The Best Timing For Corporate Comedy
By Jean Zarzour, Owner of Lipschtick
216-521-3831 www.lipschtick.com
Using humor to entertain, educate, sell or reward your business audience is a great idea since statistics have proven that people retain information at a much higher rate if it is delivered with humor. But hold on to your budget. Not all entertainers are suitable for all business events. Like the political celebrity that everyone just loves on Letterman, until he shows up and bombs at your event to the tune of $100,000 or more.
I performed at a conference where such a tragic event occurred. The celebrity was a former nominee for President of the United States who was hired to deliver a comic keynote speech about his political career, 4 years into his retirement. Even though his jokes were geared toward an audience of his party line peers, his out-of-date humor went over like a lead balloon that was weighted down by other lead balloons.
First tip: If it didn’t happen 5 minutes ago, your political humor will be considered “so last decade”, no matter who delivers it. I’m sure the event planner who secured his appearance is still working, but they aren’t boasting about the day that Bob Dole managed to bore a bunch of bankers. The best part of the story is that our 3 person Improv Troupe won standing ovations at that same event. Not just because we customize all of our material with smart, timely and appropriate humor, but mostly because we have made a career of doing just that.
Second tip: If your goal is to have humor for humor’s sake, hire the folks that have a track record of being humorous by trade, not by accident. Naturally, all events are not created equal. Some are for 20 people being honored for their productivity at a distribution center and others are for thousands of people at a national sales conference to introduce a new product line that will be sold at a global retail store. Either way, there are definite rules that apply to all.
Some Do’s and Oh No, Please Don’ts! of booking comedy for your corporate event:
Joe from accounting is hilarious! Let him do it! Joe from accounting may have them rolling in their cubicles on his lunch break, but he will surely be a deer in the headlights when he has to appear on stage in front of 1,500 people. If you want to have your employees in the show, be sure that professional entertainers are there as the main attraction in order to guide Joe throughout his appearance as part of their comedy team. This way, Joe looks good and so do you.
We can’t afford the custom-written entertainment. We’ll get a magician…who also does comedy…and juggling…..and says he’ll clean up afterwards for an extra 50 bucks. That’s not to say that hiring a magician or other novelty act can’t be a good idea for the right event. (You can even book them through my company.) If you are having a large event that is impressive on every other level, you should find the budget for the most suitable entertainment.
Never Assume anything! Including the notion that the comedy act you hired will be “family friendly” just because they are business entertainers. Set your ground rules well in advance about the level of cleanliness, political correctness or politics-free show that you’d like and put them in writing before you book the comedy act.
Just meet the comic’s demands and no one will get hurt! Many business entertainers customize their comedy to ensure the maximum LPM’s or Laughs Per Minute. However, in order to write the material, we must have at least 30 minutes of the client’s time by phone, learning about the corporate culture and the good, the bad and the ugly of the company’s day in/day out activities. A website often isn’t enough information to deftly customize a show. I don’t necessarily need to know about Joe’s embarrassing stage appearance at last year’s conference. I want to know the inside information about what is important to employees and customers alike in your particular industry so that everyone in the audience will relate to our “send up” and no one will be embarrassed. If you don’t return my calls, emails or smoke signals, I can’t do my job of customizing your show.
Are we speaking the same language? I appeared as the host of a custom written game show for the attendees of an international trade show in Tampa. It was a clever, fun, audience participation show, however, 90% of our audience didn’t speak English. They spoke Spanish, Chinese, Italian and French. Need I habla more?
If once is funny 4 times is funnier! For a long training seminar held over the course of several days, it is better to plan several brief comic relief moments than a single one-hour comedy routine that could feel like yet another lengthy obligation on the part of your audience.
Last, but not Least... No matter what sort of comedy you provide - stand up, improv, musical or sketch - be sure that you treat and present that portion of your event with as much respect, grandeur and attention to detail as any other component. Nothing that says, “I love you” like a comedy booking that goes smoothly from the initial call to the enthusiastic introduction you give the performers before they take the stage. If you value their appearance, so will your audience.
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