrate the positive impacts shaping our world.
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Breaking News
Breaking: Chuck Norris Dies at 86
Chuck Norris, legendary martial artist and star of Walker, Texas Ranger, has died at age 86 following a reported medical emergency.
Last Updated on March 20, 2026 by Daily News Staff
Legendary martial artist and actor Chuck Norris has died at the age of 86, according to statements released by his family on Friday.
Norris reportedly passed away peacefully while surrounded by loved ones. The news comes shortly after reports surfaced that he had been hospitalized in Hawaii following a medical emergency. Details regarding the cause of death have not yet been publicly disclosed.
Best known for his role in the long-running television series Walker, Texas Ranger, Norris became a global icon through his martial arts expertise and action film career. His influence extended beyond Hollywood, shaping pop culture and inspiring generations of fans worldwide.
Over a career spanning decades, Norris starred in numerous action films and television projects, building a reputation as one of the most recognizable figures in the genre.
This is a developing story. STM Daily News will continue to provide updates as more information becomes available.
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unknown
How extraterrestrial tales of aliens gain traction
The narrative explores humanity’s intrigue with extraterrestrial entities, juxtaposing evolutionary processes with claims of alien interventions, ultimately emphasizing the need for scientific evidence over fantastical stories. Aliens!
Last Updated on March 18, 2026 by Daily News Staff
Ester Lázaro Lázaro, Centro de Astrobiología (INTA-CSIC)
One night, upon returning to the cave that his tribe calls home, the monkey-humanoid Moon-Watcher finds a strange crystal object, a kind of monolith that fascinates him at first, but then quickly loses his interest when he discovers that it is not edible. Soon after, the true purpose of the monolith is revealed to be none other than penetrating the minds of our ancestors to induce new abilities that, over time, will cause the development of an intelligence capable of creating new technology.
Many readers will recognise this scene from the novel 2001, A Space Odyssey, by Arthur C. Clarke, and the film of the same name, directed by Stanley Kubrick. It almost goes without saying that the crystal monolith in question is the work of an extraterrestrial civilisation that observes life on other planets and “experiments” on them to encourage the development of intelligence in as many parts of the cosmos as possible.
Seeking simple answers to complex questions
Understanding how we, as a species, came to be intelligent is one of the great enigmas of evolutionary study. Small mutations, followed by a process of natural selection to choose the most advantageous, seems too slow a process for structures as complex as the human nervous system or brain to emerge. It is this very complexity that allows millions of neurons to communicate with each other, resulting in the emergence of qualities such as the ability to respond voluntarily to environmental stimuli, or to ask questions about the very nature of humankind and the universe.
Nowadays, we know that there are evolutionary mechanisms that have lead to great leaps in terms of complexity, but that does not stop people from turning to non-human forces – Gods, extraterrestrials, spiritual energies – to explain things that are difficult to comprehend.
This has always been the case, in all human cultures. A classic example would be attributing atmospheric events – thunder, lightning, floods – to the wrath of God. These ideas came about before humans had ever left the ground, so it is no surprise that we turned our eyes even higher – to extraterrestrials – to explain other phenomena that we could only observe once travelling at high altitudes became part of our daily lives.
The allure of the unknown
The possibility that we might have been visited by beings from other worlds has always fascinated us. The element of mystery, of the unknown, only makes it more interesting.
Any phenomenon is made all the more enticing when it seems it is being covered up or hidden for secretive reasons. The attractiveness of conspiracies often leads people towards ideas which have no scientific basis, such as the belief that the Earth is flat, that humans never set foot on the Moon, or that vaccines can control our behaviour.
Even though these ideas have repeatedly been shown to be untrue, their rapid dissemination through social media, using simple, blunt language that appeals to emotion over logic, makes them very powerful weapons.
The supposed “proof” of alien visits to our planet ranges from specific Bible passages to ancient stone carvings portraying creatures or objects that may appear to be aliens or spacecraft. The latter often take the form of flying saucers.
However, we cannot forget that humans have always created imaginary creatures that resemble them and attributed them with magical powers. When imagining Gods, humans have given them a human appearance, and almost always imagined them as living in the sky.
When we look at these representations through modern eyes, we associate them with extraterrestrial beings or structures, when in fact they could be referring to a range of different things.
When unproven stories become larger than life
Recently, in the United States Congress, UFOs (currently known as UAPs: “Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena”) are back in the limelight. This is because a former air force intelligence official has made claims that the Pentagon is in possession of remains of extraterrestrial craft and “non-human biological matter”. The claims have been backed up by the testimony of a retired navy commander and a former navy pilot.
What we can be certain of is that the more we explore our skies, the more likely it is that we will encounter phenomena that we cannot explain. However, this does not mean that they are extraterrestrial. Past experience has shown us that most of these events can be attributed to optical illusions, spy or weather balloons, space junk, or even satellites that we ourselves have made.
In Spain, UFOs were a hot topic between the 1960s and the 1980s. In this era, everyone knew someone who was convinced that they had seen a UFO. This even reached the point where an exoplanet, called Ummo, was made up. It was populated by a more advanced civilisation than ours who made contact with people on Earth. In the letters these aliens supposedly sent, the ‘Ummites’ explained concepts such as genetics and cell structure.
The truth is that nowadays, reading some of these letters can be quite amusing. The story of the planet of Ummo was ultimately proved to be a monumental hoax, a fact later admitted by its own creator.
The Ummo hoax was even linked to the creation of a paedophile ring, which should make us reflect on the harmful consequences that the spread of fabricated news stories can have.
Can we deny the possibility that intelligent alien civilisations exist?
The answer, of course, is no. The universe is immense, and it is more than likely that circumstances similar to those which led to the appearance of life on Earth have been repeated on other planets. But there is a huge distance (literally and figuratively) between acknowledging the existence of these creatures and considering the possibility that they might have visited us.
Exoplanets, also known as extrasolar planets, are extremely far away, and we are limited by the speed of light which, as proven by Einstein, is the maximum possible speed at which anything can travel. Therefore, the journey to even a “nearby” exoplanet would take thousands of years. Maybe a civilisation more advanced than ours could find a way to do it faster, but not to the point of it being something easy or commonplace.
In any case, if the remains of alien life or spacecraft are stored away somewhere, why are they not being shown to us? Scientists would jump at the chance to analyse this organic matter to find out how it is structured, how it metabolises energy, or what molecules it uses to store genetic information.
Until there is proof, this is not a question of science, but rather, of stories. Stories can be very entertaining, but these kinds of stories do not help us to build a more accurate or helpful view of the world.
Ester Lázaro Lázaro, Investigadora Científica de los Organismos Públicos de Investigación. Especializada en evolución de virus, Centro de Astrobiología (INTA-CSIC)
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
The science section of our news blog STM Daily News provides readers with captivating and up-to-date information on the latest scientific discoveries, breakthroughs, and innovations across various fields. We offer engaging and accessible content, ensuring that readers with different levels of scientific knowledge can stay informed. Whether it’s exploring advancements in medicine, astronomy, technology, or environmental sciences, our science section strives to shed light on the intriguing world of scientific exploration and its profound impact on our daily lives. From thought-provoking articles to informative interviews with experts in the field, STM Daily News Science offers a harmonious blend of factual reporting, analysis, and exploration, making it a go-to source for science enthusiasts and curious minds alike. https://stmdailynews.com/category/science/
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Entertainment
Little Woodrow’s Launches 2026 Turtle Racing Season With ‘TurtleVerse’ Theme
Little Woodrow’s has launched its 2026 turtle racing season with a new TurtleVerse theme, bringing weekly Thursday night races, themed turtle competitors and a new loyalty program to locations across Texas.
Little Woodrow’s Opens 2026 Turtle Racing Season Across Texas
Little Woodrow’s is bringing back one of its most recognizable Thursday night traditions with the launch of its 2026 turtle racing season, this year under a new retro sci-fi-inspired theme called TurtleVerse. The season officially began March 5 and runs weekly through Nov. 19 at participating locations in Houston, San Antonio, Lubbock, Austin and, later this spring, Frisco.
The long-running event, which started in Midtown Houston nearly two decades ago, has grown into a signature piece of the Texas neighborhood bar chain’s identity. This year’s TurtleVerse concept adds a comic-book-style multiverse angle to the races, pairing the usual crowd energy with themed branding and a lineup of turtles carrying names like Turtle Swift, Shellvester Stallone and Timothée Shellamet.
Woody’s Brands President Ray Risley said the company wanted to build on one of Little Woodrow’s most popular traditions by leaning into both nostalgia and humor. In addition to the themed races, the company is also introducing a new Turtle Journey loyalty program, allowing guests to check in, earn points and redeem rewards throughout the season.
Little Woodrow’s said races begin at 7 or 8 p.m., depending on location. Fans can find schedules, turtle bios and loyalty program details at Little Woodrow’s website.
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Source: Woody’s Brands via PRNewswire
Looking for an entertainment experience that transcends the ordinary? Look no further than STM Daily News Blog’s vibrant Entertainment section. Immerse yourself in the captivating world of indie films, streaming and podcasts, movie reviews, music, expos, venues, and theme and amusement parks. Discover hidden cinematic gems, binge-worthy series and addictive podcasts, gain insights into the latest releases with our movie reviews, explore the latest trends in music, dive into the vibrant atmosphere of expos, and embark on thrilling adventures in breathtaking venues and theme parks. Join us at STM Entertainment and let your entertainment journey begin! https://stmdailynews.com/category/entertainment/
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