Did you hear the one about the funny quiz that was walking past
a graveyard?
Q. My company publishes a monthly employee newsletter. My boss
asked me to write a funny quiz. I'm not exactly a stand-up
comic. Help!
A. Ah, the funny quiz. Lucky you! It's not often that a company
has an official sense of humor that they are willing to display
for all to read. This is going to be a great assignment for you!
A funny quiz is typically one where the questions and answers
have no real purpose other than to make the quiz taker laugh.
Although almost anything goes, there are some taboo subjects.
Off hand I'd say that anything that pokes fun at a specific
person, or groups of people, as well as anything that's
anti-semitic, racial, sexual, political, or religious should be
off limits. Remember, what one person thinks is funny can offend
someone else. Even seemingly innocuous subjects like "hillbilly"
or "redneck" jokes might not be funny to someone who lives in
the mountains or the deep South (like I do).
You can think of a funny quiz as a series of one-liners with
multiple-choice punch lines. Because you are writing for a
company publication you have a built-in "affinity group" as
there is bound to be some common subjects that are company
related and could be made into something funny.
For example, if you work for a software development company then
you might have a question that asks:
What's longer: A CEO's week or a programmer's week?
If you're not laughing then you have never had a programmer tell
you that the project will be ready in a week.
You need to walk a fine line even when using subjects like this
in your funny quiz. Say that your company just posted a 4th
quarter loss because a new software product missed its launch
date by a "programmer's week". It doesn't take a rocket
scientist to determine that you are about to tick off a lot of
people if you add that question to your funny quiz.
Try to avoid wornout jokes or cliches. A funny quiz should be
funny, not lame. For example, still on the software train of
thought, a question like...
Q. How many programmers does it take to change a lightbulb? A.
None. They don't do hardware.
...is older than the mystery meat in that Tupperware container
in the back of the lunchroom refrigerator. No one is going to
laugh at that one. No laughing = not a funny quiz!
The best thing to do is to keep an eye out for humorous, safe
things to poke fun at and then write a funny quiz question. My
advice is to start right now and don't wait until one hour
before deadline. The only thing that's less funny than a lame
funny quiz is no funny quiz at all!