How Can I Start Using Humor in My Veterinary Practice?

Ray Ramirez, DVM, owner and speaker of Ramirezdvm.com, explains how to start using humor in the veterinary practice.

Interview Transcript (slightly modified for readability)

“I would say three things, to keep it simple. First of all, realize that you are going to mess up at the beginning, and that is okay. No one is perfect on this. I do things all the time that never make any sense. The second thing is, just repeat what other people do. If you see something that is humorous, whether it is on a YouTube video, or you go to a conference and one of the presenters uses a joke, and you think, ‘Hey, I might be able to use that in my practice.’ Jot it down and use that.

It is a much different dynamic when it is a one-on-one situation, which is what most of our [situations are] vs in a group setting, [such as] if [your client] has a couple of kids with them. Versus in a presentation type of [setting], [such as] if you are going to the local Kiwanis club or library to give a talk about picking a puppy or something like that, that again is going to be a slightly different dynamic than with the individual. Sometimes with the individual, they are afraid to laugh because they do not know if what [you] said was funny.

Do not beat yourself up if it does not work. My rule of thumb is that if I am getting a laugh about 50% of the time, from a little line, then that is a good one that I can use and keep in my arsenal of humor to interject in the situation. If clients are getting [the joke] less than half of the time, then probably my audience that would get the humor is so small that I should probably look for another way to [tell] that [joke]. Either [switch] from logic to absurdity or from the exaggeration of what that is.”