Joel Goodman, like Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman's characters in "The Bucket List," has a list of life goals that he would like to accomplish before he leaves this world behind. Recently he completed one of those goals when he became only the second professional speaker in the world to have lectured on all seven continents after a recent trip to Antarctica.
"I am truly honored to be only the second professional speaker in the
world to have presented on all seven continents," he said. "Antarctica
was the last continent for me to visit and it was just amazing."
Goodman, founder and Director of The HUMOR Project in Saratoga Springs, is a speaker, consultant and workshop leader on the positive power of humor. His organization is the first of its kind in the world to focus full-time on the power humor can have on people's lives.
Goodman said he wasn't sure who he would be speaking to when he and his wife, Margie Ingram - a life coach at The HUMOR Project - started their journey to Antarctica, which included a stop in Argentina where Goodman spoke to 150 teachers.
"I thought it might just be a group of penguins, but as it turns out there were a whole bunch of folks from the ship we were on who came to hear me speak," he said.
Delivering his lecture outside the Henryk Arctowski Polish Antarctic Research Station, Goodman braved 65-mile-per-hour winds and frigid cold weather to deliver a speech on how people can get more humor in their lives. He opened the session with a slogan from a bumper sticker that a woman from Valdez, Alaska had given him a few years back that reads, "We're all here because we're not all there."
"I thought it would be fun to open-up the speech by bringing a saying from Alaska to Antarctica - the two opposite extremes of each other on the planet," he said.
Goodman said that his lecture also takes a look at how humor can really help people deal with the stresses that life can bring. He added that humor is something people need more than ever with the current state of the economy.
"I think now more than ever we need more humor in our lives to help us deal with everything that is going on with the stock market and the economy," he said.
Goodman added that he did not think it was an accident that during the Great Depression humorists like Jack Benny and the Marx Brothers emerged to save society's sanity, and help lift people's spirits.
"One of my favorite quotes is from Erma Bombeck, a renowned humorist, who said 'when humor goes, there goes civilization,'" he said.
Goodman has certainly done his part to try and lift people's spirits through the power of humor over the last 32 years, having addressed more than three million people at national and state conferences and in-house training programs for corporations, organizations, government agencies and professional associations around the world. His organization also has sponsored 52 international humor conferences and workshops.
"We have attracted tens of thousands of people from all 50 states, six continents and The Moon, including moon walking astronaut Dr. Edgar Mitchell," he said.
Goodman said in every case he tries to customize his presentations to the group at hand. For example, he might speak to a business group about the humor approach to excellence on the job or sometimes he is brought in by a hospital who wants him to look at the humor/health connection or a human services agency might employ his services to discuss humor and stress management.
"We really customize what we do, and it has been really fun over the last 32 years to have a vast variety of audiences and topics," he said.
As much fun as Goodman has had speaking to people around the world over the last three decades, the idea to create the organization actually came out of a very unfunny situation. Goodman said in the 70s his dad was diagnosed with an aneurism in his aorta and he was sent to Houston, Texas to have surgery by the world-renowned heart surgeon, Michael DeBakey.
"If you wanted a before picture of stress and anxiety, all you had to do was look at my family," he said. "Then the wonderful proverbial funny thing happened on the way to the hospital."
Goodman said that the hotel he and his mother were staying at had a shuttle bus that went back and forth from the hospital. He said the man driving the van was named Alvin, and he was this wonderful magician who in the short four minutes it took to get the passengers from the hotel to the hospital he had magically transformed the up-tight terrorized people on the bus into people who could laugh, chuckle and get rid of their angst.
"After my father had survived his surgery and I had returned to Saratoga Springs, I got to thinking about this angel who had come into our lives when we most needed humor. I started to further think, 'if humor has such good effects and side effects, couldn't and shouldn't we make it happen more intentionally instead of waiting for it to enter our life by chance?'" he said.
So in 1977, Goodman started The HUMOR Project based off the inspiration he received from Alvin. Ten years later, Goodman tracked down Alvin and flew to Texas to thank him for touching his life and millions of other peoples lives around the world. He then flew Alvin and his wife to Saratoga Springs for their annual humor conference and shared his story to a thousand people in attendance who afterwards gave Alvin a 10 minute standing ovation
"It was just this wonderful way of paying tribute to this humble, unassuming guy who had touched so many lives," he said.
Goodman said this year he intends on creating "The Ho-Ho Humor Opportunity Campaign," which will double the organization's output in terms of reaching out and doing programs throughout the United States and the world - his trip to Antarctica was the kick-off of the outreach program.
"We want to be sensitive to the current fiscal realities," he said.
Goodman will also be traveling to Idaho and Montana within the next month. The trip will mark the 48th and 49th states he has lectured in. Next year he will make the trip to Hawaii to complete his 50 state lecture series - one of the other goals on his bucket list.
"It has been so enriching for me to expand my world view literally and figuratively," he said. "Having friends around the world makes the world a smaller place."
To learn more about The HUMOR Project, visit www.humorproject.com.
Goodman, founder and Director of The HUMOR Project in Saratoga Springs, is a speaker, consultant and workshop leader on the positive power of humor. His organization is the first of its kind in the world to focus full-time on the power humor can have on people's lives.
Goodman said he wasn't sure who he would be speaking to when he and his wife, Margie Ingram - a life coach at The HUMOR Project - started their journey to Antarctica, which included a stop in Argentina where Goodman spoke to 150 teachers.
"I thought it might just be a group of penguins, but as it turns out there were a whole bunch of folks from the ship we were on who came to hear me speak," he said.
Delivering his lecture outside the Henryk Arctowski Polish Antarctic Research Station, Goodman braved 65-mile-per-hour winds and frigid cold weather to deliver a speech on how people can get more humor in their lives. He opened the session with a slogan from a bumper sticker that a woman from Valdez, Alaska had given him a few years back that reads, "We're all here because we're not all there."
"I thought it would be fun to open-up the speech by bringing a saying from Alaska to Antarctica - the two opposite extremes of each other on the planet," he said.
Goodman said that his lecture also takes a look at how humor can really help people deal with the stresses that life can bring. He added that humor is something people need more than ever with the current state of the economy.
"I think now more than ever we need more humor in our lives to help us deal with everything that is going on with the stock market and the economy," he said.
Goodman added that he did not think it was an accident that during the Great Depression humorists like Jack Benny and the Marx Brothers emerged to save society's sanity, and help lift people's spirits.
"One of my favorite quotes is from Erma Bombeck, a renowned humorist, who said 'when humor goes, there goes civilization,'" he said.
Goodman has certainly done his part to try and lift people's spirits through the power of humor over the last 32 years, having addressed more than three million people at national and state conferences and in-house training programs for corporations, organizations, government agencies and professional associations around the world. His organization also has sponsored 52 international humor conferences and workshops.
"We have attracted tens of thousands of people from all 50 states, six continents and The Moon, including moon walking astronaut Dr. Edgar Mitchell," he said.
Goodman said in every case he tries to customize his presentations to the group at hand. For example, he might speak to a business group about the humor approach to excellence on the job or sometimes he is brought in by a hospital who wants him to look at the humor/health connection or a human services agency might employ his services to discuss humor and stress management.
"We really customize what we do, and it has been really fun over the last 32 years to have a vast variety of audiences and topics," he said.
As much fun as Goodman has had speaking to people around the world over the last three decades, the idea to create the organization actually came out of a very unfunny situation. Goodman said in the 70s his dad was diagnosed with an aneurism in his aorta and he was sent to Houston, Texas to have surgery by the world-renowned heart surgeon, Michael DeBakey.
"If you wanted a before picture of stress and anxiety, all you had to do was look at my family," he said. "Then the wonderful proverbial funny thing happened on the way to the hospital."
Goodman said that the hotel he and his mother were staying at had a shuttle bus that went back and forth from the hospital. He said the man driving the van was named Alvin, and he was this wonderful magician who in the short four minutes it took to get the passengers from the hotel to the hospital he had magically transformed the up-tight terrorized people on the bus into people who could laugh, chuckle and get rid of their angst.
"After my father had survived his surgery and I had returned to Saratoga Springs, I got to thinking about this angel who had come into our lives when we most needed humor. I started to further think, 'if humor has such good effects and side effects, couldn't and shouldn't we make it happen more intentionally instead of waiting for it to enter our life by chance?'" he said.
So in 1977, Goodman started The HUMOR Project based off the inspiration he received from Alvin. Ten years later, Goodman tracked down Alvin and flew to Texas to thank him for touching his life and millions of other peoples lives around the world. He then flew Alvin and his wife to Saratoga Springs for their annual humor conference and shared his story to a thousand people in attendance who afterwards gave Alvin a 10 minute standing ovation
"It was just this wonderful way of paying tribute to this humble, unassuming guy who had touched so many lives," he said.
Goodman said this year he intends on creating "The Ho-Ho Humor Opportunity Campaign," which will double the organization's output in terms of reaching out and doing programs throughout the United States and the world - his trip to Antarctica was the kick-off of the outreach program.
"We want to be sensitive to the current fiscal realities," he said.
Goodman will also be traveling to Idaho and Montana within the next month. The trip will mark the 48th and 49th states he has lectured in. Next year he will make the trip to Hawaii to complete his 50 state lecture series - one of the other goals on his bucket list.
"It has been so enriching for me to expand my world view literally and figuratively," he said. "Having friends around the world makes the world a smaller place."
To learn more about The HUMOR Project, visit www.humorproject.com.
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