The Laughter Advantage

Advance Australia Funny!

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 04:25:00 GMT

Hi Laughter Lovers!

If you watched the news as presented by the mainstream media you could easily have got the impression that Australia Day 2012 was all about angry people, police cordons, fleeing politicians, and a lost shoe.

In the interest of balance I want to tell you about my Australia Day experience which was, thankfully, very different and a lot more fun!

I had the honour of being Australia day Ambassador for North Sydney. For many years I have been lucky enough to be an Ambassador in different parts of the country and it has always been a delightful experience.

The highlight for me is always the Citizenship Ceremony during which we welcome people from all over the globe who want to make an official commitment to being Australian. At North Sydney we had folks from dozens of countries as diverse as Myanmar and Mexico supported by cheering friends and family. It was so touching to see these new citizens beaming with joy and wiping away tears as they proudly held their Citizenship Certificates. Truth be told even I myself had a manly glisten about the eyes.

In my Ambassador’s speech I always talk about the subject I am most qualified to talk about – the Australian sense of humour. This year is my…wait for it…30year anniversary as a stand up comic. Yes, three decades ago - yes, I know, before some of you were even born - I stepped onto the stage at the Sydney Comedy Store barely able to breath from nervousness and told my first joke and got my first laugh as a comedian.

Since that night I have gone on to ply the craft of funny in every conceivable type of live venue, as well as through TV, radio, film, print and the internet. There are many things I know little about (including how to assemble a portable bar-b-cue, let’s not get into that now) but after all this time I do consider myself somewhat of an expert on what constitutes the Aussie sense of humour.

The key word I would use to describe the Australian sense of humour at its best is egalitarian. The attitude is ‘hey, we’re all basically the same, we’re all human, just get over yourself and relax about life.’ Here is one of the jokes I told my audience on Australia Day to illustrate the above view. It’s my version of a joke that was voted their favourite by thousands of Australians in a global research project called LaughLab. For me it perfectly encapsulates the flavour of Aussie humour.

Paul gazes dejectedly into a mirror at his naked body.

He says to his wife: “Look at me, I’m a mess. My face is wrinkled, my hair’s receding, my butt’s sagging, and I’ve got a bulging beer gut. Can you think of anything positive to say about my body?”

His wife looks up from her magazine and checks out Paul’s reflection.

“Well” she says “there’s certainly nothing wrong with your eyesight.”

This is a type of humour that encourages us to not take ourselves too seriously. Serious people lack the perspective that enables them to see that their point of view must be informed by consideration for the needs of others. Serious people focus on ego and miss out on expansion. Serious people are boring!

So come on Australia, let’s take a good look in the mirror at our national identity. There are certainly blemishes but there’s also a lot to like. Let’s keep Australia a country where everyone is treated fairly, where we work out our differences with words not war, and where we always remember to laugh. Advance Australia Funny!

Laughingly yours, Anthony Ackroyd (-:

Your New Year's Laughalution!

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 06:18:00 GMT

Hi Laughter Lovers,

Let’s face it, “Resolution” is a word that holds many negative connotations for many people. This is particularly true when you put the words “New" and “Year’s” in front of it.

Come on, we’ve all been there…it’s New Year’s eve and through a gob full of chocolate mousse and a skin full of dessert wine you proudly proclaim – “This is it. Tomorrow I start dieting/ jogging/ writing my novel/ tidying the garage/ going to bed earlier/ getting my finances together/ talking kindly to my spouse/ meditating in order to attain enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings / unknotting my pyjama cord."

The research of psychologist Richard Wiseman shows that only about 80% of those who make New Year’s resolutions have any success in keeping them. Most us get into a pattern of resolve, try a bit, give up, feel bad.

To remedy this I suggest that in 2012 you make a New Year’s laughalution. That’s right, I have created a ridiculous word to replace the word resolution because a laughalution is much more fun!

Here are some suggestions for your 2012 laughalutions:

This year I will consciously create more laughter in my life.

This year I will look for more opportunities to share laughter with other people.

This year I will get out of bed each morning, smile at myself in the mirror for 30 seconds and say, “For someone with eyelids superglued together with sleep and a hair style that defies certain laws of physics you’re rather attractive.”

I know it sounds corny but do you really think that bothers a man who invented a word like laughalution? The bottom line is the positive feeling you create in yourself by putting more laughter into your life will enable you to better implement all the other things you have resolved to change this year. Replace the grim determination with mirth creation and you will see results not disappointment.

Wiseman found that people who break their resolutions into smaller goals have greater success. So don’t try to transform into the life of everyone’s party all at once. Start small. After you smile at yourself in the mirror try smiling with genuine good will at the next person you see. It could make 2012 just a little bit better for both of you.

Viva la laughalution!

Laughingly yours, Anthony Ackroyd

The "Best" Christmas Cracker Jokes

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 12:06:00 GMT

Hi Laughter Lovers!

A big thank you to all of you for your interest in and enthusiasm for the wondrous human phenomenon called laughter. I’m so excited and appreciative that this blog is now read in 45 countries around the world. The laughter revolution is truly underway!

In the spirit of the season I want to share my all time favourite Christmas cracker jokes with you. Hey, why should I suffer alone! For years I’ve been collecting those tiny bits of paper containing jokes as dodgy as the crepe hats and plastic animals that jump out when our Chrissy crackers pop.

To fulfill its mission I believe a Christmas cracker joke must make us both moan at its awfulness and be just a little bit more merry because of its innocent silliness.

Here are 12 of my favs. One for each day of Christmas…

1. Why did Santa's helper see the doctor? - Because he had low "elf" esteem!

2. What goes up and never comes down? - Your age.

3. What do you get when you cross a snowman with a vampire? - Frostbite.

4. What carol is heard in the desert? - O camel ye faithful!

5. On which side do chickens have the most feathers? - The outside.

6. What did Cinderella say when the chemist lost her photographs? - Some day my prints will come!

7. What is the best Christmas present in the world? - A broken drum, you just can't beat it.

8. Why is it so difficult to train dogs to dance? - They have two left feet.

9. How do you stop a skunk smelling? - Hold its nose.

10. Who hides in the bakery at Christmas? - A mince spy!

11. What's tall and stands in the middle of Paris? - The trifle tower.

12. Knock knock! - Who's there? - Hanna - Hanna who? - Hanna partridge in a pear tree!

If you have a favourite Christmas cracker joke make sure you leave it as a comment below.

Much love and peace one and all,

Laughingly yours, Anthony

Laughgate! - The Story that Rocked a Nation (sort of)

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 21:31:00 GMT

Hi Laughter Lovers!

Well, it’s a scandal that could wipe the smile from your face. During a recent Senate Estimates hearing Australian Senator Mitch Fifield was not amused when he learned that Centrelink (the Government organization that looks after the unemployed in Australia) had spent 2660 taxpayer dollars on a staff workshop that focused on, wait for it folks, laughter.

Fifield demanded to know who was responsible for this frivolous squandering of public coffers. Wilting under the full frowning force of Senatorial interrogation Department Deputy Secretary of Enabling Services, Barbara Bennett, admitted to the committee that, yes, this instance of organized jocularity had indeed taken place on her watch.

Bennett pleaded her case that the laughter workshop served as an ice-breaker for a two day Centrelink program on leadership and was “designed as a way to have an informal moment to get to know each other better.”

Fifield would have none of it and, perhaps recalling his days in the armed forces, countered by saying that this objective could have been achieved by having the staff do jumping jacks for free. Bennett, doubtless grateful that the Senator had not asked her to “drop and give me 50”, said she would consider his suggestion for future programs.

Closure was brought to the Laughgate controversy when Department of Human Services secretary Kathryn Campbell assured the hearing that no workshop encouraging laughter at the taxpayers’ expense would ever take place again.

And so it seems Senator Fifield’s vision of a Centrelink staffed by people with straight faces and powerful quadriceps may come to pass. Which is a pity because Jumping Jack Fifield has got it completely wrong.

Over a twenty-year period I have taught thousands of people in the corporate world how to increase their ability to create and enjoy laughter. I have no connection with the group who delivered the Centrelink workshop but if they succeeded in helping staff connect with the power of laughter then those taxpayer dollars were well spent.

A burgeoning body of research proves that laughter not only feels good, it is good for business. If you’re thinking humour and laughter are all very well if you want a bit of touchy-feely but they don’t pay the bills, think again.

For a start sharing laughter simply leads to people being in good moods. And studies by the distinguished members of the Consortium for Research on Emotional Intelligence in Organisations demonstrate that good mood produces better service, and moreover that every 1 percent improvement in service climate results in a 2 percent increase in revenue.

So come on Senator Mitch don’t get mad, get merry. Laughter will even keep taxpayer funded public servants fit and reduce the cost of sick days. Dr. William Fry of Stanford University found that the effect of one minute of laughter is equivalent to 10 minutes on a rowing machine, and that must surely equate to a whole lot of jumping jacks.

Thanks for reading, guys. If you are not a LaughBites member I hope you go to my homepage www.anthonyackroyd.com and join the fun. And please share this blog so we can help put the entire world into a better mood!

Your comments are very welcome below. Talk soon!

Laughingly yours, Anthony :)

Learn more about my seminar The Laughter Advantage at http://www.anthonyackroyd.com/corporate

Laughter - Drug of Choice

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 21:33:00 GMT

Hi Laughter Lovers,

Walking through King’s Cross, Sydney yesterday I took a short cut through a back alley. There I was confronted by a shady looking character who whispered to me: “Hey, dude, wanna get high? I got some really good stuff. You’re gonna love my punchlines. C’mon, I got all the funny you need, my man – jokes, riddles, cartoons, one liners. Wrap your laughing gear around some of my amusing anecdotes and hilarious witticisms, my friend, and you will be on a humour high that will have your nucleus accumbens jumpin’ for joy!”

This guy was obviously acquainted with the research of Dr. Allan Reiss, director of the Stanford Psychiatry Neuroimaging Laboratory. Reiss and his colleagues were the first to discover that the part of the brain that responds to the enjoyment of humour is the same reward centre that responds to the pleasure of drugs such as methamphetamines and cocaine. No wonder people love to laugh. And no wonder people love people who make them laugh!

Reiss conducted an experiment in which he monitored brain activity in a group of volunteers while they viewed a series of cartoons. The funnier a volunteer found a certain cartoon the more activation there was in the part of the brain called the nucleus accumbens often referred to as NAcc. The NAcc not only lights up with pleasure under the influence of powerful drugs it also delivers the rewarding feelings we experience when we receive money or see a face we find very attractive. That's the Laughter Advantage!

The great news is that anyone can develop the skills that enable us to use laughter to trigger the reward centres in our own brains and in the brains of the people we interact with. I say this without any hesitation because over the last three decades I’ve taught these skills to thousands of people through my talks and workshops and I’ve seen the happy and often quite amazing transformations that take place when people fully grasp the power of laughter.

So I recommend you make laughter your drug of choice. It’s inexpensive, freely available, completely legal, and only has positive side effects. You might say – laughter is it’s own reward!

Laughingly yours, Anthony

Please post, share, discuss, comment. And if you haven’t already, sign up to LaughBites at www.anthonyackroyd.com

Laugh Yourself Rich!

Tue, 19 Jul 2011 03:39:00 GMT

Hi Laughter Lovers!

We’re used to the cost of living going up but alarmingly the cost of laughter is heading north too!

Humour consultant Malcolm Kushner has been compiling a Cost of Laughing Index since 1987. Kushner tracks the prices of 16 leading humor indicators, including such items as rubber chickens, Mad magazine and tickets to comedy clubs. Over all the cost of these essentials has risen a saddening 3% in the last year.

And I hope you’re sitting down folks because I have to tell you that the cost of Groucho glasses has shot up by a staggering 60 percent in just two years and they are now $24 a dozen!

But have you ever stopped to consider the high cost of not laughing?

Sure the emotional, psychological and social costs of a laugh-deprived life are tragic but let’s talk dollars and cents. Let me tell you folks, the punchline affects the bottom line – and you can take that to the bank.

In case you weren’t casually sitting on the couch last night reading researcher Fabio Sala’s report “Relationship between Executive’s Spontaneous Use of Humor and Effective Leadership” let me fill you in on what he found out about the value of laughter.

Sala analysed the ability of a group of executives to create laughter. He found that the executives who had achieved outstanding financial results in their careers used humour twice as often as less successful execs. In another study of CEOs he found the most successful made humourous remarks three times as often as the less successful.

But why should laughter skills lead to loot? Sala explains that “a natural facility with humor is intertwines with, and appears to be a marker for…high emotional intelligence.” A pair of Groucho glasses is starting to look like a damn good investment – hang the expense!

In my next blog I’ll explain how developing a sense of humour helps you develop other incredibly valuable qualities that will boost your emotional intelligence and therefore your financial success.

Until then go forth and be funny - your bank manager will thank you!

Laughingly yours, Anthony Ackroyd

Laugh, the Joke's in You!

Mon, 18 Apr 2011 01:11:00 GMT

Laugh, the Joke’s in You!

Hi Laughter Lovers,

Before I get into the subject of this blog I really want to thank all of the people who read and enjoyed my very first blog “Put Your Laughter on the Line!” The response has been wonderful! Special thanks to those who subscribed, commentated, and shared. So let the laughter continue…

I’ve been a professional comedian now for three decades and have had thousands of conversations with audience members after live performances. Laughter is a delightfully pleasurable, liberating experience for most people and we often feel a sense of gratitude to those who deliver the gift and want to express their appreciation

It’s lovely to be told “thanks, that was great” or “I haven’t laughed so much in ages”. Professional comedy is hard and such feedback is always very welcome.

However, over the years I’ve come to identify a specific type of person who frequently makes a certain type of comment. After saying how much they enjoyed the show their smile fades and their expression becomes wistful as they say something like “I wish I could be funny.”

What they are actually saying I think is “I wish I had more laughter in my life”. They are suffering from laughter deficiency because they believe that laughter is something they can only access through an outside source. This assumption is disempowering and can really put a dampener of your laugh life!

When I give my “Laugh for Life!” seminars I always enjoy the reaction when I make the following statement – “Creating laughter is not about being funny!” The response is often a sea of quizzical expressions. But really understanding this statement is the key to increasing the amount of laughter in our lives.

It’s been proven that most laughter in everyday life is created not through jokes or witty one-liners but through friendliness, warmth, and playfulness in the context of conversation.

In his book Laughter: A Scientific Investigation neuroscientist Robert Provine examines in detail what triggers laughter between people in a social context. In one study he and his researchers recorded 1200 “laughter episodes” in everyday conversations to see what caused the laughter.

Provine found that around 90% of laughter was preceded by very commonplace comments such as “There you go!” or questions like ‘How are you?” Not what we usually think of as funny lines. In other words it’s not about the content of what we say but the energy given out.

This is good news! It means we all have the power to create and enjoy laughter. We can in fact all be “funny” in the sense that we can all bring about laughter by just extending friendliness, by giving people our interest and warmth, by being a good humoured human.

As an experiment watch and listen for what produces laughter in your everyday conversations with friends. Do Provine’s results prove true?

And then why not see if you can warm someone’s day with laughter, maybe someone you don’t even know…

You could smile and say “how are you going, looks busy?” to the check out person at the supermarket and show them you actually care about their response.

If you’re waiting in the rain at a bus stop you could turn to the person next to you and say with a laugh “Wow, beautiful weather, isn’t it.”

The point is that we all have many opportunities to be a friendliness creator and this often leads to that wonderful experience called laughter. An experience that makes life a whole lot better not only for others but also for ourselves.

Please leave a comment below or perhaps a story about your experiences with encountering or creating laughter in your life.

And if you haven’t already done so, I invite you to sign up to LaughBites on the home page and become part of the community. Love to have you on board!

Laughingly yours, Anthony

And if you would like to check out Robert Provine's book on the science of laughter here is the link:

Put your laugh on the line!

Mon, 18 Apr 2011 04:26:00 GMT

Pssst…how’s your laugh life? Are you getting enough? It’s a personal question but since no one is watching, come on, why not answer honestly?

Imagine you are standing up and that a line is extending out in front of you. The line is about the length of a bowling alley but at the end of the line there are not ten pins but a flagpole sporting a bright blue flag fluttering gently in the wind at head height.

This line is your life’s laugh line and you will use it to get an idea of how much laughter you currently experience in your life. When I give my “Laugh for Life!” workshop I have people physically walk along that line but you can do it now in your imagination.

In a moment you will mentally walk out and position yourself at some point along your line that represents how much laughter, humour, fun, and play you feel you are currently experiencing in your life. Of course each day of our lives has a different level of laughter but you are going to position yourself at a point that you feel represents your average daily amount.

So for example if you were to position yourself right next to the flag you are saying that your life is jam packed with laughter and you could not imagine possibly fitting more in. Your laugh life is perfect. If your feet don’t even move that means you have zero laughter in your life at the moment. Half way down the line would indicate that you get a moderate dose of daily laughter. You get the idea but remember you can stand anywhere on the line that seems about right.

Okay, ready to walk your laughter line? Be truthful with yourself but don’t be judgmental. It’s not a competition and wherever you are on that line just happens to be where you are right now. What we are after here is helpful self-knowledge so why not humour me and do this little mental exercise!

So, here goes. Gently close your eyes, see the line with the blue flag at the end, and in your imagination walk out to any position on the line that represents the current level of laughter, humour, fun, and play that you experience day to day. Do it now and I’ll be right here when you finish the exercise.

Where did you end up on your line? Were you surprised? Pleased? Disappointed?

I first did this exercise for a seminar group 17 years ago and since then one thing has changed and one has remained consistent.

The thing that has changed is that, although there is always a spread of positions on the line, over the years a larger number of people have begun to clump below the halfway mark. Are we laughing less these days? Yes, seems to be the answer. A study by Dr. Michael Titze (ah, yes, his real name), a German psychologist reported that in the 1950s people laughed on average 18 minutes a day, and today the average is 4-6 minutes.

The thing that has remained consistent over 17 years is that when I continue with the exercise and ask people to position themselves where they would actually like to be on the line everyone moves further towards the blue flag. Everyone wants more laughter in their lives. And the very good news is that this is definitely achievable.

My entire adult life has been about helping people move further down that line towards more laughter, humour, play, and fun. I’ve done this as a comedian, a clown doctor, a speaker, and a writer. I’m passionate about this mission because I believe that the further society is down that line the happier we all become and the happier our world becomes.

So I’m launching this blog in the hope that I can help you advance in the direction of a life filled with increasing amounts of laughter.

I know that incorporating more of the positive energy of play, fun, and humour into your life will make you happier and more successful in your career. It will make you more successful in relationships and it will help you become wealthier.

I know all this not just because evidence based research proves it, but because I have seen all these results happen for people time and time again during my thirty years of experience in the laughter business.

Becoming what I call a good humoured human is probably the best thing we can do for ourselves. So I hope you will join me regularly for these blogs. I encourage you to subscribe so you don’t miss anything.

I’d also love to hear your thoughts so please post your comments. And let me know if there are particular topics you are interested in relating to comedy, laughter, humour, and play that you would like to have discussed and learn more about.

As Woody Allen said “I am thankful for laughter except when milk comes out of my nose.” And even then it’s pretty damn wonderful!

Laughingly yours, Anthony