INTERVIEWS with...

Joel Goodman (he's the one on the left) is the authour of eight jest-selling books including Laffirmations: 1,001 Ways to Add Humor to Your Life and Work.

"Having a childlike perspective is actually a mature,powerful, and serious life skill."

Goodman puts his money where his mirth is (whoa, this pun thing is catching!). The HUMOR Project has provided grants to over 450 schools, hospitals, and human service agencies to help them tap the positive power of fun.

"Humor can be awful… humor can be wonderful!"

"At that instant, while holding onto each other, we realized that this was a metaphor for “Laughter Has No Accent”:  that we were “in this together” and that we either would crash together or rise together.  It was at that moment that we knew that levity defies the gravity of any world situation."

Find out more about Joel Goodman at
www.HumorProject.com

JOEL GOODMAN

WHEN IT COMES TO SAVING THE PLANET A LITTLE LAUGHTER WOULDN'T HURT. IN FACT ACCORDING TO JOEL GOODMAN, WORLD HUMOUR EXPERT AND PRINCE OF PUNS, IT COULD BE JEST THE THING WE NEED!

I say “humour”, he says “humor”. However Dr. Joel Goodman and I are soon able to put our Trans-Pacific spelling differences aside and talk about the power of laugher. And it would be pretty damn hard to find anyone more qualified than Joel with whom to discuss the subject.

In 1977 Joel founded both The HUMOR Project, whose laughter lauding website has attracted over four million visitors, and AHA!, the American Humor Association, which includes 160,000 “humor conspirators”. His work has been featured in more than 4500 TV and radio shows, newspapers, and magazines in 150 countries .

Not only has Joel received the International Lifetime of Laughter Award he was the also the first recipient of the International Punster of the Year Award (Joel signs off every email with “jest wishes” – brace yourself he’s got lots more where that came from!).

He tried to swim a raging river fully clothed at the age of two, helped end the Cold War by sharing a hot air balloon with a Soviet comedian, and has sponsored 50 international humour conferences that have attracted people from all over the and even one person from the Moon.

Jest a minute, did you say “the Moon”? All is revealed in this interview with remarkable humour pioneer, Joel Goodman.

Joel, you’re given thirty seconds to convince world leaders they need to laugh more— what do you say?

One of my favorite quotes is from John F. Kennedy:  “There are three things which are real: God, human folly, and laughter.  The first two are beyond our comprehension.  So we must do what we can with the third.”  Leaders must do what they can with the third, because this world is getting smaller and flatter all the time.  If we are going to survive as a species… and better yet, if we’re going to thrive, then we need to tap the positive power of humor.  In the face of sometimes insane and inhumane situations, humor can help us individually and collectively to keep our sanity and humanity. 

Why do we need organizations like The HUMOR Project to remind us of what should be obvious, that laughter is good for us?

Sometimes “common sense” is not so common.  Sometimes “common sense of humor” is not so common.  I founded The HUMOR Project in 1977 as the first organization in the world to focus fool-time on the positive power of humor.  In the past 30 years, more than three million people from around the planet have attended our programs.  From the very beginning, I discovered that when I was doing presentations and writing on humor that it somehow was giving people permission to acknowledge the importance of humor in their own lives and jobs. 

Early on, I also discovered that there are some common “mythconceptions” about humor that prevented people from using this common sense.

What are the most common of these common mythconceptions? 

(1)The myth that humor is childish:  I have learned from my own children (Adam and Alyssa) that there is a big difference between behaviors that are childish and perspectives that are childlike.  It’s a simple switch of letters, but a profound difference in impact.  I believe that having a childlike perspective is actually a mature, powerful, and serious life skill.

(2)The myth that people won’t take me seriously if I use humor:  I firmly believe that it is crucial that we take our jobs, goals, and values seriously… and that we simultaneously take ourselves lightly.  There is a big difference between someone who is a “serious” professional and someone who is a “solemn” professional.  We need to strive for excellence… and we also need to be able to laugh at ourselves when we ain’t perfekt.

(3)The myth that humor is genetically delivered:  Although some people may be genetically gifted with strong comedy genes, I firmly believe that most “mere mortals” can nurture their sense of humor.  I learned this from the brilliant Steve Allen (renowned comedian, composer, and author) when I interviewed him for our LAUGHING MATTERS magazine.  He noted, “When it comes to humor, we are all born with a genetic ceiling and floor.  But it’s what we do in our lives that influences whether we end up on the ceiling or the floor.”  When I started The HUMOR Project, my goal was not to analyze humor to death, but rather to see if there are practical, powerful, and playful ways of bringing humor to life.  I’m happy to report that there are (as reflected in the subtitle of my LAFFIRMATIONS book:  1,001 Ways to Add Humor to Your Life and Work).

(4)The myth that humor has to be hurtful and at someone else’s expense:  I noticed early on that some people shied away from humor, because their only or predominant experience was having humor used as a weapon.  Humor can be awful… humor can be wonderful!  More people will embrace and use humor if it is used as a tool to build people up and to bring people together… and not as a weapon to tear people down and tear people apart.  Let’s choose to tap the positive power of humor… that’s when laughter is good for us.

What’s your earliest laughter-related memory?

I learned the value of a humorous perspective early in my life.  My Mom, who has been my most important ongoing model of humor, showed me the way.  For example, when I was two years old, my friend Barry and I were outside one cold winter day near a little stream (which probably seemed like a raging river to us).  A couple of big kids (probably six years old at the time) stood on the other side of the stream and gave us a dare we could not refuse.  They challenged us that we could not swim.  Of course, Barry and I set out to prove them wrong.  We promptly walked into the stream (fully clothed in our winter garb) and proceeded to flail about in the water.  I can remember laughing to myself that we were fooling the big kids, because Barry and I were standing in the stream while moving our arms and “faking” swimming.  In retrospect, methinks the big kids were really the ones who had the last (and best) laugh.  Barry and I then triumphantly marched home.  We were met there by the disbelieving looks of our mothers.  Upon hearing the inevitable “What have you been doing!?”, we simply semi-toothlessly explained, “We went fwimmin!”  At that point, Barry’s mother exploded and “cracked the whip” on him by bawling him out, while my Mom tried her very best to keep from exploding and cracking up with laughter.  My Mom’s sense of humor saved my life.

What influences shaped your own sense of humour?  Has it stayed the same or changed over the years?

As mentioned above, my Mom has been a big influence.  My own most important humor mentors are my children Adam (now 25) and Alyssa (now 21).  Their creativity, spontaneity, playfulness, and humor were contagious.  As we were raising them, they definitely raised my sense of humor.  My young-in-mind-body-heart-and-spirit wife Margie has also been very important to me.  She and I are partners in The HUMOR Project and we share a common commitment to “making a difference” in others’ lives by tapping the power of humor.  She is my soul-mate and comic spirit… and she still laughs at my witticisms.  From childhood on, I’I've always enjoyed and tried to use positive humor— humor that is “laughing with others” rather than “laughing at others.”  Depending on my mood, I enjoy many different flavors of humor… everything from physical comedy to cerebral humor to observational humor to spontaneous humor to puns (I have the dubious distinction of being selected in 1988 as the very first International Punster of the Year).

What does humour give us as human beings that no other experience can provide?

I think humor is actually one of the most important qualities that makes us human.  I think we should actually rename our species into “humor beings.”

You’ve said that humour is more important than ever in our “flatter, mad hatter world.”  What sort of world is this you speak of and what part does humour play in it?

I have had the good fortune in my serendipitous career to speak on many occasions in Australia, England, Norway, Sweden, Germany, Japan, Taiwan, Panama, Russia, South Africa, and humor hot spots in between.  Over the past 30 years, The HUMOR Project has sponsored 50 international humor conferences that have attracted tens of thousands of people from Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Denmark, England, Finland, Germany, Ghana, Guam, Holland, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Norway, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Scotland, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, South Africa, all 50 states in the U.S.A., and The Moon (Apollo Moon-walking astronaut).

From all of these international contacts, I am aware that the world is getting proverbially smaller all the time.  In the face of accelerating change and technology, with the advent of the World Wide Web and the emergence of verbs like “google”, we need to “get along” with our fellow travelers on this planet now more than ever.  Many years ago, my good friend Dr. Jim Boren saw humor as a wonderful way to build bridges between countries and cultures.  He set up a humor-exchange program in which five top Soviet humorists (which is not an oxymoron) came to the United States and five top American humorists and humor educators traveled to the Soviet Union (this was an attempt to use humor as a positive “global warming” in the midst of the Cold War).  I was very fortunate to be selected as part of the group that went to the U.S.S.R. and also hosted the Soviets when they came to our country. 

Jim’s theme for this humor-exchange program was “Laughter has no accent!”  If you think about it, Jim was right.  When people laugh, we don’t know what “language” they are laughing in… because laughter is a universal language.

I love the quote on your Website from Erma Bombeck:  “When humour goes, there goes civilization!”  Do you see humour as a hallmark of a civilized society?

Absolutely!  One of my other favorite quotes is from Garrison Keillor who is a popular radio humorist and author in our country.  Garrison observed, “Humor is a not a trick, not jokes.  Humor is a presence in the world— like grace— and shines on everybody.”  For me, humor is amazing grace and amusing grace. 

A personal example:  As part of the Laughter Has No Accent exchange noted above, when we were hosting the Soviets in our area, we arranged for a special hot air balloon festival at the height of the Fall foliage over the picturesque Adirondack Mountains in upstate New York.  Five hot air balloons each carried the pilot, a Soviet humorist, and his American counterpart.  I was in the balloon with Soviet humor journalist Andrey Benyukh.  As we were floating over the breathtaking landscape, I discovered that Andrey was afraid of heights.  As you might imagine, this literally became a breath-taking experience for him.  As Andrey was holding on to me for dear life, he and I continued talking.  We discovered that his daughter was named Alicia… and mine is named Alyssa.  At that instant, while holding onto each other, we realized that this was a metaphor for “Laughter Has No Accent”:  that we were “in this together” and that we either would crash together or rise together.  It was at that moment that we knew that levity defies the gravity of any world situation.

I have a copy of the book PLAYFAIR, which you wrote with fellow humourist Matt Weinstein.  It was published in 1980 and in the photos everyone looks so innocent and optimistic, laughing people in bell-bottoms, braces, and cheesecloth.  Twenty-seven years later, do you think we’ve blown it, or, as we believe here at the United Nations Of Comedy, can humour save humanity?

You forgot to mention how much longer our hair was then (and it was certainly more plentiful, too).  Years ago, people belittled the dinosaurs as being “too dumb” to survive.  To get some perspective, the dinosaurs were hanging out on planet earth for 185 million years during the Mesozoic Age.  What chance would the odds-makers give us for human beings to be around that long?  I believe (and hope) that laughter can lead to longevity.  If we “jest for the health of it,” if we tickle stress before it tackles us, if we move from “grim and bear it” to “grin and share it,” if we activate the HAHA-AHA (humor-creativity) connection, if we link laughter and learning, if we try to get more smileage out of our lives and jobs, and if we apply Victor Borge’s notion that “A smile is the shortest distance between two people,” then we have a chance.  Check back with me in 184 million years… because humor is a great way to add years to your life… and life to your years!

« BACK to INTERVIEWS