You Must Be Joking

Improve your communication, business, and interpersonal skills, all through the correct use of jokes

Non-Fiction - Humor/Comedy
287 Pages
Reviewed on 11/12/2015
Buy on Amazon

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    Book Review

Reviewed by Lori A. Moore for Readers' Favorite

Author Darrell Mangum really likes jokes. Having studied them and collected his favorites for many years, in You Must Be Joking he now provides readers with the best of the jokes he has found as well as advice on how to properly tell them. Mangum believes that the proper method of telling jokes can help you improve your communication, business, and interpersonal skills. In fact, he feels so strongly about good jokes and having some prepared for when you interact with people that he provides a large number of them. These range from jokes that are insults, those that involve misdirection, stupid jokes, classic jokes, silly jokes and a whole lot more. My favorite has always been one-liner jokes and there are many of them included in the book that made me laugh out loud.

I liked how he provided suggestions too for those listening - not to ruin the punchline, not to say you've already heard it, and not to say bad things about the joke after hearing it. Author Darrell Mangum explains that if you're going to tell a joke, which involves an audience, you are in fact a performer, so you need to be prepared. Mangum believes that joke-telling is not a laughing matter, but something that should be done professionally and intentionally. As an added bonus, You Must Be Joking provides directions on how to tell a joke (focusing on how NOT to tell a joke), timing, and punchlines.