Dr. Peter McGraw is a behavioral economist and global expert in the scientific study of humor (think funny). He directs The Humor Research Lab (aka HuRL), hosts the podcast I’M NOT JOKING, is the co-author of The Humor Code: A Global Search for What Makes Things Funny, and is the author of the recent book Shtick to Business: What the Masters of Comedy can Teach You about Breaking Rules, Being Fearless, and Building a Serious Career.
Top Takeaways: Don’t Try to be Funny, Learn to Think Funny with Peter McGraw
- Get good at something. Leverage your skills, and add
- I don’t have that classic stand-up comic personality
- Education plus interest
- I can do something the philosophers can’t
- They can do thought experiments, I can do practical experiments
- I started by Googling “what makes things funny”
- The benefits of collaborating are so great…one of the smartest things I ever did
- I was holding a hammer, and everything started looking like a nail
- Don’t Try to be Funny, Learn to Think Funny
- Comics naturally think in reverse
- I’d rather use the term “entertaining” than “funny”
- Be an improvisor with an improvisational mindset
- Capture attention through stories
- We have too much of the reliance on the lone genius
- You get much more out of lifting people up instead of scaring them
Listen to the Audio
Subscribe to the podcast – Never Miss an Episode
Learning From Leaders:
Current Book: Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst by Robert M. Sapolsky
Leadership Superpower: meeting minimizer
Motivational Mantra:
[shareable]Everyday’s a big day[/shareable]
Book Most Often Gifted: The Magic of Thinking Big by David J Schwartz
Additional Items Mentioned
Peter’s website: petermcgraw.org
Shtick to Business: What the Masters of Comedy Can Teach You about Breaking Rules, Being Fearless, and Building a Serious Career by Peter McGraw
The Humor Code: A Global Search for What Makes Things Funny by Peter McGraw
