Humor disarms people. It opens them up to starting a dialogue about things they wouldn't normally talk about. I don't understand how people who don't have a sense of humor get through life.
Short fiction is like low relief. And if your story has no humor in it, then you're trying to look at something in the pitch dark. With the light of humor, it throws what you're writing into relief so that you can actually see it.
John Lennon, who was a good friend of mine, he had one of the best senses of humor of any human being. And Keith Richards, fantastic sense of humor. They were smart, sharp. They had their own thoughts on matters.
The line between humor and bad taste is your audience, in which some people will find everything offensive, and some people will find nothing offensive, but the truth is that most humor originates in what would be called bad taste.
“Burgoyne, he had style, a certain charisma, and charm and humor about him.”
“Remember, humor is an aphrodisiac you can use to punctuate your sexual advances.”
“He had a great sense of humor. He partied a lot and was a hard worker.”
“Humor is a rubber sword - it allows you to make a point without drawing blood”
“Nothing spoils a romance so much as a sense of humor in the woman - or the want of it in the man”
“Whenever you find humor, you find pathos close by his side”