What firstymer quoted is very true.
I used to start joking. The worse I feel, the more laughs I get, but I don't feel good about it. I tear myself down a lot, haha it's funny, because it's true. I especially hate it when I blurt out a joke about what someone else said or did. That's not really me. So where's the advice? Don't do that.
A lot of people worry about what others think about them, but most people think as much of you, as the other way around. Which isn't a lot, and if they do, they're often projecting their own experience. Maybe there was someone else preoccupied with his or her thoughts and didn't say a word during the meeting, did you notice? Did you feel negativity towards them?