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Fresh Ideas, Real Stories, and a Lot of Laughs

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

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.

August 4, 2023

Laughing at the Misfortune of Others – Not New, Also Not Good

At Laughter on Call we make a big deal about not laughing at others. We always say we’re a laughing with company not a laughing at company. Recently someone challenged me on this, “What do you mean you don’t make fun of people? How do you make people laugh? Plus, with the egos of leaders, you have to make fun of them. They love it!”

July 28, 2023

Hunter, Farmer, Human!

I had an illuminating call this week with a company. After sharing hello’s, we got to the heart of the matter.

July 21, 2023

Acknowledge, Engage and...?

Who doesn’t love a good acronym? When they work it’s like having a gift in your pocket – with ideas inside you can actually use. One of my favorites is pronounced like the word "air."

July 14, 2023

Therapeutic Lying. Is This Really a Thing?

Spent a few weeks this month bringing laughter tools to a gorgeous senior community in New York City, Coterie Hudson Yards, after reading about it in a profile on the director Paul Shrader in The New Yorker. They don’t pay me to say nice things here, but the luxury and care their residents experience is first rate.

July 6, 2023

My "Story Spine" Summer

This week I taught “Story Spine” to my memoir class. In preparation I wrote this as a how-to example.