When I was a child the first joke I can ever remember being told was this: "Why don't cannibals eat clowns?...Because the meat tastes funny!" Of course being 4 or 5 years old I had no idea what that meant. Now, I totally get it and it is absolutely hilarious. I contribute my love for puns and horrible jokes to this awesome joke.
Humor is extremely important and fun to incorporate into outdoor excursions. When in the outdoors you can experience some extremely high highs and some very low lows. Humor is the great equalizer. A good joke can crack a smile on the face of people who feel the most miserable. Once that smile come across a person's face it is extremely contagious. Humor is great for picking people up but it is also a really great tool for connecting with someone. Smiling and laughing are some of the most raw emotions that a person can display. Being outdoors, on a trip, away from other people, creates a very unique bond between the people in your group. This bond is one where you can go months without seeing each other and automatically pick up as if you never missed a beat. I truly believe that humor is a huge reason for this.
Longer expedition style trips can be made or broken based purely on the moral of a group. There is no better way, in my opinion, to keep a group happy than by telling jokes and funny stories. I have used this tactic to talk people through situations where they thought they were going to fail. Comedic relief is priceless when everyone is feeling the tension or stress of a challenging trip. There are few things that instantly make people feel better than when I tell them about the issues I have been having with my racing snails. I keep trying to get them to go faster. I have given them treats and put them through a lot of training but it doesn't seem to work. I even tried taking their shells off, but it just seems to make them sluggish.
In our modern times, we often find ourselves taking things too seriously and there is nothing like a good joke to loosen up and start realizing that it's okay to let go of the reigns for a little to be able to truly enjoy the wonders of nature. As I said earlier my favorite jokes are puns and the ones that make you groan. At Adventure Outings, there are a few jokes that every leader tells that are excruciatingly long and tons of build-up to the worst punchlines ever! If you have ever been on one of our trips chances are you have heard the infamous Tony and Joey joke. If not, I am going to keep you in suspense and recommend you ask your trip leader about it next time you get out.
Humor is so important to us at Adventure Outings that we actually ask for a joke when we interview candidates for our assistant leader internship program.
Here are some highlights from some interviews we have done in the past:
Did you hear about the guy who got hit in the head with a can of soda? He's lucky it was a soft drink!
What do you call a pirate that skips class? Captain Hooky
Singing in the shower is all fun and games until you get shampoo in your mouth, then it's a soap opera!