lllHumor in Action!
Using Humor in
Developing the
Entrepreneurial Spirit
Learning in Action!
A Cross-disciplinary Problem-Based
Learning Environment for Entrepreneurship
Corny Situations
Test Version 1.0
(A Work in Progress)
R. Wilburn Clouse, PhD
Vanderbilt University
Corny Situations
Storyline by Catherine McTamaney
Making Popcorn
In the Spring of 2xxx, I was invited by the President of the Ashville Area Association for
Young Children to represent my school at the annual NAAEYC Day on the Hill, an event
intended to strengthen the ties between Tennessee legislators and the Early Childhood
community in Tennessee. To be invited to participate was a great honor, both because I
was the only Montessori educator asked to attend, and because the NAAEYC
representatives at Legislative Plaza that day were seen as leaders in Early Childhood
education. We were there, in essence, to court the legislators, to make connections with
those who could, in turn, improve conditions for children statewide. While I was honored
to be there, I was also scared of doing or saying the wrong thing. There was a bill
pending on the Hill that would change student: teacher ratios, and many of the other
representatives were mingling with the legislators, cracking jokes and asking for support
for the bill. I was barely comfortable enough to make eye contact with most of the
officials, needless to say to lobby for support for a bill about which I had never heard
before that morning. I decided, instead, to go with my tried-and-true approach to
uncomfortable situations: I hung out with the staff. I volunteered to pour coffee, to place
napkins out, to organize. I kept my hands busy so it wouldn’t look like I didn’t have
anything to do.
I eagerly accepted “popcorn duty”. The NAAEYC had rented a large, carnival popcorn
maker to place in the lobby of the building, to offer free popcorn and beverages to the
legislators as they moved between committee meetings. Another woman showed me how
to operate the machine. There is a large canister suspended above the popcorn area, into
which a container of oil, butter and popcorn kernels are poured. The canister heats up, the
popcorn pops, and when it is completed popping, the operator turns a handle on the
canister to dump the popcorn into the open area below. By hiding behind the machine, I
could look busy and have some reason to speak with the legislators. Occasionally, I
would scoop popcorn into a paper bag and offer it to a legislator passing by.
From the end of the hallway, I caught sight of the confident stride of a powerful man.
One of the Memphis legislators was walking down the hallway toward me, smiling and
shaking hands as he moved. The President of NAAEYC greeted him with a firm
handshake and a comfortable smile, and guided him toward our table. She motioned
toward where I was hiding behind the machine and offered him some popcorn. He
accepted. “Certainly,” I smiled, reaching into the machine and moving some of the
popcorn around with the large scoop. “Let me get you some fresh popcorn,” I said,
feeling like I was hitting my stride and finally learning how to feel comfortable in this
situation. I reached into the machine, grabbed the handle, turned the canister, and poured
a half-gallon of hot oil and unpopped kernels into the machine, destroying not only the
unpopped corn, but the little bit of remaining popcorn in the machine. One of the other
volunteers beside me sneered, “That was out last canister.”
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From the Peanut Gallery
The situation was awful: it was embarrassing, undermining to whatever credibility I
might have hoped to establish that day, and public. How could humor have helped?
Research suggests the use of humor cannot only diffuse a potentially intense situation,
but can re-establish the power balance between individuals. “A person in a dominant
social position-the company boss, family patriarch, or village chief-tends to use humor
more frequently than underlings do. By controlling the group's laughter, he exercises
power over its mood. For example, in a potentially humiliating or threatening situation,
laughter may serve as a conciliatory gesture or a method to avert anger. If the menacing
individual succumbs to the laughter, the confrontation is likely averted,”1 So, finding
something to laugh about in this humiliating situation could not only have diverted
attention from my error, but re-established me as an equal player in the game. I could
have ignored the problem, or directed the attention to the cold popcorn already bagged on
the table. Diverting attention away from my mistake may not have made the situation any
better, though. “[M]ost people pretend there's nothing wrong, or worse, they cover up
their mistakes. You have to admit you made a mistake and then deal with it right away.
The way to have more fun is to laugh at your fumble, then do everything in your power to
fix the problem. That's a crucial piece. You fix the problem quickly so the customers
know you care about them, but you can have fun with the mistake. Crack a joke. Laugh.
Even a smile works in these situations and can shape a positive action.”2
There are multiple types of humor that may have been applicable here. Humor that
acknowledged the awkwardness of my action, or superiority humor, may have diffused
the situation and separated me from the mistake. Had any of the observers made fun of
me, it may have bordered on the cruel humor that subjugates its victim. By making fun of
myself, I could have distinguished myself from the person who destroyed the popcorn.
Alternatively, responding in an unexpected way, or incongruity humor, may have
disarmed the audience enough to release the stress of the situation and allow everyone an
“out” to move on to other foci.
It was as important that something break the stress of the moment, as it was that I initiate
the break. By laughing first, I could regain control of the situation, and regain some
footing with my audience. This was perhaps more important because I was a woman
embarrassed within a community in which I was the minority, “Cross-cultural evidence
suggests that males are the leading humor producers and females are the leading
laughers," says Provine. "These differences are already present by the time that joking
first appears around six years of age."”3 By cracking the first joke, I could diffuse the
situation within which I was already a threatened minority.
1
Strubbe, B (2003). Getting serious about laughter. The World &I . Washington. 18:3
(132)
2
Baughman, W.E. (2001) Making work fun- doing business with a sense of humor.
Hospital Material Management Quarterly. Rockville. 22:3 (79-84)
3
Strubbe, B (2003). Getting serious about laughter. The World &I . Washington. 18:3
(132)
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Humor was my only choice. To save face, to rebalance the power which my mistake had
set askew, and to redirect attention from my mistake, adding levity and a self-deprecating
acknowledgment of the situation was necessary. Dropping the Canister, Relieving the
Stress.
So, I’m surrounded by colleagues, most of whom are more established and more
successful than I, and intending to impress some big-whig political players. I’ve imagined
myself charming them, laughing over a glass of wine like some bon vivant in an Oscar
Wilde play, and instead, I have dumped hot oil over the last of NAAEYC’s popcorn and
in front of one of Tennessee’s most powerful legislators.
“You wanted butter with that, right?” I asked. The legislator grinned and nodded his
head. “Just a little,” he responded. Behind me, I could hear the President of NAAEYC
laughing out loud. I handed the legislator a bag of popcorn from the table and told him to
“Come on back when you want some more.” He walked off, munching his popcorn and
still smiling. The President of NAAEYC came up behind me and smacked me on the
back. “Priceless,” she said, then described the whole event to another politician who had
walked up to the table. “Without missing a beat,” she says, “she goes, ‘ You want butter,
right?’” I heard her retell the story three more times that afternoon, each time as she
introduced me to legislators and other representatives that she said, “You really need to
meet.” By initiating humor, I was able to diffuse the situation, but more importantly, I
was able to balance my role in the event from the bumbling volunteer to an equal player.
Because I was able to laugh at myself first, I took the embarrassment out of the situation.
Because, in the process, I was able to make other people laugh as well, I gained entry into
their circle and established myself as an equal. Finally, by the response of shared
laughter, my own anxiety and hesitation about the situation was eased, and I remember
the event as a success.
4