Know Your Audience

One of my SVPs at Amex once presented to a large crowd of bigwigs including Harvey Golub who was CEO at the time. He began his presentation by pointing to a large gap between himself and the audience and saying, "What's this? The corporate mosh pit?" No one laughed. He came back dismayed and said, "You should always warm people up with a story or a joke but lesson learned -- know your audience."

I was reminded of this on Christmas Eve when, in the middle of the children's pageant at church, a blinding white light came on overhead. I turned to the guy next to me, who was seated with his family, and said, "Last call." He responded, "Pardon?" and, like a moron, I repeated myself.

Yep, nothing funnier than barroom humor during a Christmas service.