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raesene9today at 4:17 PM1 replyview on HN

Jokes can be tricky in talks, as they rely on shared cultural context. If you know your audience well and know what will land with them it's great, if you don't then care is needed.

I generally advise people to put some jokes in if they like but don't make the talk rely on people getting the jokes.


Replies

Anechoictoday at 5:59 PM

but don't make the talk rely on people getting the jokes

Adding to this, don't automatically include <wait for laughter> in your joke delivery. Make the joke - if it lands and the audience is laughing, you can pause until it dies down. If the joke doesn't land, you just move on and everyone will forget about it.