Cosmos:

Welcome back to the show, my fellow extraordinary Americans. Our guest today is Jan McInnis. Jan has written for J Show Monologue, as well as for many other people, places, and groups, including radio, TV, syndicated cartoon strips, and guests on the Jerry Springer Show. 

For the past 25 years, she’s traveled the country as a keynote speaker and comedian, sharing her unique, practical tips on using humor in business. She has spoken to thousands of organizations, from the Federal Reserve banks to the Mayo Clinic. She’s the author of two books, Finding the Funny Fast and Convention Comedian, and has been heard on hundreds of radio stations and podcasts. 

Jan was also featured in the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and the Huffington Post for a clean comedy. She is an extraordinary American, and I’m glad to have her on the show. Jan, thank you so much for taking the time to be here.

Jan McInnis: 

Oh, thank you, thank you. Is anyone still around after that long, bio? Sorry about that. Yeah, a lot of words.

Cosmos:

So, Jan, could you tell the audience a little bit more about yourself, your story, and your background?

Jan McInnis: 

Yeah, for sure. I am. Well, I’m doing a job I didn’t really know existed. I’m a keynote speaker now. I started as a marketer, actually. I’ve kind of always wanted to do stand-up comedy. Thought it’d be fun, but I don’t really have any entertainers in my back or in my family, so I don’t know how to do it. 

So I kind of did a marketing job in the Washington, D.C. area for a dozen or so years. I remember graduating from college, though, and thinking, you know, we have that nice dinner and everything for graduates at a nice restaurant. And I’m looking around at my parents and thinking, now is not the time to tell them I want to be a comedian. 

So I went into marketing. Did that for, like I said, a dozen or so years. Then tried it, tried it. Had a couple of stops and starts, but got on at a couple of open mics. I ended up getting hired to work in comedy clubs. MC’d comedy clubs for several years. Then I kind of fell into the corporate comedy world where, like, they’ll have a convention, and they’ll bring in like, entertainment, for corporations and associations. And I did that. And then, somebody once, 10, 12, or 14 years ago, said, ” We need a message. We don’t just need a comedy show, we want. And I thought, well, I could do that too. 

So I ended up putting a message into my act and became a keynote speaker. And, here I am. And now I travel around. My most popular keynote is called Finding the Funny and Changing How to Use Humor to Handle Change. And I show businesses and audiences how to use humor to, you know, diffuse tension, kick off tough conversations, that sort of thing. So I don’t teach people how to be a comedian, but I do tell them how to use humor in business. And it’s been a rocking success. I love it.

Cosmos:

Well, so, what was the motivating factor, like the catalyst, that pushed you into doing comedy? like a career versus anything else? Because it’s a unique, it’s a unique seal.

Jan McInnis: 

It is people, you know, and that’s a good question because people do wonder, you know, a lot of people want to do it, not a lot of people do it. I think you. It’s hard, it is hard to leave the day job. It’s hard to leave all the benefits and the things behind and really go out and do it. But I’ve just had. Had it with the day job, the job I had. I was frustrated with some of the rules and regulations, things going on in it, and some of the people I worked with. 

And I finally, I just had kind of a big, what would you call it? Sort of a moment when you wake up, and you realize I’ve got to do something else with my life. And I had been doing stand-up for a couple of years, so I’ve been working on the East Coast, and I kind of got to a point where I had to make a decision. I mean, I’m either gonna have to give up or stand up. It’s very hard to do a 9-to-5 job and do stand-up comedy up and down the East Coast at night. I mean, it’s exhausting. And you know, do two or three years of that and finally realize, okay, I gotta do this. 

And so I did. I just decided, I picked a date six months out, started getting my financial life together, and getting my bookings. I picked and booked a couple of comedy clubs that I knew I would never work again if I canceled. 

So I knew I had to do those clubs. It’s called “throwing your hat over the fence.” If you want to do something, you throw your hat over the fence and have to get it, right? So you book the clubs at six months out. And I had to do those clubs, so that made the decision a little easier to quit the job and move out on my own.

Cosmos:

One of the things I wanted to know, ah, is you ended up writing scripts for Jay Leno’s show and also Jerry Springer. 

Can you tell how you got to that situation? Because not every actually does stand-up comedy, but they don’t reach this level, you know.

Jan McInnis: 

Yeah, well, I’ll tell you: keep your ears and eyes open when you’re in a new venture like stand-up comedy or something. Because again, I didn’t know much about any context for that, but I talked to people, and at the time, many years ago, Jay Leno had a fax machine of all things, and you could call his office and get his fax number and fax in jokes, and if you used them, you got a check in the mail. 

And so I called his assistant, got the fax number, and was writing for the radio at the time as a side gig. people m. Don’t know this probably, but a lot of radio stations, you know, if the disc jockey comes in at four in the morning, they don’t have time to find news stories and all that. So they subscribe to what’s called a prep service. And they get every morning, about 4 am, they get in their email, you know, 40 pages of things like all news stories, you know, crazy criminals, jokes, things like that. 

So I knew a friend who was writing for it, and I asked if he could connect me with this service so I could submit some jokes too. And he said, ” Sure. And so he did, and I started writing for them. So I would send in about 15 jokes a day. I did it in about two hours for the service. If they didn’t buy it, I would turn around, rework it, and send it to Leno. 

I just kind of let it all fall into place by talking to people. I’ve found that Jerry Springer was a connection through the writing service; they had someone going on the Jerry Springer Show. I can’t say who it is, but they needed some of it.

Cosmos:

I watched things, and it’s a lot of its culture. Like I, I was like, I watched Jerry Spirit. I was like, “Man, this is America.” Holy.

Jan McInnis: 

Yeah, no, it’s sadly, it’s part of America. But you know I did.

Cosmos:

You’re like behind the scenes.

Jan McInnis: 

Well, it’s scripted. Some of it’s scripted. I don’t know how much of it is. But I know this was some sort of debate. I didn’t write them for Jerry Springer. I wrote it for one of his guests. And that night, I was performing for surgeons at Kaiser. 

And so the people said, well, watch the show and tell, and bill us for the jokes. I said, I’m not watching the show. So you just send me. You have to keep track of what you use. So they sent me a check through the writing service, and that’s how I got to write. Send some jokes in. But it was funny. Here I’m writing jokes for Jerry Springer for a show that day, but I’m performing for surgeons that night. So two kinds of two ends of the.

Cosmos:

When we saw the people fighting and all of that, that’s all scripted all along.

Jan McInnis: 

I don’t know what’s. How much of that is? I know this thing I did was scripted, for at least the person in this debate on Jerry Springer needed some zinger jokes. And so I wrote some of those. And I don’t know how, I don’t know what else is scripted. I have no idea. I don’t watch it.

Cosmos:

What is real, what is not real, and what is real when it comes? That was one of my favorite shows. I was like, ” Wow, this is so wild.

Jan McInnis: 

Yeah, they want the wow factor for sure.

Cosmos:

Because I came, I was an immigrant who came to America, right? And then I wanted to understand American culture and asked one of my friends: when I was in college, like, hey, what’s a good way to understand it? It’s like, watch Jerry Springer.

Jan McInnis: 

That’s a sad side of American culture. But that’s not American culture. Watch, I can give you a list. Better shows. Late-night TV is good.

Cosmos:

Jan, so you went from there, and then you started working, like you. You’ve talked to organizations like the Federal Reserve, banks in the Mayo. How did you go about doing that?

Jan McInnis: 

Well, sometimes I was working, and at one point, I started working with a lot of what’s called speaker’s bureaus. They’re agencies that book keynote speakers and entertainment and that sort of thing. So work through that. But I also book, nowadays I book most of my stuff on my own. I have a part-time assistant, and we do a lot of marketing. And when I’m at an event, the groups often see me. Someone will see me at the event and say, “Oh, she’d be perfect for my event.” 

So I ended up speaking to four of the Federal Reserve banks because they kept seeing me and moving me to the next bank, saying, “Oh yeah, this bank is having an event as well.” And she could, you know, she would be a perfect fit for that as well. So a lot of times they see me, you know, I do Internet marketing, I do email blasts. I have a pretty large database. And yeah, so it’s a process. It’s not just, you know, people just pick up the phone and know me because I’m not famous, you know, but that’s okay. I’m making a great living at it. You don’t have to be famous if you’re in the entertainment industry. 

That’s, you know, people think, oh, when I say I’m a comedian, sometimes people look at me like really? Are you still living at home with your parents? Because I’ve never seen you. But late-night TV is not the way to be famous. The only, not the only way anyway, to be famous, you know, you get, following you get. Or to make a good living at it late, you don’t have to get on late-night TV to make a great living at it.

Cosmos:

We think of late 19, as we think of Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel, and it’s just that they have a flood of jokes, one after the other.

Jan McInnis: 

Yeah.

Cosmos:

So, Chad, do you think being a comedian is inherent or something that can be learned? Because, like some people, like Stephen Colbert, they just think that factor. Right?

Jan McInnis: 

Yeah, well, you know, I think it’s kind of a mix. I mean, I feel like I have a good knack for writing and telling jokes, so I made a good living at it. But when I talk to businesses, I’m not telling them to be comedians; I’m showing them how to add a little bit of humor. And I think anyone can start looking around and adding a little bit of humor to their written or verbal communication. 

So you can really make it into a living, or make it into a full-time comedy career, is a lot different. And I would say you have to have a little bit of ah, a knack for it. But I’ve seen a lot of people who work very hard, get there, and become comedians, and comedy is subjective. They found their audience, they found the group. I may not like them, ah, their act, but it’s subjective, and they found their audience, and who will listen to their act? 

So, it’s kind of a mix. You work very hard, even if you’re talented; you have to work very hard to get noticed. You know, used to be there was one TV show, you know, two TV shows or whatever, and you got on Johnny Carson’s Tonight show, and you were. You were famous. I mean, boom. Because that’s the only game in town now, there’s so much. You need a lot to get famous. You need a lot of, you know, you need to be in a lot of shows. You need to be in a lot and have a huge following. But again, you know, you can make it. You can still make a living at it without being famous. 

Cosmos:

So, Jan, one thing I wanted to know: since this is new, like, normally when people think about doing a business at all, it’s all serious and like, it’s about the grind and the hustle. So how does. 

How does comedy play a role or humor play a role in business, from your perspective?

Jan McInnis: 

Well, I think people don’t. I think people are afraid to use humor, and they miss it. It’s a great business tool, and they totally miss the mark on using humor because they think they have, you know, they’re waiting for permission. No, I don’t. I’m not naturally funny. Well, a lot of comedians aren’t. We just know where to look to find the humor. 

And we’ve done it so much. You know, it is a muscle. You want to practice it and start looking for the humor. And then you can. Then you’re able to use it more, I think. But I think, you know, people are also afraid in business to use it because it’s not going to be killer funny. Well, you’re not looking for that. You’re looking for people who kind of grab their attention, you know, and you don’t have to, and don’t worry about bombing. In business, people are usually happy that you’re trying to lighten a situation. If you bomb. If the humor doesn’t hit huge, you know, don’t worry about it. 

You need to grab attention, right? Humor grabs people’s attention. Humor makes people want to listen to you and remember you. You think back to the commercials you’ve seen that were funny. Usually, they’re funny because you’re looking back and you know, cat herding, we get all the, all the Super Bowl commercials. They have the flow. What are the progressive commercials? Or now they’ve got the ones about not being your parent. We look at that stuff, and you want to watch that, right? 

You want to. Oh yeah, this, this is a funny commercial. I’m going to listen. So, really, people are missing the boat in their business by not using a little bit of humor. And it’s, it’s, it’s very. Sometimes you just do a little bit of subtle humor, let people know, oh yeah, this is, this, we want to do business with this group. They’re fun, they’re interesting, you know.

Cosmos:

So, Jan, from your perspective, what is the genre or kind of humor that works the most effectively in business? 

Because you know, there’s cocky funny humor, there’s dark humor, there’s just vulgar humor, and then there’s like the, you know, like dad jokes type of humor. Yeah, your perspective, business. What is the most effective?

Jan McInnis: 

I would say, definitely stay away from dark themes, profanity, or, you know, dirty humor if you’re in business. Unless that’s your market again, unless, you know, I don’t know what you sell. It really depends on what you sell, I think. But you can, you can, there’s a lot of humor techniques like making some analogies, pulling out the irony in situations, making the finding disconnects where you can have some fun with what your product is, and who your audience is. But you’ve got to know your audience. 

You know, you really have to know your audience. If you’re, if you’re selling to new homeowners, like the progressive commercial that does that, you know, know who those people are, what, what do they think is funny, what will they get? You know, and maybe you’ve got a product, maybe you’ve got a, you, you know, you sell stripper clothing. You may want to have some edgier humor, you know, I mean, I know someone who just has a manufacturing plant that sells clothing for exotic dancers, and his humor is going to be different than the person who’s selling, you know, ice cream cones. So, know your audience and use the humor they find funny. Do some research for sure.

Cosmos:

Jan, I don’t know how you see the world. Still, from my perspective, at least in politics and business in this current, the last 10 years, it’s been like the absurd, farcical, like it’s hallucinogenic type of humor, like where things are so ridiculous that it becomes like it’s kind of like dark comedy. 

But it’s funny. And what the world has come down to in the last five to 10 years, at least in business and politics.

Jan McInnis: 

Well, I would always say, don’t use politics in your humor, unless that’s your whole thing. Like, I know comedians who. They’re. They bill themselves as a Republican comedian or a Democrat comedian, and so do you. But they know that that’s who they’re going to get in their audience. But if you are using humor in business, you don’t want to. Unless you want to turn off half of the people, or you know, politics can change, and people change, who go from Republican to Democrat or Democrat to Republican. 

So you want. You really want to irritate those people. So I would say big things, you know, stay away from, you know, sex, drugs, rock and roll, and politics. Usually, use your common sense. Know your audience, use common sense. And again, politics changes. People change. So, you know, do you want to have humor that’s sort of evergreen, that stays around, or do you want to have humor that by the time you get it printed or produced or whatever, it’s. It’s changed, you know. 

So I wrote a lot of topical humor, and for the radio stations back when I was writing, you could write jokes about politics, and stuff, because it was a little. Not as controversial these days. But also, I wrote a lot of topical humor about just news stories in general. They’re great places to find it if it’s not politics. But there’s other news. You know, crazy criminals. There’s always a famous person doing something stupid. You know, you can have some fun with people like that. 

People who are kind of in charge. Certainly, you can have some fun with that. I also tell people not to make fun of a group you are not a member of. You know, if you’re bald, you can make fun of bald. You know, if you’re tall, you can do that. But if you’re not, you know, stay away from it. So watch that you’re not sort of insulting people that might be your customers, you know, for sure.

Cosmos:

So, Jack, what was the greatest revelation or lesson you found during, like, your career, regarding just humor and business and all of that?

Jan McInnis: 

The greatest revelation? I would say there were a lot of learning moments, but I would say don’t shut the door on stuff. Keep your eyes open. Keep your eyes open for opportunities. You know, people shut the door on using humor because I don’t know how to use it, or we don’t know, so we don’t do that. Most of my opportunities have come from keeping my eyes open, and oh, he writes for this radio service. 

Well, maybe I want to do that. Oh, what is corporate, ah, comedian. I remember in my day job when I was doing some comedy on the side, but I hired entertainers for an event. We hired the Capital Steps, which is a comedy troupe. And I remember thinking, oh gosh, I didn’t realize you could do comedy for corporations. That opened up a whole new, you know, level of work for me. And then keynote speaking. I didn’t know what it was. Somebody mentioned, well, yeah, we just want a keynote, but do we want someone who’s funny but has a message, and you know, oh, I could do that. 

So keep your eyes open. That would be my biggest revelation because you don’t know where it’s going to lead you. You know, you don’t know where, what’s, but if you just, you know, people have an idea of the comedy. As a comedian standing in a comedy club, which I had, that’s what I thought. That’s what I thought comedians did. 

And so if you just stay with that focus, maybe m, that’s great if that’s what you want, but keep looking around for other things and try them, you know. And I think that was, that’s probably been my biggest bit of advice for entertainment in general, and any adventure. You want to go in with a set idea of how it needs to be, but don’t discount anything. Just, you know, and brush it off. Look, if something sounds a little interesting, do a little research and think, oh, maybe that you could, you could try that, you could do that.

Cosmos:

So Jan, somebody in this audience wants to become like a stand up comedian or they want to attain success in comedy like the way you did and like they want to be renowned, and be seen in like Wall Street Journal and like does the different organizations, how would they go about what is the ah, process with which they would go about doing?

Jan McInnis: 

So I would say the process obviously starts with open mics; at the con, there are still comedy clubs out there. I have not worked at open mics in several years. And now, from what I hear from my friends who are working comedy clubs, they want a large following on Instagram and all that. To book you, they want you to bring a Lot of the audience and have your ducks in a row too. It’s easy to do, something funny on Instagram, that’s 60 seconds. It’s a lot harder to do even five minutes of funny in a live audience because there’s a lot of other things going on that you can’t control, you know, so start small. I always tell people, start small if you want. 

Doesn’t everyone want to be the headliner and do the 45 minutes or 60 minutes and make the money? And it’s very hard to get there. You’ve got to really start small and take it slow, learn, and get into the comedy clubs. I mean, I think I was in clubs every single night for the first three or four years. 

And I was just paying attention to what works and what doesn’t. And I was making connections. You know, if you push too far to be too fast to be the headliner, you don’t have any connections. But if you take it slow, build your act, make sure it’s a solid, funny act that works a lot of places, you know, gone are the days when you could make a living with just a 10-state circuit or something. You’ve got to travel, you’ve got to, so, so start building a really solid act that’s appeals and what you want to talk about, figure out what, what do you think is funny, what do you, where, how do you see the world and get people to buy into what you, what you’re selling, you know, what you think is funny.

Cosmos:

So, Jan, from your perspective, how do you think the last 40 to 50 years have changed the way comedy is seen? 

Because, you know, like, there was a different world before social media. And then technology came about, and now there’s even AI. So, like, what was it like in the 80s and 90s versus what do you see now?

Jan McInnis: 

Yeah, well, AI can’t do right jokes. I’ve tried it. Get to write jokes. I can’t. So that’s good. It’s not a very good joke writer. At least right now. The A.I. tried, one big thing with technology.

Cosmos:

 I thought A.I. could do anything.

Jan McInnis: 

Yeah. Well, put in a joke prompt, and I asked it to write jokes about cats and dogs. Maybe that was too broad, and the few things it has added haven’t been very good. But I just did it for fun and didn’t pursue it. But I think technology has been more of a problem than it has because first of all, a lot of the. Where are you going to practice if you’ve got people with their cameras and you need to try some new material out, and it’s not all going to be good? You’ve got people recording you and then sending it on the Internet, going, “Well, this person sucks.” Well, no, but they’re trying new material. Even famous people are having a hard time trying new material because they’re going to get recorded, and then everyone’s going to say, oh, this material isn’t very funny. 

And they’re not going to have. In the context, well, this was brand-new. I want it to be my first time saying it on stage. It may not be funny. You know, we had a very good training ground and were able to work out new material. And I don’t think you can do that anymore. I think some clubs are starting to say you can’t record now, because you just need to, you need that space. Where else? There aren’t many other careers that you have to try and fail, you know, failing a lot and throwing out new stuff that doesn’t work and working on it. And there’s no way to do that. If people are going to record everything, you’re in the club, and then make an instant opinion that, oh, this isn’t. They’re not very funny. So I feel bad for the people trying to do that now, but perhaps the clubs are starting to say, ” Hey, stop recording. 

And also a lot of people think because they got a million followers on their 62nd, you know, Instagram reel, that they’re very funny. And then they go in, and they try to do 60 minutes, and they can’t, you know, you can’t stretch 60 seconds into 60 minutes. And, keep. It’s very hard to keep people’s attention, and you’ve got to be good. And I think a lot of people get a false sense of I’m really funny because I’ve got 20 reels that are 30 seconds long that people have liked. Well, what are you gonna do for the rest of the 40 minutes? You know, so I think that’s a, that’s. We had the problem when I was working the clubs: a lot of actors who would be on sitcoms would say, “Oh, I’ll go to the comedy club and headline and make a bunch of money because everyone wants to see me.” 

I worked with many sitcom people who found out really fast that it’s hard to follow a road comic. And if you haven’t been doing it. You get up there, and you’re the headliner. And you can’t follow this guy or girl who’s been on the road for five years. It’s. You’re not. People will give you maybe five minutes. If you’re not funny by then, they’re mad because they pay a lot of money to see you. They have more money than to see me. 

And so, there was a lot of pressure, but now it’s social media. If you’re funny on social media, it’s a big difference, a big leap from social media to live. So, I would still say start small, start in the clubs, start small and work your way through the —you know —the various levels—Mc, feature, and headliner.

Cosmos:

So, Jan, like, let somebody want to monetize their comedy and humor. Is there a certain process they do to do so? 

Because like a lot of comedians, stand-up comedians, people who are into comedy, don’t end up becoming wealthy. Right? And then the few become enormously wealthy.

Jan McInnis: 

It’s like, yeah.

Cosmos:

Some secret to success,

Jan McInnis: 

I would say. No, I’d say there’s a lot, it’s a lot of, there’s a lot of luck in entertainment in general—a lot of it. I mean, I’ve been on showcases where they pick one person and that person soars and becomes, you know, famous and makes a lot of money. 

What people are looking for on the networks, or what seems to catch, you know, I worked with some very, very funny people who are not famous. And there are a lot more unfamous people who are very good than there are famous people. There are a lot of famous people I don’t think are that funny. I’ve seen their act. I don’t. Personally, it’s not my cup of tea, but I think it’s about luck and about continuing to get yourself out there. 

You can’t try to be famous and not work. You’ve got to work, you’ve got to be out there all the time. And then you have more of a chance, the odds are in your favor that you’re going to be seen, or something’s going to catch people who really like it, and you’re going to resonate with your crowd. You’re going to find who you connect with. But the more you’re out there in the clubs or on social media, pushing the. The more chances you have of. Of making money, you know, but it’s a lot of luck, you know?

Cosmos:

This is the phase where you go through obscurity and like, resistance, right? When you’re. When you. When you’re rising to, like, be rich and famous. And then you go, there’s like a critical point where you go from there to acceptance, and when people start to know you, and a lot of people feel like they fall in the obscurity and resistance phase, and then it just gets too much. 

And so when you’re saying, “put yourself out there,” you have to keep pushing and be consistent. And that’s when the success eventually comes.

Jan McInnis: 

And remember, you really don’t want. I feel, and maybe I’m wrong, but you don’t want success too fast because, you know, if you win last comic standing. You don’t have 30 minutes of solid material, you’ve got all these people that are ready to help you, and they can’t because they need you to have at least 30 minutes where you can do a Comedy Central special or something, you know?

So if you get there too fast and you’ve got. You don’t have the. The right tools, you’re going to blow your. Your big chance at fame and fortune. So, just keep. Yeah, it’s hard to. It’s hard. The road is hard. Obscurity is hard. I found. I’m very lucky. I found the corporate stuff and kind of moved into that. It really fits my actual name. I started going by the work lady because nobody can spell my last name. McInnes. 

And, I did a lot of work on humor, office humor. And, I think people talk about what bothers them. What bothered me was the office humor, the office stuff, and the politics and stuff. So I started writing jokes about that, and it just kind of hit, and that helped.

Cosmos:

On a personal level, what are your thoughts on the show The Office?

Jan McInnis: I loved it. I love the show The Office. Hilarious. Yeah, I did, a marathon of it a couple of Christmases ago and tried to watch all, all the episodes, but I, I ran out of steam. But really great. Very funny. And, really, on target. It was so out there. 

At first I thought, God, this is. I mean, it’s so out there. It’s things that you think, okay, this really couldn’t happen in an office. There’s A little hint of truth to a lot of that comedy. So I loved it.

Cosmos:

Yeah, for sure.

Jan, on another note, what does the American dream mean to you?

Jan McInnis: 

For me, it means freedom to do what I want. I went into stand-up comedy because I wanted to focus on my own goals and do my own thing, and I didn’t want to spend all my time and energy commuting and working for some other organization. 

So I feel like freedom. I feel like I’ve gotten it—freedom to pick and choose. I mean, I certainly have to take some gigs I’d rather not. You know, but there’s a money factor in there. But, I have freedom to, you know, pick, pick what I do with my day. For the most part, I have to get things ready for the events next week or the week after. But, yeah, I think that really is the American dream. Having my time to myself, time to work on what I want to work on, and create what I want to create in this lifetime.

Cosmos:

So, do you think, from your perspective, the American identity of the pursuit of happiness is connected to comedy? Does the humor help a lot with being happy, or do you think they’re separate?

Jan McInnis: 

Oh, I think you need humor. I think we need. That was it. Someone told me that in the recession of like 9, in the early 1900s, theaters stayed open because people needed that relief. They needed to get out of their. The sadness that was going on. And I think that’s in, it still applies to every day now. People want to take a break from life. They need to have humor in their life. And you need to be finding the humor that’s all around you and spending some time every day just finding the funny things that make you laugh, you know.

Cosmos:

No, for sure, like, I think at least like during dark times, like humor plays a huge role in just like alleviating, just stress, and just like the darkness in people’s lives.

Jan McInnis: 

Yeah, even the sadness, even sad, you know, sad events. You know, you’re at a funeral. I mean, I’ve been to funerals where we reminisce about the person and we laugh, about the things that went, we knew about them or that went on or they said or did or whatever. And it’s a real stress reliever that way, too.

 So we need to look at it and search for it more and more. And I’m getting a lot of calls for events that say, ” Hey, we want to bring this event, you know, a little bit of life, besides just the standard things people have to sit through at a conference. We want some energy and some fun, so I get booked for those keynotes.

Cosmos:

So, Jan, what is the main message you have in your keynote speaking events? Like, where do you? When you go over there?

Jan McInnis: 

Yeah. My most popular keynote is titled “Finding the Funny and Change.” And I talk about how to use humor to handle change, how to diffuse tension with humor, how to kick off tough conversations, and how to enhance your communications by throwing in a little bit of humor. It’s not about being a comedian, a joke, joke, joke, but it’s about, you know, you sit down to a staff meeting, you’ve got some big change if you don’t address it.

People are sitting there thinking, oh, they don’t understand what I’m going through. Oh, they’re going to ignore what’s happening with this big change. But if you use just a little bit of humor to kind of break the tension, break the. Gets everyone to take a breath, changes the energy of the staff meeting, changes everything. 

And you’ve addressed what’s going on, and you can talk about it later, but at least let everybody know, hey, I know what you’re going through by using just a little bit of humor.

Cosmos:

So that’s interesting, using humor and empathy, especially to deal with tough situations. It’s almost like a skill set and art.

Jan McInnis: 

Yeah, it is. And it’s a muscle. As I said, it’s a muscle. You’ve got to practice. You got, you know, start looking around at the humor, the things around you that are funny, the ironies and the disconnects and the stuff that doesn’t make sense. Start looking for that stuff. And then when you really need to use it, find the humor. You’ll. It’ll kind of pop out at you more. Comedians always walk into a room. We start looking around at, you know, the agenda, the temperature, the lighting, the audience. 

 So we can find what’s funny. I once attended an event where the guy ahead of me was speaking on networking, and the title of his talk was “Never Eat Lunch Alone.” And right after him on the agenda was lunch on your own. So, stuff that you can just pull out that’s just funny, you can point it out, and it’s kind of a nice way to kick off a conversation or something.

Cosmos:

So, Jen, I know you wrote this book, Finding the Funny Fast. Can you tell me a little bit more about this book and the premise that led you to write it?

Jan McInnis: 

Yeah. Basically, I was getting a lot of people asking, how do I come up with the humor so fast? And so I thought I put all my tips into a book, and it’s just tips on how to find humor fast. I give, you know, it’s a short, small book. It’s only 120 pages or something, because you don’t want a big book about finding humor fast. You want a short book you can read quickly, so it’s just a bunch of tips on finding humor in business or your personal life. 

You know, I talk about you, like, pulling out the ironies and, you know, m. Finding the analogies between things, making analogies in different ways. You can find humor. So it’s a great book. It’s a, I’ve had a lot of good compliments on it, and I sell it at my events.

Cosmos:

So, Jack, are there any projects or keynote events you’re working on right now that you’d want the audience to get a glimpse of?

Jan McInnis: 

Well, I just finished 312 days on the road with various events. My events are usually closed. They’re not open to the public because it’s for, like, a specific industry. S

o I can’t really promote anything. I have a financial group coming up next week, and then, right after that, a local government group. So. And last week I did something, ah, for health care and then a nursing group, and was. Oh, and I’m a housing group. So, you know, just, I don’t have anything that. I don’t do comedy clubs anymore, and I could promote or open a venue type of thing. So it’s all. All closed, 

Cosmos:

Okay. So, Jess, let’s say, somebody from the audience wants to connect with you and learn more about you and your work, how would they go about doing that?

Jan McInnis: 

Yeah, check out my website, theworklady.com, and my email is janeworklady.com. I’m happy to answer any questions if someone’s looking to get into it or what have you.

Cosmos:

Jan, I’m so thankful that you took the time to come to this podcast and share your knowledge about humor. And I’m actually, generally surprised that you wrote some of the things for Jerry Spring, because that actually holds you of America for, like, the longest time.

Jan McInnis: 

It’s not my m. It’s not mine. It’s not my frowning moment, but I

Cosmos:

Didn’t know you were the woman behind the scenes.

Jan McInnis: 

I was like, yeah, yeah, I only did it once. I only did it once. So they have other writers, I guess. I don’t know.

Cosmos:

No, I mean, I’m glad you came on the show, and I definitely hope you take the time to come back at a later time.

Jan McInnis: 

Yeah, for sure. Thanks for having me. This is a lot of fun to talk with.

Cosmos:

No, thank you for sure. And I want to. I want to conclude this episode by letting my fellow extraordinary Americans know that, hey, look, there’s an extraordinary within every one of us, and it’s our duty to awaken it and unleash it. Until next time. Bye for now.