It's funny business! Learn leadership & business skills to deal with people & handle life's curveballs. A professional comedian offers laughs & practical tips. Today Jan shares one of the keys of her success! It's funny business! Learn leadership & business skills to deal with people & handle life's curveballs. A professional comedian offers laughs & practical tips. Funny comedian & top keynote speaker Jan McInnis's unique, fun and useful ideas will help you develop solutions to your own work and life issues. Jan is an established comedy writer. She's sold material for Jay Leno’s Tonight Show monologue on the Tonight Show as well as many other people, places and groups – radio, TV, syndicated cartoon strips, and even guests on the Jerry Springer show (her parents are proud). For over 25+ years she’s traveled country as a comedian, keynote speaker, and Master of Ceremonies. She's shared her clean comedy with thousands of organizations, and her business tips with thousands of corporations and associations. She's been onstage in front of everyone from the Mayo Clinic to several of the Federal Reserve Banks. Jan is also currently co-starring in the Baby Boomer Comedy Show, touring theatres with comedian Kent Rader, and she is also an excellent Master of Ceremonies! Jan is the author of two books "Finding the Funny Fast – How to Create Quick Humor to Connect with Clients, Coworkers & Crowds," and "Convention Comedian – Stories and Wisdom From Two Decades of Chicken Dinners and Comedy Clubs." Her short stories can be heard on her popular podcast: "Comedian Stories: Tales From the Road in Under 5 Minutes." What's in store every week? Monday – Friday – Jan offers a quick tip for managing work and personal life Saturday – a tip for Finding the Funny . . . Jan will help you find the funny in your life with a quick tip on using humor Sunday – It's time to sit back and enjoy a minute of Jan's clean comedy from her shows Jan has shared her humor keynotes with groups such as... Mayo Clinic Abbott Pharmaceuticals Sanofi Aventis Pharmaceuticals Kaiser-Permanente Davita Dialysis Centers Blue Cross Blue Shield National Council for Prescription Drug Companies Organization of Nurse Leaders Federal Reserve Banks BDO Accounting Transamerica Insurance & Investment Group Merrill Lynch American Institute of CPAs National League of Cities International Worker's Compensation Fund LA County Management Association Social Security Administration Southern California Public Power Authority U.S. Air Force American Heart Associations Go Red For Women luncheons Speaking of Women's Health International Association of Administrative Professionals Toyota Women’s Conference Women in Insurance and Financial Services Soroptimists Women in Film & Video Henry Ford Health Centers Women’s Event Breast cancer awareness School Business Officials associations School superintendent associations School boards associations State education associations Community college associations Head Start associations Texas adult protective services Association of Elementary and Middle School Principals International Association of Emergency Managers Disney Emergency Managers COPIC Salt Lake County Public Works and Municipal Services Disaster Recovery Conference Pennsylvania Governor’s Occupational Safety and Health conference Mid Atlantic Safety conference and Chesapeake Regional Safety Council Risk associations American Association of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation Rehabilitation Associations NIGP Public procurement associations Public purchasing associations correctional associations public utilities public personnel associations rural housing associations community action associations Health Information Management Associations Healthcare Financial Management Associations Hospitals Home Healthcare Associations Assisted Living Associations Medical Group Manageme...
Funny comedian & top keynote speaker Jan McInnis's unique, fun and useful ideas will help you develop solutions to your own work and life issues. Jan is an established comedy writer. She's sold material for Jay Leno’s Tonight Show monologue on the Tonight Show as well as many other people, places and groups – radio, TV, syndicated cartoon strips, and even guests on the Jerry Springer show (her parents are proud). For over 25+ years she’s traveled country as a comedian, keynote speaker, and Master of Ceremonies. She's shared her clean comedy with thousands of organizations, and her business tips with thousands of corporations and associations. She's been onstage in front of everyone from the Mayo Clinic to several of the Federal Reserve Banks. Jan is also currently co-starring in the Baby Boomer Comedy Show, touring theatres with comedian Kent Rader, and she is also an excellent Master of Ceremonies! Jan is the author of two books "Finding the Funny Fast – How to Create Quick Hum...
I think I actually had that thought when I was in my marketing job. I talked about using statistics in yesterdays humor tip, so that's an example of how I did it. I hope you're having a wonderful Sunday. If you want to hear stories from my comedy career, check out my short podcast wherever you listen to podcasts. It's called Comedian Stories. I kick off with a joke, tell a short 3 or 4 minute story, and end with a take-away tip from what I learned. All under 5 minutes. That's it for today. Take care and enjoy your journey.
And it's the Saturday edition of Finding the Funny, which means I'll be giving you a tip to find the funny yourself! I've written for everyone from the Tonight Show to radio, syndicated cartoon strips, CEO's, companies like airline food vendors. I now travel the country showing organizations how to use humor in business. So here's your 60 second tip. . . Use statistics. They may be boring, but they are your friend in comedy. Make them up or find out ones. If you find out that 60% of people do one particular thing, then you can make up what the other 40% do or vice versa. Statistics are weird and they are kept , and then make up reasons why this is what it is. It's a fun, quick way to find the funny. Listen to tomorrow's joke to hear one of my statistic jokes If you want more fast tips on coming up with humor in your communications, then check out my book on Amazon – Finding the Funny Fast. It's how to create quick humor to connect with clients, coworkers and crowds. That's it for t...
If you watch 20 comics, you may see 20 different approaches to telling a joke. In my act I do 3-4 jokes a minute, and I like the set-up punch style of Rodney Dangerfield and Jay Leno. If you don't like this one, then you'll like this one. But other comics like to tell stories, and other comics like to tell stock jokes that we've all heard, and some comics like to act out and be physical while tell jokes, while others like to be deadpan. I'm talking this week about humor rules, and while there aren't many in a comedy club, aside from be funny, there are a few if you want to do the humor out in the real world as a non-comedian. And today's tip is . . . do the humor that YOU, yourself, think is funny. Then you'll have fun doing it AND you'll sell it better. If you like knock knock jokes, okay, I guess you can do them. Whatever it is. I tell up and coming comedians, that they should try to write clean so they can find the punchline, BUT if they curse a lot, then they won't be comfortabl...
I always have a client call before my keynotes and comedy shows. And people try to come up with funny things, instead of just telling me the facts and let ME come up with the funny. And people have actually said things to me such as "make fun of her hair" or "make fun of his divorce." Wow, really? Would you say that to them? We're talking humor rules this week and my tip today sounds obvious, but shockingly it's not. Don't make jokes about something that you wouldn't say to their face. The only caveat to this is if you're a comedian in a comedy club and that's your thing, or you're roasting people. But I'm talking about if you just want to come up with every day humor, or joke around a bit. Don't do it at the expense of others. I talked earlier this week about not joking about sensitive subjects, but you should also not joke about personal issues . . . even if you're going to get a huge laugh. Don't get laughs at other people's expense unless that's you're goal and you're fine with ...
I was performing for a group of 4400 people. It was a dinner event, and they ran out of dinners for 1500 people. It was plated, so basically they miscounted by 1500 meals. AND it was their employee appreciate banquet. As a comedian, I wanted to get onstage, pull the curtain back and say "hey, I found them." I didn't do that – why? Well this week's tips are on humor rules, and my tip today is to watch the sensitive subjects. . . don't take the easy shot. People had stormed out of this dinner, so the people left behind would have loved my joke about it – they obviously had a sense of humor, so I could have come up with several killer lines. BUT the client was backstage crying. She had messed up big time, and she knew it. I knew she was crying backstage, and I didn't want to get laughs at her expense. When we're coming up with humor, sometimes you're tempted to take the easy shot and make fun of something someone has worked on, or make fun of a BIG mistake someone made. Watch yoursel...
Years ago I got to do comedy in front of 500 blind merchant. I was the only sighted person in the room, so of course as a comedian, the first thing I want to say when I get on stage is "hey, I'm naked!" But I didn't. Why? Okay, maybe it's a bad visual, but also they had put in my contract that they have heard every blind joke on the planet, so I can't do them. Period. They had a GREAT sense of humor, but they've heard all the blind jokes they want to hear. My tips this week are on humor rules, and while there pretty much aren't any rules if you're a comedian in a comedy club, there are some general rules for non-comedians. And today's tip is to don't do the obvious jokes. It's not about being politically correct, it's the person or group you're joking with has probably heard it all. So you're not being funny, you're being obvious! Try to be a little more creative than regurgitating a fact they already know. I did a show for postal workers, and my friends were saying I should talk ab...
There are few rules for humor, and in fact, I think the only big rule in comedy is to be funny. You can be dirty, clean, insulting or whatever, but as long as you're funny, you've fulfilled the job requirement. That's the number one rule for the comedy clubs anyway. BUT doubtful most of you will be performing in a comedy club. So, if you want to tell jokes around family, friends, or the office, there really are a few loose rules that you might want to pay attention to. And that's what I'll be focusing on this week – humor rules. Today's tip . . . only make fun of a group that you are a member of. If you're bald, you can make bald jokes. If you're obviously overweight, you can make fat jokes. If you're not, then don't. Ask if you belong to that group, only THEN you can do some humor about it. Beware, you still might make people uncomfortable, but at least you're in the same boat as them. It's that simple rule, but people break it all the time, and then they get themselves in trouble...
The won custody punchline wasn't the original punchline. My communications tips this week tell you how I get a little information over to you so that you get the joke. Check them out. And if you want to hear short stories from my comedy travels, check out my podcast – Comedian Stories. It's a very short podcast, under 5 minutes. I kick it off with a joke, tell a quick story and end with a take-away tip of what I learned. That's it for today. Take care and enjoy your journey.