Always leave 'em laughing.

         In the '70s and '80s, when clients asked Doyle Dane Bernbach if they always did humorous commercials, the answer was no. "We don't do humorous commercials. We do human commercials."

         There's no way to improve on that answer. A client could question humor as a selling technique, but not human. Someone could say "I don't think that's funny" but funny wasn't the point. Relating to people was the point.

         David Ogilvy, another bigger than life figure in modern advertising, was clearly against using humor. "Nobody buys anything from a clown", he said. Perhaps he had a point there.If I answered my front door and there was a clown there with something to sell, I'd be scared out of my wits.

         But advertising is different. Humor gives us permission to be listened to. It enables us to give a little gift to a tired viewer who certainly didn't come home after a hard day at work to watch us talk about cars and candy. Humor helps us plant an idea memorably, and maybe even get our commercials watched again on YouTube.

         I've known a lot of funny people in advertising. One good friend had been the head of the studio card division at American Greetings. "Studio card" is greeting card talk for humorous. He went on to become Vice Chairman at Doyle Dane Bernbach. They obviously liked his ability to be human.

         Another friend of mine had been a lounge comedian in Indiana. That was before he became chairman of a large international ad agency.

         When I worked at the ad agency now known as Publicis, I became known for writing humorous commercials. To a fault. Creative people were constantly at my door asking me to add a funny "spin" on the end of their commercials. Which is usually impossible. As every comedy writer knows, in creating a joke you have to know the punch line before you begin.

         I'm having trouble ending this piece because by now you're expecting me to be funny and whenever that happens, I'm not. But don't worry. Tomorrow about 3 o'clock I'll think of something hysterical. Stay tuned.

Who's funnier --- women or men?

          According to research by Dr. Laura Mickes of the University of California, San Diego, both men and women believe men are funnier. Much funnier. These were the results of a blind test, in which the sex of the joke teller was hidden. Nobody can explain the results.

          At first, the researchers speculated it was the "peacock effect", something to attract the opposite sex. In other words, seduction with a punch line.

          Going further, they researched which sex was better at creating humor. Again, both men and women chose men. Mostly, men picked other men. Goodbye, peacock. Maybe men are just bigger show-offs.

          Humor has had an especially welcome place in advertising since "the Golden Days" in the '60s and early '70s. Those were the days of the Alka-Seltzer commercials about the bride who makes a heart-shaped meatloaf for the first dinner at home. The guy who's up all night moaning, "I can't believe I ate the whole thing". The pean to all kinds of midsections with the line, "No matter what shape your stomach is in".

          They were also the days of Benson and Hedges cigarettes, and the disadvantages of a longer cigarette. And the commercial where a silly man tries to swipe some Cracker Jacks from a very smart kid.

          Today, of course, every other commercial is trying, usually unsuccessfully, to make us laugh. There are some serious reasons for this.

          First, humor is a very good way to engage us. We love being entertained, and above all, we like to laugh. If an advertisement isn't engaging, all is lost. Second, a laugh is a lovely way to reward people for paying attention to our commercial messages. It's only fair. We show up, uninvited and unannounced, to their TVs or their computers. Leave them laughing and they might be grateful and not sore. And third,  if the story is told properly, when you remember the joke, you'll remember the product and its advantages.

          Of course, nothing can backfire faster than a bad joke, an off-color joke, or a joke told too often.

          Which is why I'd better not ask how Dr Mickes hid the sex of those joke tellers.