Making a joke in an email asking for a PhD vacancy? In How to contact professors for PhD vacancies?, Suresh suggests (and I believe most of you agree with this):


  Think about their work. Find something intelligent to say (even a question). 


I have read a couple of the recent, most cited papers of the professor. It is considered to be a breakthrough in the field, and of course very interesting. I have some questions, but I'm afraid that they are just trivial, that the answers are lying apparently in the papers (in the professor's perspective) that I can't see.

But I decide to write an email to them anyway. When I'm about to describe what I've read, I come up with a joke about that breakthrough method. That joke is only one sentence long, and for me obviously it's funny. However, I'm afraid there are some backfires if I decide to joke about it. Maybe the professor will see that the joke has no relevant to the method (explaining kills the joke), or it will be too informal in the first contact.

So is it safe to put the joke into the email?

TL;DR: Women rates funny guys as more intelligent. Are professors the same?
TL;DR: Women rates funny guys as more intelligent. Are professors the same?


No, not really.  In ordinary conversation, nobody is expected to say anything deep or knowledgeable.  Making a joke at least shows more cleverness than many of the alternatives (such as chatting about the weather).  On the other hand, in a context where you might be expected to say something with real academic content, just making a joke instead suggests that you don't have anything else to contribute.  I think it would be better to try to engage with the subject matter, even if you are clearly not an expert yet, than to look like you are deflecting the issue with a joke.

The worst case scenario is making a terrible joke and seeming overly proud of yourself for making it.  Don't write to someone doing gene editing and say "Your recent papers are really impressive and have been getting crisper and crisper (get it? LOL!). I guess mi Cas es su Cas, am I right?"