Are you all having fun? I know I am. 

Right, sure, things are looking rather grim at the moment (ha! For like the last three years) but I think we need to remember that retaining a sense of humour is such a massive pressure release valve. 

When things start to get grim, my default switch is to try and find the funny side. 

Of course there are serious things business needs to get done. But all this try-hard-professional stuff means levity often gets confused with a lack of determination. 

Take this line which landed in my in-mail-tray the other day:

“Our new presentation unpacks how organisations must step up and become forces of change, drawing on their expertise, assets and reach to equip, collaborate and horizon-map together with citizens.”

Hmm. Not really feeling the fun there. And it’s not just the way some have with words that can suck the fun right out of the room.

There are plenty of people (you know them) who can be guaranteed to bring the ‘h’ to any situation. I recall being summonsed, along with the company’s directors, by a client who was less than delighted by one particular project’s outcome. 

At the reception of said client’s office, there were a set of bench seats - more ‘perches’ than chairs - and however you tried your feet wouldn’t touch the floor. The effect was to leave you feeling like a naughty child on the naughty step. I’m sure it must have looked hilarious. I know I thought so - but I kept my own counsel. We were left there for nearly two hours and I could see I was likely the only one who could see the funny side. 

The client, meanwhile, never showed up. For some, the fun never stops. And sticking a pin in the overblown worlds of self-interest, -serving and -serious with a little lightness can’t hurt. 

Anyone who can take all the bad-news and transform it into a smile with a dozen words gets my vote hands down, even if that means bringing the gloom and doom crowd down a step or so. Political sketch writers do it especially well. Reading the politic threads first thing - oh! the irony! - is the best start to the day.

So maybe lighten up a bit, yeah? Unless you happen to be the client who made us wait, in Slough, for two hours. Bet you thought you taught us all a lesson? I hope you carried on being that guy. You’ll have provided endless mirth for your agency partners, and on your expense account.

Comedy gold, right there.