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Fresh Ideas, Real Stories, and a Lot of Laughs

Insights on laughter, leadership, and team culture direct from our founder

October 27, 2023

Add Laughter to your "Boo!"

I shut my eyes and plug my ears at scary movies. And I can’t bear those amusement park rides where your stomach drops before the rest of your body. I don’t understand the thrill of terrorizing yourself. Halloween is here with it's ghoulish figures on lawns, pre-recorded screams coming from bushes, and $40 bags of candy.

October 13, 2023

What's there to Laugh About?

What a sh*t week. Tough to write about laughter. Even typing the word on the page seems tone deaf.

October 6, 2023

Have you heard the one about hugs?

Last week as I was leaving a conference, or it may have been a dance class, I overheard someone behind me announce, “Eight hugs a day, that’s what we need to feel good!” I turned toward the voice and saw a woman embracing another woman, squeezing her and smiling before untangling herself and waving good-bye.

September 29, 2023

Have you tapped into Compassionate Candor yet?

“Compassionate Candor” is HOT right now. It’s popping up all over my social media because leaders are scrambling for a fresh take on how to create cultures where people want to come to work.

September 23, 2023

The Loc Pivot!

In November it will be two years since I had the idea to hire a comedian to cheer my mother up. For those of you visiting Laughter On Call for the first time, I had moved her to Los Angeles near me from New York City because Alzheimer’s was getting the better of her. Initially she adjusted well, but after realizing she was not in a glamourous hotel and was not returning to her home, she became depressed.

September 21, 2023

Birthdays and Better Drugs!

I have a big birthday coming. I’m not going to say which one but it’s not hard to figure out. As Jerry Herman wrote and Bea Arthur sang in the song “Bosom Buddies,” in Mame, “somewhere between 40 and death.”

September 15, 2023

Seniors: We’ve Only Just Begun

Last week the NY Times asked in big bold, all-capped letters, “Can we age gracefully?” They shared this piece at a conference I attended at USC “Aging is Now | Aging is the Future hosted by USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology in collaboration with USC Marshall School of Business.

September 8, 2023

Back To Our Future

I’ve been out of school too many decades to cop to and yet it never fails when Labor Day hits I get that back to school feeling all over again.

August 31, 2023

We Are What We Do

Some of you may have seen the celebratory video we shot to honor our 5 year anniversary! It was a wonderful way to look back and appreciate our relatively brief history. Recently I had a call with a consultant who said, “Yeah, I saw the video and kinda thought, so what?” Ouch.

August 25, 2023

We're FIVE!!! Happy Birthday to us!

Wait, what? FIVE YEARS? I feel like I do scrolling through pictures of my friends’ offspring springing off to college. I have a vivid memory of the first Laughter On Call meeting, before it even had a name.

August 18, 2023

I Made A Mistake

At the start of every Laughter On Call session we establish two key rules. 1)We are a laughing with company not a laughing at company and 2) There are no mistakes and no wrong answers. We do this to set up a space where all ideas are welcome, where you will feel safe to get out of your comfort zone and take risks. The intention here is to create this level of acceptance in controlled circumstances and set a precedent for future communication.

August 11, 2023

Knowing Your Audience - The Power of Empathy

Why does Laughter On Call include empathy in our laughter training? Because it falls exactly in line with something every comedian relies on to do their best work. Knowing your audience. When you know your audience and can figure out how to relate to them, to empathize with their experience, you are that much more likely to get laughs.