It’s a funny thing (pun fully intended) but humour is very subjective and a flat gag at the wrong time will kill any speech stone dead. However, a best man’s speech without any will also kill a party quicker than a hurricane.  So, how and when should you use it?Fully understanding your audience is a great place to start.  Are they expecting humour, is it appropriate, will it enhance your message or will it give the impression you aren’t taking the subject seriously? As a very young salesman years ago I wanted my clients to like me, and therefore I used humour as a way to defuse any tension. However, I remember my boss at the time telling me that one of my customers had said that he found it hard to take anything I said seriously because I was always smiling! A hard lesson to learn, but a valuable one too…sometimes it is best not to laugh and smile. If I am announcing to an internal team that cost savings will need to be made during the year, it’s probably not best to follow it up with a laugh and joke. However, if I am introducing a new member to the team, a lighthearted jab at their expense might (and only might) be appropriate to show that they are human.

Yes  you can, but remember that when you deliver a speech, you are talking directly to human beings and not robots.  Speeches are written by people - to be delivered to people, and understanding just who those people are is the most crucial part of any speechwriters job.  AI is an incredible (and scary) development that does incredible and scary things, but it doesn't have the human touch, and that is an essential part of the deal.

I remember the very first time I presented to a group of customers back in the early 1980s.  I got on stage, looked at their unsmiling faces and froze!  I had forgotten the most important and basic rule...'remember to breathe'.  

It's strange, but something happens to us all when we know we are being filmed or when we are speaking in a formal setting.  We start behaving weirdly, which is probably why I didn't choose to become a great actor and 'tread the boards'!  I have seen videos of me trying to pretend that I am not being recorded and I walk and talk like a third rate actor in a 1970s B movie!