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Back to In-Person Work? Classics Prof Offers Tips on Office Humor

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Mike Fontaine, author of How to Tell a Joke, weighs in on the best ways to bond with colleagues through shared laughter

By Cornellians staff

Classics professor Mike Fontaine has penned several entries in Princeton University Press’s “Ancient Wisdom for Modern Readers” series, which shares advice from the classical world on a variety of topics relevant to life today.

They include How to Tell a Joke: An Ancient Guide to the Art of Humor, in which Fontaine translates writings by Roman statesman and orator Marcus Tullius Cicero.

Classics professor Mike Fontaine poses in Klarman Hall
cornell university
Fontaine in the Klarman Hall atrium, home to copies of classical statuary.

(Fontaine has also contributed How to Drink, How to Have Willpower, How to Get Over a Breakup, and How to Grieve; How to Speak Freely is due out in 2026.)

In early February, Fontaine tapped the expertise he gleaned from writing How to Tell a Joke to address a very modern phenomenon: the current push by many companies for a return to the office, and the inevitable adjustments that staffers—particularly the youngest—will have to make as they segue from remote work to in-person office culture.

On the University’s LinkedIn account, Fontaine shared his advice on fostering humor as a key part of a positive workplace—as long as it’s done correctly.

Here are his five tips, drawn from classical insights:

Let timing do the work: Good humor doesn’t interrupt work; it punctuates it. Humor works best after decisions, after bad news, and after a difficult stretch—not instead of substance. 

As an example, after a big presentation, you might say: “Well, that was a lot of information. Let’s all take a second to pretend we fully absorbed it, then I’ll recap.”

The book cover for How to Tell a Joke: An Ancient Guide to the Art of Humor, featuring a figure of Cicero.

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Reframe the situation, not the person: Target a process, a shared frustration, or a recognizable absurdity everyone already sees. This shifts perspectives and flips the script.

When faced with a difficult or confusing task, say something along the lines of, “I love how this problem looked simple right up until the moment we all understood it.”

Use humor to signal safety, not superiority: Team leaders can use humor to lower their own status before ever using their authority. When kicking off a project, try saying something like, “Just to set expectations early: if anyone here has all the answers, you’re already doing better than I am.”

Team leaders can use humor to lower their own status before ever using their authority.

Keep humor proportional to the room: The larger and more diverse the group, the lighter and more inclusive the humor needs to be. As the room grows, precision matters less than safety. It’s best to stick to corny jokes, such as, “Statistically speaking, at least one of us has no idea what we’re here for—and that’s completely fine.”

Use humor to boost morale, not avoid reality: Don’t dodge hard truths or problems. Instead, restore energy and perspective. When solving a difficult problem, you can say something such as, “No one is enjoying this part—but at least we’re all not enjoying it together.”

(Top: Illustration by Shea Oleksa / Cornell University.)

Published February 24, 2026

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