It was 1p.m in Pasadena. The Third Annual Tri-City "I" Day was winding to a close, and the independent insurance agents were getting restless.

The theme for the one-day conference at the Pasadena Center was "Insurance for a New Age," but the main topic of conversation was Proposition 103. The rate-cutting initiative, which Californians approved last November, was the subject of the "Life after the Initiatives" morning workshop and the talk of the roast beef lunch.

It was also the inspiration for an afternoon pep talk by Dr. Angelo Rosse, insurance guru from the prestigious Hoover Institute and keynote speaker of the day.

"I don’t have to tell you that the insurance industry will be going through some difficulties in the next few years," Rosse said after stepping up to the podium.

"You’ll be plagued by higher operation costs and additional strains brought on by

unfavorable legislation."

Ah yes. Unfavorable legislation. The agents nodded, sipped their white Zinfandel and waited for answers.

Fortunately, the good doctor had a plan. In response to the impending disaster, Rosse unveiled the Hoover Institute’s Checklist for Survival, a seven-point improvement program that advised agents to give customers on-the-spot cash rebates, slash their own commissions to 5 percent and, when all else fails, consider selling Tupperware.

It took awhile, but by the time Rosse got to the merits of diversifying into Mary Kay Cosmetics, the be-leaguered agents realized they’d been had. And when the curly haired doctor confessed to being Bob Ross, a humorist from San Diego, they knew they’d been had by an expert.

Two weeks later, in the sunny patio of his Bonita home, Ross was still laughing. Last year, he was working as deputy director of the San Diego Housing Commission.

Now, Ross makes a living by making people laugh at themselves. No wonder he’s having such a good time.

"I like practical joking, and to me, these speeches are like monumental practical jokes," Ross said, his blue eyes twinkling. "I can’t allow myself to enjoy the joke before the speech, because I have to be into the character. I get my fun later."

Ross gets his fun in a variety of ways. His specialty is humor in the work place, and most of his speeches are aimed toward improving employee-employer relations through a dose of therapeutic giggles.

For approximately $2,000 to $3,000, Ross will spice up a banquet with a joke-studded talk, lead a humor workshop for management and/or employees, act as a master of ceremonies, roast the boss, or pretend to be an authority on anything from banking to music.

Before coming to San Diego in 1979, Ross supervised urban-revitalization programs in Appalachia; Lansing, Mich.; and Modesto, Calif. He had been a part-time professional speaker for four years when he left the housing commission last July to pursue his mix of comedy and commerce full time. It was a risky venture, but Ross maintains he was just following his own advice.

"My job wasn’t fun anymore," Ross said. "What I always tell my audiences is, ‘If your job isn’t fun, you won’t excel.’ The speaking business was becoming more profitable and it was time to make a change."

Plenty of professional speakers rotate through the rubber-chicken banquet circuit, but few of them do it pretending to be someone else. Ross’ put-ons are now his favorite part of the job, and it all started – where else? – at a convention.

"It just came upon me," Ross said. "I was at a Nationals Speakers’ Association convention, and I met someone from San Diego. He was an events specialist, and he called me up and asked me to do a put-on for an American Express meeting. I went on as a banking expert, and the whole thing was a real success. So I thought, ‘There’s a market here,’ and started to advertise."

In the last year, Ross has done approximately 15 put-ons. In most cases, he is hired by a member of an event’s planning committee, who in turn tries to keep Ross’ true identity hidden from as many people as possible.

On the day or evening of the event, Ross dons his dark-blue "expert’s" suit, takes a last look at the research he has done on the company, and prepares to live up to his phony title and bogus credentials, at least for a while.

Audiences expecting the usual after-dinner yawn are surprised when Ross’ talks veer from the bottom line to the punch line, and usually, the switch-off is a real success. Usually.

"The day before I was in Pasadena, I did a put-on for some limestone producers in Iowa," Ross said. "And I got up there and said that the time had come for a change. I told them about a new synthetic aggregate that was being developed, and I started naming the advantages it had over limestone. Then I told them that within five years, it would make their product obsolete!"

Ross pauses for a dry chuckle or two, and then continues.

"These people just went into shock," he said. "It took me awhile to get them back."

Once Ross revealed his real name and identity to the Pasadena audience, he stopped joking and started talking seriously about humor. In his sincere speaker’s voice, he told the agents how humor, fun and play could work for them.

Humor gets people’s attention, he said. It relaxes the listener. It makes your message (or you, or your product) more palatable. It helps you make a lasting impression. Most importantly, humor helps relieve stress. Find the punch line, Ross said, and you’ll release some stress.

"A good sense of humor is what we all need today," Ross told the Tri-City Insurance agents at the end of his speech. "Put the magic of humor into your lives."

Ross believes in humor because he believes in people. He believes an employer's greatest resource is the employee, and a happy employee is a profitable employee. In his workshops, Ross tells managers to try starting meetings with a joke. He suggests giving employees humorous awards, and using funny quips and jokes in memos and speeches."The health of any organization is directly proportionate to its ability to laugh at itself," Ross said. "If you look at the models of successful teams, you look at sports teams, you look at families. And if you ask the people in these groups what they have in common with each other, they’ll probably say they all like to laugh. And if you ask them how they work with each other, they’ll probably say, "We have fun together."

Ross also believes in humor because it works for him.