Laughter in Your Life:
Telling a joke can be a risky business. You might set out with the intention of using "compassionate" humor, but land up with the joke being interpreted as caustic . So you might end up offending, annoying and/or hurting the receiver (i.e. the person who will be hearing your joke. We can offer you a few pointers to avoid a major "show down!"

Taking the receiver into consideration:

• Will your joke's subject matter be offensive?
  It's very important to choose a joke that will not offend the receiver - by listening to their conversation, you can ascertain whether there are any subjects that might be taboo (e.g. sexist, racist or political jokes)
• Think about the intellectual level (age and maturity) of the receiver, in terms of the subject matter and intellectual demands of your joke. If he is too young, he won't "get" it. If he is too old, you may end up embarrassing yourself as well as annoy him.
• Timing: be aware of what mood your receiver is in. Will they be receptive to a joke or will they experience it as annoying? Watch out for subtle clues to indicate how receptive they will be:
  • watch their eyes -- are they looking at you, interested, or are they distracted by things around them?
  • check out their body language and facial expressions -- do you feel welcome, or as if you are intruding?
• Listen to the receiver's laughter:

  • You need to take the receiver into consideration before telling a joke to strike the jackpot of laughter!

    nervous or tense laughter is quite high pitched, and sounds as if it's coming from the top of their head ("TeeHee").
  • Polite but insincere laughter is hollow and from the throat ("HehHeh")
  • Laughter coming from the heart area indicates that he enjoyed the humor ("HaHa")
  • And the jackpot goes to the booming "HOHOHO," that comes from the stomach area - it indicates a thorough enjoyment and openness to more humor.

Telling a joke takes a certain amount of skill, besides the above mentioned considerations. While telling the joke, you must build up the tension in the story, and "command" that they listen - don't rush, take your time. The greater the tension build-up, the more relief there will be in laughter!

Don't worry if you just lack the knack of telling a joke, it's okay to be the laugh-er instead of the joker! Your job is to spread laughter unto all those around you just by laughing!

For more advice about making people laugh, learn from a real professional comedian, Jeremy Hotz, with our exclusive interview!