We all know what it feels like when a joke falls flat, but there is room for analysis here.

This is critical stuff for a professional writer, but it is also critical for the professional explainer, which we are training to be.

We are all painfully aware that the joke is not only dead, but stinking, when we have to explain it. We must be in the audience’s shoes when we tell a joke. Which brings us to professional explanation. When you tell a joke, you are formulating what will happen IN THE HEARER’S MIND immediately after he hears it. This means you have to be intimately aware of what he knows and what will pop into his mind when he hears it.

The above paragraph is also a perfect description of a professional explainer.

In joking and explaining, what is critical is that all the information your listener needs is right there at the end. We all know that the second after a joke is critical to a comedian. It is just as critical to the explainer.
When I write a piece, as when a comedian tells a joke, what I says can get your mind working or it can shut your mind down.

A stand-up tells a joke about his uncle when he went to Heaven. There will be people in the audience whose beloved uncle recently died. Many of them will not respond to the joke, simply because they are quite naturally thinking of their uncle.

This is a work-study outfit. It is all about explanation. You know how a stand-up feels about people who think of their dead uncle when he tells a joke.

My feelings are very similar when members of a work-study group react like members of a membership organization.
When I say something, I do not want you thinking about how it correlates with the big news item. I do not want a listing of the way others have said the same thing.

I do not want you to see a key word like “Communist” or Nazi (God knows!) and freeze your mind on that. I am trying to explain to you what I did for a living. It is difficult if you pay close attention.

It is impossible if your mind locks on something else.