Sign-In
Cart
Humor and Persuasion Foundations: Applying Comic Techniques to Enhance Influence, Attention, and Message Retention
Paperback
Business GeneralMarketingHumor
Currently unavailable to order
Please enter your email and a message will be sent to you when this product becomes available on our website.
Publisher: Independently Published
Pages: 216
Weight: 1.13
Height: 0.46 Width: 8.50 Depth: 11.00
Language: English
Humor can do more than get a smile. Used well, it can help people pay attention, understand faster, remember longer, and lower resistance to a message. This book offers a practical, research-informed guide to using comic technique as a serious communication tool, not a distraction from substance.
Built for speakers, writers, trainers, marketers, leaders, and anyone who needs ideas to stick, this guide shows how to shape humor around purpose, audience, and context. It explains when a joke strengthens credibility, when it weakens it, and how to make sure the message still carries the real weight.
What you will learn- The role of humor in persuasion, including attention, comprehension, acceptance, and recall.
- How attention works, through novelty, surprise, timing, and reduced cognitive overload.
- Core comic devices, such as setup and payoff, incongruity, wordplay, exaggeration, understatement, and self-deprecation.
- How to design for specific audiences, with attention to values, culture, tone, and sensitivity.
- How to place humor inside a persuasive structure, from opening hooks to transitions and final calls to action.
- Delivery and timing, including pauses, voice, body language, and recovery when a line misses.
- Risk management, so humor supports trust instead of creating confusion, offense, or weak credibility.
- Writing and revision methods for turning plain copy into punchline-ready, retention-friendly communication.
Instead of treating humor as a standalone trick, the book connects it to communication goals and measurable results. Each chapter builds from foundations to practice, with examples that show how to adapt the same message for speeches, slides, email, social content, and short-form video.
You will also find exercises, templates, and walkthroughs that make the material usable right away. These tools help you test drafts, refine tone, adjust humor density, and strengthen recall without sacrificing clarity or professionalism.
Perfect for readers who want to- Make messages more memorable without sounding forced.
- Use humor with care in professional and public settings.
- Improve audience engagement while keeping the core argument intact.
- Write cleaner, sharper, and more persuasive copy.
- Evaluate what works, revise what does not, and improve with evidence.
If your goal is to communicate with more attention, more trust, and better retention, this book gives you a clear path for using humor with purpose.
Also in
Humor
I Can't Believe I Did That: The Game That Gives You Points for Sharing Awkward, Awesome, and Unforgettable Memories: Card Games
Nadelberg, David
Katcher, Neil
Other
The Science Magpie: Fascinating Facts, Stories, Poems, Diagrams and Jokes Plucked from Science
Flynn, Simon
Paperback
Fixing Flamingos: And Other Solutions to the World's Least Pressing Problems
Rea, Brian
Brown, Lucienne
Paperback
How to Be a Cat: (Cat Books for Kids, Cat Gifts for Kids, Cat Picture Book)
Lazar, Ralph
Swerling, Lisa
Hardcover
Peculiar Questions and Practical Answers: A Little Book of Whimsy and Wisdom from the Files of the New York Public Library
New York Public Library
Hardcover
How to Be Okay When Nothing Is Okay: Tips and Tricks That Kept Me Alive, Happy, and Creative in Spite of Myself
Lawson, Jenny
Hardcover
Bake It Off: An Unofficial Taylor Swift-Inspired Cookbook for Every Era, from Breakfast to Midnights
Smith, Lindsey
Hardcover
Big Fan: Two Friends, 82,490 Miles, and the Wild, Wonderful Sports We Love
Posnanski, Joe
Schur, Michael
Hardcover
Black Out Loud: The Revolutionary History of Black Comedy from Vaudeville to '90s Sitcoms
Bennett, Geoff
Hardcover
We Are the World (Cup): A Personal History of the World's Greatest Sporting Event
Bennett, Roger
Hardcover
How to Grow Up Without Becoming a Grown-Up: Big Lessons from Little Kids
Shapiro-Barnum, Julian
Hardcover
Pardon My Book: Ten Years of the Best (and Worst) in Sports from Pardon My Take
Commenter, Pft
Big Cat
Hardcover
The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Five Novels in One Outrageous Volume
Adams, Douglas
Paperback
There Are Moms Way Worse Than You: Irrefutable Proof That You Are Indeed a Fantastic Parent
Boozan, Glenn
Hardcover
The New Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Expert Advice for Extreme Situations
Borgenicht, David
Piven, Joshua
Hardcover
How to Talk to Your Cat about Gun Safety: And Abstinence, Drugs, Satanism, and Other Dangers That Threaten Their Nine Lives
Auburn, Zachary
Paperback
Nobody Wants Your Sh*t: The Art of Decluttering Before You Die (New York Times Bestseller)
Condo, Messie
Hardcover