Heart Powers No. 27 of 28
They call it: Class clown We call it
Also known as humor.
The short version You find the funny in the room fast. Adults with ADHD rate humor as one of their strengths more than other adults do.
Collected. 0 of 28.
Jokes arrive fast or not at all, and yours arrive fast. Your brain jumps sideways to the funny connection while everyone else is still on the first sentence. A mind that makes fast, unexpected connections is a mind that finds punchlines.
In a 400-adult study, adults with ADHD were more likely to rate humor as one of their strengths.Source 1 In the Dutch survey, 25 of 206 adults named humor without being asked.Source 2 Comedy is one place where a fast, unfiltered mind is an asset.
One study points the other way. In a study of 300 college students, those with more ADHD traits reported enjoying humor less.Source 3 Nobody has put people with ADHD on a stage and counted the laughs. What we have is people’s own report that it works.
Early evidence
Adults with ADHD rated humor as a strength more than others did in one study, but a college study found them enjoying humor less, and nobody has measured funniness.
The speed that makes a joke land is the same speed that can land one on a person. Aim at the situation, not at someone’s haircut.
Write down the last three jokes that landed and reuse one tonight with someone new.
Your brain finds funny things fast, like a dog finding a treat. When you make people laugh, hard days get smaller.
Comedian and former host of The Daily Show
I would either be hyperfocused by something that I shouldn’t or I would have no focus for the thing that I should.
Said in: Noah, 2024
Trevor Noah was diagnosed as a child, when it was called hyperactivity, and again as an adult after a friend’s diagnosis.