Belinda Darcey

Funny stuff gets noticed and, more importantly, shared. Done right, humor can convey a message in a way that is far more effective than just the plain facts.

But the thing about humor is that it's subjective. Where comedy writers and ad creatives excel is in their ability to package what most people will find funny or better yet, what a targeted segment of people will find funny, together with a brand, product or service’s message.

This is a tough balancing act: too much funny and the message is lost; too much message and the funny won’t spread.

Creatives and comedy writers also have a learned and often innate sense of “what will play on Broadway” as they are typically shameless extroverts, and therefore keen observers of what gets laughs and what doesn’t, as well as of social and cultural trends.

Paddy was a young and hard working Irishman at a coastal village in Ireland. Every day, he would pole a heavy old punt out to sea, then work a heavy iron grapple to bring up the sand oysters which he sold to the local fish store. He was a man of regular habits who always arrived home each day at a certain time. Sadly, Paddy did not realise the heavy grappling was taking a toll on a faulty heart.

One day he failed to come home so his wife contacted the police to report him missing. They rowed out and found Paddy dead in the punt beside a huge grapple full of oysters he'd tried to hoist aboard. The headline the next day in the Irish Times: Oysters Kilpatrick.

A policeman spotted a car weaving down the road. He looked through his binoculars and saw hundreds of penguins crammed into the car, climbing all over the driver. He pulled the driver over and told him he was citing him for unlawful possession of animals.

The driver explained that he was on his way to the zoo with them.

"Alright then," the cop said, "I'll let you off. So long as you are taking them directly to the zoo."

The next day the same policeman saw the same car weaving along the road. Sure enough, the car was once again filled to the brim with penguins. He stopped the driver.

"I thought you said you were taking these penguins to the zoo?"

"I did. Today we're goin' down the pub."

A sailor went to an auction and saw a beautiful parrot. He bid $10. Then someone else bid $20. The sailor raised his bid to $25, but someone else bid $30. The sailor bid $35, but someone else bid $40. Determined to buy the bird, the sailor bid $50. This time there were no other bids, and the parrot was sold to the sailor.

"That's a lot of money I paid for this bird," said the sailor to the auctioneer. "I hope he can talk."

"Of course he can," replied the auctioneer. "Who do you think was bidding against you?"

It was a bitterly cold day in Saskatchewan. A man went fishing and cut a hole in the ice. 2 hours later, he still hadn't caught anything. Then a young boy came along, cut a hole in the ice nearby, and proceeded to catch fish after fish.

Eventually the man went over to the boy and said, "I've been here for hours and haven't caught one fish. You come along, and in 30 minutes catch at least ten! What's your secret?"

The boy chortles and replies, "Roo raf roo reep ra rurms rarm."

"What?!"

The boy repeated, "Roo raf roo reep ra rurms rarm."

"I'm sorry, I can't understand a word you're saying."

The boy spat a wad of ugly brown slime into his hand and said, " You have to keep the worms warm!"

A man went into a fish shop carrying a trout under his arm, and asked, " Do you make fish cakes?"

"Yes sir, we certainly do. The best in the city."

"Good," said the man. "It's his birthday."

One morning, Bob the Bunny escapes from a science lab.

He sees some other rabbits in a neighboring field and bounds over to them: "Hey guys, I've lived in a lab all my life. Can you show me what bunnies in the wild do?"

"Sure." they reply."We like to eat fresh carrots. Wanna try some?"
"Okay" So Bob hops over and munches down with the others.

After awhile he asks, "So, what else do bunnies do?"
"Well, when we get tired of carrots, we head over to the lettuce patch. Wanna come?"
"Sure," says Bob and hops over and indulges further.

"Wow, guys, lettuce is great."
"Glad you like it, bro, now let's go see what's in the next field."
"Man, I'd love to," says Bob, "but I gotta get back to the lab. I'm dying for a cigarette!"

Two friends, Colin and Joe, were in a restaurant and they both ordered fish. The waiter brought a dish with two fish, one larger than the other.

Colin said, "Go ahead, Joe, help yourself."

"Right", said Joe, and quickly helped himself to the larger fish.

After a bit of a tense silence, Colin blurted out, "You know, Joe, if you had offered
me first choice, I would have taken the smaller fish!"

"Well then," replied Joe, "what are you complaining about? That's what you got, didn't you?"

A preacher walks into a pet store and is drawn to a beautiful parrot. He decides to buy it.

"Are you sure it doesn't scream, yell, or swear?" asks the preacher.

"Oh absolutely. It's a religious parrot," the storekeeper assures him.

"Do you see those strings on his legs? When you pull the right one, he recites the lord's prayer, and when you pull on the left he recites the 23rd Psalm."

Sure enough, when the preacher gently tugs the strings, the parrot performs beautifully.

"Marvelous!" says the preacher, "What happens if you pull both strings?"

The parrot screeches: "I fall off my perch, you fool!"

A butcher is leaning on the counter toward the close of day, when a dog with a basket in its jaws comes pushing through the door.

"An' wot's this then?" he asked. The dog knocks the basket sharply into the butcher's shins.

"Dumb dog," he says. As he reaches down to smack the dog, he notices a note and a ten dollar bill in the basket.The scribble on the note asks for three pounds of his best mince [ground beef]. The butcher figures this is too easy. He goes to the window and reaches for the dried up stuff that's been sitting out all day.

The dog growls at him. The butcher turns around and, glaring at the pup, gets the best mince from the fridge. Weighing out about 2 1/2 pounds, he drops it on the scale with his thumb.

"Hmmmmm, a bit shy. But who'll know?"

Again, the dog growls menacingly. "Alright, alright," as he throws on a generous half pound. He wraps it up, drops it in the basket, and drops in change from a five. The dog threatens to chew him off at the ankles. Another fiver goes in the basket.

The butcher is quite impressed and decides to follow the pup home. The dog enters a high-rise buildings, pushes the lift button, enters the lift, and then pushes the button for the 12th floor. The dog walks down the corridor and smartly bangs the basket on the door. The door opens, and the dog's owner curses at the dog.

"Hey, what are you doing? That's a really smart dog you've got there," says the butcher.

"No, he's a stupid dog--that's the third time this week he's forgotten his key!"

A carpet layer had just finished installing carpet for a lady. He stepped out for a smoke, only to realize he couldn't find his cigarettes. He checked all his pockets, then, looking back across the room, he saw a tell-tale lump under the freshly laid carpet.

"Aw jeez. Not again!" Then, figuring there was no sense pulling up the entire floor for one pack of smokes, he pulled out his hammer and flattened the hump with one blow.

As he was collecting his tools, the lady came in. "Here," she said, handing him his pack of cigarettes. "I found these in the hallway. Now, if only I could find my parakeet..."

A champion jockey is about to enter an important race on a new horse. The horse trainer meets him before the race and says, ''All you have to remember with this horse is that every time you approach a jump, you have to shout, 'ALLLLEEE-OOP!' really loudly, right in the horse's ear. Provided you do that, you'll be fine.'' The jockey thinks the trainer is mad, but promises to shout the command.

The race begins and they approach the first hurdle. The jockey ignores the trainer's ridiculous advice and the horse crashes straight through the center of the jump.

They carry on and approach the second hurdle. The jockey, somewhat embarrassed, whispers 'Aleeee-oop' in the horse's ear. The same thing happens--the horse crashes straight through the center of the jump.

At the third hurdle, the jockey thinks, ''Fine, I'll do it,'' and yells, ''ALLLEEE OOOP!'' really loudly. Sure enough, the horse sails over the jump with no problems. This continues for the rest of the race, but due to the earlier problems the horse only finishes third.

After the race, the trainer strides over, fuming, and asks the jockey what went wrong. The jockey replies, ''Nothing is wrong with me--it's this bloody horse! What is he--deaf or something?''

The trainer replies, ''Deaf?? DEAF?? He's not deaf--he's BLIND!''

Henry, a blind man, walks into a grocery store with Jasper, his seeing-eye dog at his side.

They walk to the middle of the store. Henry reaches down, picks Jasper up by the tail, and slowly starts swinging the dog around and around in circles over his head, like a cowboy with a lasoo.

The store manager, quite alarmed by this, comes hurrying over and asks, "Can I HELP you, sir?"

Henry turns and nonchalantly replies, "No thanks. Just lookin' around."

A burglar breaks into a house and starts looking around for stuff to steal. He's about to grab some valuables. All of a sudden, a little voice pipes up:

"I can see you, and so can Jesus!"

The burglar jumps again, and takes a longer look around the room.
Over in the corner by the window, almost obscured by curtains, is a cage in which sits a parrot, who squawks again,

"I can see you, and so can Jesus!"

"So what," says the burglar, "you're only a parrot!"

The parrot replies, "Maybe,but Jesus is a rottweiler!"

A frog goes to the fair and decides to consult the fortune teller.

She gazes into her crystal ball, and her eyes widen.

"What? What is it? Tell me what you see," begs the frog.

"I see... I see a beautiful maiden," she whispers.

"Ooh, wonderful! Go on, go on," he cries.

"She will take a passionate interest in you... "

"Really??! ME? Are you sure?! "

"Oh yes. She will want to know everything about you."

"Ooh! That's fantastic!" he cries, hopping around the tent with excitement. "When will I meet her?"

"Tomorrow at 2pm"

"Where, where?!" he squeals.

"In her biology class."

This is one of the best articles I've seen on how not to mess up a good thing: 10 Ways To Keep Your Precious Twitter Followers

Not sure where to begin?

1. Read Wikipedia's page on twitter to understand the big picture.

2. Read this excellent article on how to enter the Twitter-verse. Decide on your strategy.

3. Sign up for a free twitter account. Hint: you might want to use an anonymous email address and username to begin. You can always delete it later. But DO set up an additional account using your real name or company name, even if you're not using it at first. You'll see why later.

4. Search twitter for friends, celebs, brands, news services that you'd like to Follow. Add them to your profile.

That's enough to get started.

Rule #1: Be nice: anything you say can and will be held against you.

Posting on a social network like twitter or facebook is akin to chatting at a party or in a café. Be aware that others can hear what you're saying. That's the point of a social network. Act accordingly.

Assume others can and will repeat what they hear. To anyone. If you're participating in a discussion with people in your professional field, behave as you would at an office cocktail party. Don't say anything about someone else or a company that you wouldn't say to their face. Example of twitter disaster by an ad agency, about 2 weeks ago.

Never assume that your conversation is completely private. There are occasional security breaches/errors on any network, so this rule also applies to anything you type/add, even with full privacy settings on.

That said, if you're friendly, helpful and responsive, you have nothing to fear. Enjoy your new contacts.

50 (NEW) WAYS TO LEAVE YOUR LOVER

A new ditty for these crazy times. Apologies to Paul Simon. (Please don't sue me.)

The problem is all inside your head, she said to me
The answer is easy if you use technology
I'd like to help you in your struggle to be free
There are now fifty ways to leave your lover...

She said it's really not my habit to intrude
Furthermore, I hope my meaning wont be lost or misconstrued
But I'll repeat myself, at the risk of being crude
There must be fifty new ways to leave your lover
Fifty new ways to leave your lover...

Send her a tweet, Pete
Click an email, Cael
No need to hold back, Jack
Just get yourself free

Yeah, erase his JPEG, Meg
From your facebook, Brooke
Just ping an IM, Clem
And get yourself free.

________________

Send me more verses!

A quick roundup of the most useful web-based tools for designers and developers, as debated at a NEWDA (New England Web Developers Association) gathering last night:

skype
freeconferencecall.com
basecamp
campfire
harvest
box.net
glance.net
google docs

For vetting potential co-workers and maintaining better (emotional) connection:
Linkedin
facebook
twitter
individual blogs

A video of the evening's presentation, "Using Web Tools to Build Virtual Teams" will soon be available on the NEWDA site as presented by Jonathon Follett, of Hot Knife Design, an insightful contributor to A List Apart.

What should you look for in any potential employee these days? Assuming you have several candidates with similar qualifications, try these:

1) Demonstrable, insatiable curiosity. (" You've been where? You've done what?")

2) Healthy ego, self-motivated, ambitious ("You want my job? Next year? Fantastic.")

3) Emotional maturity (no fear of saying: "Sorry", "I made a mistake", "I need help", "I dropped the ball")

Seth Godin expands on points 1 and 2 in today's blogpost on what he looks for in a marketer. Unfortunately, such characteristics are extremely rare. They've been beaten out of most people by years spent studying and/or working in regimented environments. Businesses have been focused on production since the industrial revolution. Obedient workers with uniform skills were required for successful mass production. But now production is being automated and outsourced.

Now we need the complete opposite. We need more imagineers. We need people who instinctively question the way things have always been done, who have developed skills that are unique and specialized, who can see alternatives and gray areas. People whose unusual life choices and resumés clearly demonstrate their capacity to think outside the box because they live outside the box.

Many North American businesses are fighting to survive in the face of intense global competition. Mediocre offerings don't stand a chance. The only way out is a spectacular, bold, confident leap of faith. That requires minds that are capable of thinking, not just doing.

Here's an update to the very popular post I wrote a year ago about my in-depth comparison of the two most popular email marketing services. Basically, I wanted to compare iContact to ConstantContact.

I'm happy to report that iContact is now # 1 according to the 2008 report by Top Ten Reviews. So now there's really no reason not to go with them. More importantly, I'M still very happy with them.