ColumnistsSep 01, 2026
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Peter Smith: Humor Is No Laughing Matter
Laughter is often considered a distraction in the workplace, but it has benefits for both staff and management, Peter Smith writes.
Peter Smith is an industry consultant, speaker, sales trainer, and author. He can be reached via email at TheRetailSmiths@gmail.com.
I stopped into an Irish pub in New York a while back for lunch and a respite from a blisteringly hot summer’s day.
After settling into a quiet snug and scanning the thankfully sparse menu (less is more!), the server approached and I was tickled to recognize her Dublin accent.
I ordered a chicken salad and asked the server, “Do you have a light Ranch dressing?”
“We don’t,” she replied. “It’s heavy enough.”
I smiled quietly to myself, not wanting to make her self-conscious, and replied in language we both knew well, “That’s grand, so. I’ll have that.”
As an obsessive psychology nerd, I often search for an evolutionary explanation for why we do what we do. What helps is that despite the myriad developments in communication and technology, our brains remain remarkably unchanged.
If you want evidence of our “Serengeti brain,” scroll through Facebook or Instagram Reels and check out the guttural and wildly animated reactions of people on city sidewalks when dudes dressed as potted bushes emerge to shock them.
As if the spastic physicality of their reaction to a “moving potted bush” wasn’t enough, a quick glance at their contorted faces reveals the depth of the visceral shock.
In “The Psychology of Humor,” Rod A. Martin wrote: “It appears that over the course of human evolution, the cognitive play of humor has been adapted as a means of dealing with difficulties and hardships, contributing to the resilience and coping potential that has enabled humans to survive and thrive.”
After settling into a quiet snug and scanning the thankfully sparse menu (less is more!), the server approached and I was tickled to recognize her Dublin accent.
I ordered a chicken salad and asked the server, “Do you have a light Ranch dressing?”
“We don’t,” she replied. “It’s heavy enough.”
I smiled quietly to myself, not wanting to make her self-conscious, and replied in language we both knew well, “That’s grand, so. I’ll have that.”
As an obsessive psychology nerd, I often search for an evolutionary explanation for why we do what we do. What helps is that despite the myriad developments in communication and technology, our brains remain remarkably unchanged.
If you want evidence of our “Serengeti brain,” scroll through Facebook or Instagram Reels and check out the guttural and wildly animated reactions of people on city sidewalks when dudes dressed as potted bushes emerge to shock them.
As if the spastic physicality of their reaction to a “moving potted bush” wasn’t enough, a quick glance at their contorted faces reveals the depth of the visceral shock.
In “The Psychology of Humor,” Rod A. Martin wrote: “It appears that over the course of human evolution, the cognitive play of humor has been adapted as a means of dealing with difficulties and hardships, contributing to the resilience and coping potential that has enabled humans to survive and thrive.”
Humor gets short shrift in business.
Its impact is often downplayed as a distraction, or something to be tolerated in the moment before returning to the “real” work and more serious matters.
Laughter and humor, however, are not just nice-to-haves, but critical traits and behaviors in the workplace for all kinds of reasons.
Leaders who use self-deprecating humor, for instance, are rated as more authentic, more empathic and trustworthy, and more approachable.
In short, they are seen as more emotionally intelligent.
Those are all very positive outcomes for leaders and the organizations they govern unless, of course, they are committed to sole occupancy in a self-constructed ivory tower. In that case, a rethink of their career choices might be in order.
Humor delivers an impressive cocktail of benefits that positively impacts mental and physical well-being. It makes us more collaborative and serves as a catalyst for social bonding, always a good thing when working in and managing teams.
Humor also helps us to handle conflict and enables us to navigate even the most stressful of situations by lowering our blood pressure and regulating our negative emotions. It does this by flooding our system with feel-good endorphins.
Humor, quite literally, makes us physically and mentally healthier and infinitely more productive at work.
In “What’s Your Story?,” Northwestern University’s Craig Wortmann wrote: “The subject of humor at work gets a clinical, cursory nod in most leadership books, if it gets recognized at all.
“This is a major oversight. And it’s a huge, missed opportunity. We need to add humor back into its rightful position in the workplace—everywhere.”
As I watch unsuspecting people flailing all over the sidewalks from the attacking potted bushes, I am reminded of the comedian Steven Wright’s interesting observation.
He asked, “What happens if you’re scared half to death twice?”
Happy retailing!
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