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I'm Alan Olga, and this is Clear and Vivid, conversations about connecting and communicating.

Anybody who doesn't have a sense of humor who takes everything too literally or is too dour, I just don't want to be near them.

A sense of humor is not only jokes, but it's a mindset. If your mind is in a place where nothing is funny or nothing makes you smile, what's the point?

Going back to when I would teach comedy students or young stand-ups, they thought that it was about the jokes.

How do I get the laughs? It's not about the jokes, it's about connecting. Start with that. Before you get on to how am I going to make these people laugh, get them to pay attention.

That's Alan's Y Bell and Frank Santa Padre. They've spent their lives finding the funny in the meaningful and the meaningful in the funny.

I'm so glad to have you guys on the show. You know we talk about communication all the time, but in all this time, we haven't talked about communicating by way of you.

That's one of the main forms I have of communicating and I bet it is yours too.

It's a great equalizer. Anybody that you can make laugh or who can make you laugh?

That's what I love. Right away, you're on the same playing field and there's a connection. Is it an immediate connection?

Do you mistrust anyone that doesn't have a sense of humor?

Yeah. As a matter of fact, anybody who doesn't have a sense of humor who takes everything too literally or is too dour, I just don't want to be near them.

I'm serious. It's a sense of humor. It's not only jokes, but it's a mindset. If your mind is in a place where nothing is funny or nothing makes you smile, what's the point?

I have this feeling, I don't have anything to back it up, but I have this feeling that when you're laughing, you're more vulnerable.

And folks who won't laugh, it seems to me, are protecting themselves. A little bit protecting themselves from the openness that you can get when you're laughing together.

Interesting that you mentioned vulnerability because I think being vulnerable makes you a better comedic performer.

I'll tell about that. That's interesting. The audience goes and I know who's talking. Frank is going to talk.

I think that sometimes I've written for CEOs, people who are not funny for living.

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