Five Secrets to Effective Corporate Comedy

Performing Effective Corporate Comedy is Best Achieved by Following These Five Guidelines:

1)  Corporate Comedy Creates a Fun, Non-Threatening Environment

Corporate Comedy is an artform.  It is a type of humor that is appreciated by event planners seeking clean, funny comedy that is not offensive and creates a buzz.  Generally the comedy is delivered in an auditorium, a hotel meeting room or an on-site all-purpose room.  If your comedy is inappropriate for this type of setting, you will know immediately.  The ambience and crowd reaction will train a corporate comedian as to what material is appropriate the minute he or she begins to speak.

2)  Customize

With a little research into your client's business you secure a definite edge in your performance.  "Google" the company and learn about what makes it tick.  Tweak your jokes with this information and you will gain great respect for your time and personal interest.

3)  Arrive on time

I recommend arriving at least one hour prior to your performance.  It is wise to do a sound check and talk with the audio-visual personnel so that everything runs smoothly  Arriving early puts everyone at ease - including you!

4)  Dress as if you are performing on TV

 It is always better to be over-dressed rather than appearing casual at a more formal event.  Dress in professional attire.

5)  Make your Audience the Stars of the Show

Many new corporate comedians overlook the fact that it is important to make your audience members the stars of the show.  This is so effective in producing a memorable show. "Customizing" a show is the first step to making your performance personalized.  I recommend taking your efforts one step further and including audience members on stage in your performance.  "Taking the stage" is an experience that guests will remember for years to come!

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The Radio Interview - What Stand Up Comedians Need to Know

I'll never forget my first radio interview as a stand up comedian.  I was on the road in a small Ohio town and I was asked to go to the local radio station to promote my stand up comedy show at a nearby comedy club.  I had strict instructions from the radio station.  "Write out five questions that will lead into jokes.   Tell the jokes."  End of instructions.

What the radio station failed to mention is that many radio hosts may step right on every one of those five set-ups and/or punchlines and completely ruin the timing of a joke.  That can make a radio interview very painful.  Comedians know that the best hosts are either highly sensitive to the talent of their individual guests or they are former stand up comics themselves.

This type of radio interview remained the status quo until the day that I walked into the WGN Radio studio and handed my sheet of questions leading to jokes to Steve Cochran, a true veteran of outstanding radio (and a stand up comedian).  Steve, looked at me, unsmiling, and said, "Oh you can throw that away.  We're going to wing it."  My heart stopped.  "Wing it," I thought.  That's what I've been trained "not to do" by countless radio personalities.  I was totally unprepared mentally.  That day, I began to "wing it" in shock.  It was one of the best experiences of my life.

Years later, I still recall this first unrehearsed radio interview every time I walk through the doors of a new radio station.  This past week, I co-hosted the "Down and Dirty" Show with Frank Fontana.  I could not have been more at ease. Frank is a wonderful host who knows how to interview effortlessly.  I've learned a lot since my first encounter with Steve Cochran of WGN Radio and I now interpret the experience of a live radio interview on my own terms:  Talking on the radio is an experience nearly identical to talking to an old friend on the telephone.  You listen, you laugh, you chat, you laugh.  What could be natural?!  Would you talk to an old friend with a handful of prepared notes?  Of course not.  Hearing a natural and fun exchange is what makes radio enjoyable and engaging.  The listeners become caught up in that camaraderie.

If you are being interviewed on the radio, throw those notes away.  Look at the interviewer as if he is a long lost friend.  Catch up on news.  And as Steve Cochran most brilliantly put it, "Just wing it!"

Frank Fontana Interviews Clean Comedian Sally Edwards