How to Joke About Problems Without Looking Guilty of Them

Joking about your audience's pains and mistakes is one of the best ways to drive engagement, but it carries a risk: it can sound like you have those problems too, which quietly undermines your positioning as the solution. The good news is that this is easy to avoid. Three simple techniques keep every joke landing as empathy while pointing the finger firmly away from you.

Option one: let it go

The first fix is to relax, because the risk is smaller than it feels. When you post a joke about a common mistake, the vast majority of people instantly understand it is a joke, and they read it as you showing that you get their world.

Only a tiny handful might ever misread it as a confession, and even they will usually assume you are being empathetic rather than admitting a flaw. If you are a naturally relaxed sort, that is often all the reassurance you need: the upside in engagement dwarfs the imagined downside.

Option two: weave it into your story

If you want something more deliberate, frame the joke as your own origin story. Use the surrounding copy to make clear that this used to be you, once upon a time, before you found the solution.

We have all made mistakes, and admitting you have walked the same path is a powerful way to connect. The structure is simple: "I used to do this too, and here is what changed." Now the joke is not a current weakness, it is proof you understand the problem from the inside, and know the way out.

Option three: change the target

Every joke makes fun of a target. If the target could be read as you or your brand, simply move it. Make it obvious the joke is about someone else.

Instead of "when you accidentally do X", which could be mistaken for "when I do X", set it up as "when a new client tells me they once did X". Same joke, but now it clearly casts you as the expert people come to in order to avoid the problem. A fictional stand-in, like "the intern", works the same way. Point the joke outward and your positioning stays intact.

Meet Brian

Writing jokes that make your audience feel seen while always casting you as the expert who solves their problem is exactly what Brian is for. He is our AI-powered comedy marketing machine, built to keep your positioning strong.

Take Brian for a spin and joke about problems the safe way.