Why Opening a Presentation with a Joke (Almost) Never Works

Opening a presentation with a joke may seem like a clever idea to break the ice with your audience, but if I’m being honest, this strategy carries the highest risk of backfiring.

The audience’s attention is at its highest at the start of your presentation.

So imagine this: they’re giving you all their attention but then hear a canned joke that isn’t funny, or worse, is slightly offensive.

Awkward silence and eye rolls. Nobody wants that when they’re presenting!

In this article, I highlight the top 6 reasons why starting your presentation with a joke is a risky move.

I’ve also analyzed real-world examples of “bad jokes” to show you how this strategy can derail even the most well-intentioned presentation.

Reason 1: The joke may not work. (Awkward!)

There are several reasons why canned jokes may not work in a presentation.

First, humor is highly subjective. A joke that one person finds funny, another may find confusing or offensive.

In the publication ‘What Makes a Joke Bad,’ humor researcher Dr. Michael Cundall writes:

Bad jokes are not simply non-humorous texts. They are texts that are humorous for someone — their author at least — but not for their audience.

For a joke to work, the audience needs to find it funny, not just the presenter.

If you don’t know who will be in the audience, it’s not worth forcing humor with a joke. Instead, use organic and authentic ways to add humor to your presentation.

Second, canned jokes require good comedic timing and snappy delivery.

Even comedians get it wrong at times. So, unless you’re sure of your delivery skills or, better yet, have practiced delivering the joke to an audience, it’s probably best to use another type of work-appropriate presentation humor instead of a joke.

Third, cultural differences or varying senses of humor across different age groups in the audience can cause misunderstandings. It doesn’t matter if you ‘didn’t mean it’, you might still end up in ‘damage control’ mode once you’re done.

Lastly, let’s assume that the joke is hilarious. Even then, if your audience isn’t warmed up enough, they simply won’t laugh. Imagine you’re delivering the very first talk of the day at 8:30 am. Expecting your audience to laugh while they haven’t yet settled in, either physically or mentally, is a tall order.

Reason 2: The joke can offend people in the audience. (Yikes!)

Canned jokes come with a big risk of offending some people in the audience, intentionally or unintentionally.

During the ’90s, social events were rife with people sharing ‘dumb blonde jokes’ that haven’t aged well. In fact, they’re seen as misogynistic in today’s professional settings.

Let’s take this joke example below that can easily offend a subsection of the audience during a presentation:

I know it’s not possible to please everyone during our presentation, especially when addressing a mixed audience. But using jokes that offend or exclude groups of people is a complete no-no as you risk losing their attention and respect for the rest of the presentation.

Worse, if the group offended happens to include a VIP that directly influences your career prospects, yikes, it’s too late to apologize!

Reason 3: The joke is irrelevant and confuses the audience. (Cue: furrowed eyebrows)

There’s nothing more embarrassing than having to explain a joke by repeatedly asking, “Get it?”

Um. Yes, they got it. And they aren’t amused. In fact, they’re slightly irritated and just want to pull out their phones to watch cat videos.

For example, the silly joke below is actually listed on the internet as a ‘conference ice-breaker’:

Instead, if you’re looking for workplace-friendly humor to use in your presentation, consider including industry-specific memes. There are hundreds to choose from and you’re likely to find one that matches your subject matter.

Reason 4: A failed joke can shake your confidence

If the joke doesn’t land, especially at the start of the presentation, it can rattle your confidence and affect the rest of the talk.

In this situation, one coping mechanism is to simply carry on presenting.

That’s definitely easier said than done.

I know from personal experience that it’s quite challenging to “fake” confidence to an audience when you’re doubting yourself on the inside.

Reason 5: Risk of disengaging the audience

If the joke is poorly received, the audience may mentally check out and no longer pay attention to your message.

To win them over again, you may need other on-the-spot audience engagement strategies, which only puts more pressure on your shoulders.

Reason 6: A distasteful joke can damage credibility

Jokes that come across as inappropriate or tone-deaf can significantly jeopardize the presenter’s credibility and trivialize the main message of the presentation.

Not only is this an unwanted distraction for the audience, but it also erodes trust and authority.

Here’s an example of a poorly chosen joke:

I’ve seen so many of these credibility-squashing one-liners that, (un)fortunately, I have another example for you:

Alternatives to Opening a Presentation with a Joke: Other Humor Types

Jokes aside, humor is a powerful communication tool that, if used well, can make your message more memorable and build a rapport with your audience.

A light-hearted comment, situational observation, personal anecdotes, tasteful self-deprecation, or industry-specific memes tend to work much better than structured jokes.

Instead of structured jokes, are a few “safer” and better humor alternatives:

• A light-hearted comment
• Situational observation
• Personal anecdotes
• Tasteful self-deprecation
• Industry-specific memes
• GIFs
• Clever word-play combined with a fun theme

Next steps:

I’ve covered 6 different types of presentation humor techniques (that don’t use canned jokes) in another article. Feel free to check that out. FYI: The humor techniques are categorized from easy to advanced so there’s something for you, no matter what level of humor you’re comfortable with.