The other night, I told a joke that bombed.
It was horrible. I threw it out there. Struck out, proceeded to stand there awkwardly for a second in front of Dave Ramsey, 100 people I work with and a room full of folks who came out for a charity gala.
What did I say?
Well, let me give you a little back story.
First of all, I’m not a minister. At least not in the technical sense of the word anyway, which I believe involves seminary, more wisdom than I possess, and owning books that have the word “hermeneutics” in them. But sometimes I do get to share ideas with large groups of people from a stage that may or may not have a pulpit on it.
A few weeks ago, Matt Chambers and Blake Thompson asked me to record a video message for the fundraising event they were doing in Franklin, TN for a new project in Haiti. It’s called “Join a New Story” and I was disappointed that I’d be out of town and miss the actual event. So we recorded a 3 minute video that started with me talking about how I was too short for the camera angle in Dave Ramsey’s studio and was forced to sit on a microphone box like a booster seat. I then told this joke:
“By the time you finish watching this three minute video, 42 new non-profits will have been founded, 38 of them in Haiti.”
Matt and Blake loved it! I wrote it to disarm people who feel overwhelmed with the number of non-profits that are available right now. It was also going to serve as my introduction into sharing why out of all the many options, I personally decided to support Matt and Blake.
At the last minute, my trip out of town got canceled and I ended up attending the event. It was an amazing night and Matt, Blake, Brian Williams and my team leader Bill Hampton did a great job sharing some beautiful stories about the maternity center they’re building in Haiti.
In the midst of that quiet, candlelight-ish moment, I took the stage. I told a few jokes, got a handful of laughs and then said,
“By the time I finish this three minute speech, 42 new non-profits will have been founded, 38 of them in Haiti.”
Crickets.
The room went deathly silent.
I got zero charity laughs at a charity event.
Only one person laughed out loud and it was Blake. He later told me that everyone in an immediate circle around him turned to look at the monster who was laughing.
Instantly recognizing the awkward grenade I had just set off, I backpedaled as fast as I could and said,
“Which is great, it’s great that so many people are creating so many new non-profits right now. But how do you know who you should partner with?”
I then threw up a little in my sleeve, debated whether I had a smoke bomb in my pocket that I could throw into the crowd like Storm Shadow from GI Joe and finished the rest of the speech as fast as I could.
I bombed at a charity event. Not only that, by bombing the joke it sounded like I was making fun of charities, which is the last thing I was trying to do. But I know I’m not the only one who has done that.
Has your minister ever said something from the pulpit that he was convinced was funny, but wasn’t?
How did you respond? Did you throw out a courtesy laugh? Did you make eye contact with him or immediately pretend you were really interested in your bulletin?
