Six Steps to Creating Customized Comedy for Your Clients
In the past I was mystified by the comedy writing process. It turns out that many paths lead to laughter. Here is just one road map you can use in your quest to create more humor and engagement with others.
I love a challenge. Writing a customized comedy magic show for BitMEX, (the largest Bitcoin trading platform operating today), gave me that in spades!
Stephen Colbert has said, “Listening to someone talk, who knows a lot about Bitcoin is the #1 thing I would rather NOT be doing.” This made me wonder if I could ever wrap my head around all of these ‘derivations’, ‘hash rates’ and other computational high tech high jinks. The closest I’d ever come to cryptocurrency was klepto-currency, when someone tried to steal my wallet!
Over the years I have cultivated a 6-step process, or map that you can use on your journey to creating a customized comedy program.
These six steps include:
Researching the topic and the organization
Finding the funny
Turning your material into their material
Rehearsing using memory tools
Placing cheat sheets strategically
Taking the leap and having a great time
Step 1: RESEARCHING THE ORGANIZATION
Many writers use research to avoid getting to the actual writing. I do both at the same time. I will write an idea and then find surprising, funny connections through free association, studying the industry, reading leader bios and even sleuthing social media to key players ‘deepest secrets’!
The process doesn’t have to be that arduous. If I’m writing a program for attorneys. I’ll go online and search: “lawyer jokes”. This can be a good launching point.
Research is often the genesis of the joke. It also allows you to look deeper into the subtext. For instance, the whole point of “Blockchains” and the greatest concern on everyone’s mind is cybersecurity. So during the program I perform an instant costume change from an evening gown transforming to an “Infamous Cyber Hacker!” (Dressed like Laura Croft form Tomb Raider), I pass a rope through my body, demonstrating how “I hack into people’s auric field, making them enlightened against their WILL!”
Having investigated the wide range of reactions to Bitcoin, I learned that many progressives believe that peer-to-peer currency exchange will put the power back into the hands of the people. I needed the attendees to know that I understand the deeper conversation and power behind what they are doing, while still teasing them about its high price and intangibility.
Comedy bit: Turning water to wine
Joke: “I’d like to begin with a toast! To BitMEX! You are leaders in overthrowing imperialism using nothing more than a very expensive imaginary coin! If you could do that, you could probably turn water to wine!”
Step 2: FINDING THE FUNNY
Humor requires a certain level of irreverence combined with tact. My goal was to kid them mercilessly while keeping them astonished and laughing. ‘Finding the funny’ is the most elusive of the steps, and yet it is the most exciting because this is where true chaos and creativity reign.
Flashes of humor can come from states of intense focus or casual relaxed moments like when eating a meal. Given that we can’t wait for inspiration when under a deadline, the best approach is to ‘workshop’ or play with your topic from every angle and see what surfaces. I record my script drafts and listen to them while cooking or driving which creates the distance to see how the humor lands and tweak it for timing. Syntax, pacing and even accents can make or break a joke. Getting the line down to as few syllables as possible helps deliver the punchline.
Take heart in remembering you don’t have to be THAT funny. After watching several comics on primetime TV delivering lukewarm humor, I found myself leaping with joy saying. “I could be that bad too!”
People appreciate that you made the effort. It goes without saying that all corporate humor needs to be squeaky clean and never diminishing. As long as your core intention is to empower, this will come through in your humor. That said, there is nothing like the exhilaration of cracking yourself up when you try an idea and it lands in the pocket.
Comedy bit: Bringing an animal to life on stage
Joke: “Bitmex has it all dialed in except for one thing. One sad discrepancy. You don’t have an official mascot! Until NOW! I would like to introduce your new mascot, your very own live prairie dog! Let’s call him PONZI! He will now do his signature BitMEX dance… (animating the prop while I sing Sam Cooke’s “Chain Gang”). “Huh! Tsh! Ha! Tsh! ♬ “That’s the sound of the men working on the BLOCK-chain, gang.” 🎶
Step 3: TURNING YOUR MATERIAL INTO THEIR MATERIAL
I know a composer who drives 9 hours every month to visit his composition teacher. Each time he returns with the same singular mantra: “Use your material”. Many people forget or diminish the resource, experience, and knowledge they have accumulated.
Having a written or mental inventory of what you can bring to your customization is of utmost importance. Only then can you mix this with your researched understanding of the organization, culture or event theme.
Once you have vetted your own material, there are two approaches that you can use to make it theirs.
One approach is to study them like an actor would and go into their head. Imagine a typical day and what frustrations and common exchanges they have, again through research.
Another approach is to use your own instincts around our shared human experience. For example, everyone is afraid of being a fool, so I make one of myself. “Bitcoins are so expensive! Not for ME of course. I’m the proud owner of a .00000003 piece of Bitcoin.” (Poking my head forward with every “0” like a Bob Fosse dancer.)
Comedy bit: An explosion of sparks results from my attempt to plug in a Bitcoin Mining Machine
Joke: “I wanted a piece of the action, so I just got myself this Bitcoin Mining Calculator! These don’t take up THAT much power, do they? Let me just plug it in… (Explosion of sparks fly into the air) Ahhh!”
* Co-founder and CTO, Sam Reed liked the homemade prop so much he asked to keep it and now it is prominently displayed in their new offices on a special shelf. This is an example of using humor to create a tangible that will be remembered, asked about, and talked about for years to come by the client.
Step 4: REHEARSING USING MEMORY TOOLS
Given that every program requires a new script, I need to memorize the outline and subtopics for smooth delivery. There are many tools you can employ for memory.
1) The one I use most often combines mnemonics and mental imagery in a 5-point grid, like a dice. On each of the 5 points, I imagine an absurd picture or a series of letters to help me remember the points.
2) A “Memory Palace” is a tool I use to memorize 25 ideas in a row, by imagining a stroll through my house and numbering the familiar objects while turning them into memory anchors. When memorizing, I attach a numbered talking point to an object and I can easily recall it.
I had several jokes written about BitMAX’s trading platform. I placed them in the 5-point grid in my mind as absurd images and visualized the grid to execute the jokes in real-time.
Comedy bit: Joking with the audience about their trading platform. Below is an excerpt.
Joke: “I went to your trading platform and my phone started blinking out of control, I thought it was broken. But nope! That’s just regular trading fluctuation for bitcoin. Insanity! Then I tried paper trading on your ‘Text-net’… until I realized I was using fake money to represent pretend coins, and my head exploded.
I can’t keep texting your CTO, Sam Reed, asking for market advice! Besides, he only texts back in Python, which leaves me a bit-coin-fused and leads me to believe that he’s more of a coder than a market guy. Right, Sam?”
Step 5: PLACING CHEAT SHEETS STRATEGICALLY
Often, I have two days to write, rehearse and deliver a program. I’ve learned to NEVER work without a net.
Being a ‘prop-centric’ Speaker, I can place objects in a specific order to help the ‘run of show’. I can also place small post-it notes with difficult-to-remember or highly technical trigger words that I can read when I pick up the object. I have used a label maker to create small notes on wine glasses, playing cards and even bottle caps.
For this to work, one needs to have rehearsed the program on their feet several times so they know where they will be physically, and what word they will likely be needing as a cue during a specific moment. In the following example. I created a custom cover for a ‘Flaming Book. I didn’t have to memorize the cover because I could just read as I displayed it. I had written copy about specific recipes taped inside the book, so I could just open the book and read from it.
Comedy bit: Introducing their new recipe book as it bursts into flames
Joke: I took it upon myself to publish BitMEX’s first recipe book: “Crypto Cuisine for Coders who Cook”, I know there have to be at least 3 of you out there. Enjoy extra spicy derivatives of your favorite dishes, now under the BitMEX brand! We have Mac & Cheese MEX, Trail MEX, and Tex MEX. The Tex MEX recipes are spitfire hot!” (Flaming book)
Step 6: TAKING THE LEAP AND HAVING A GREAT TIME!
The secret to being truly entertaining is to be having the time of your life. Your joy, exuberance, and vigor for the material will be contagious. If you are nervous and would honestly rather be in the dentist chair than speaking, then there are tools you can use, but understand that if you are in an ‘away state’ you will put your audience in an ‘away state’, which undermines your success.
Having a ritual or a phrase you say before walking on stage is very helpful. Some people say to themselves, “Let’s do this!”, or “You’ve got this!” I say, “I kick magic a**!”
In my program I have a very difficult move where I balance a heavy crystal ball on my forehead while standing on one leg, bringing my other leg up to where my heel is near my ear. It’s often hard to find a ‘spot’ on the ceiling with blinding stage lights. Every single time I lift that ball to my forehead I say internally, with ferocious certainty, “THIS is what I DO.” Find your own phrases to carry you through difficult moments.
There was a speaker who stepped down from the platform and fell onto the ground. Lying on her back, she lifted the mic to her mouth and said, “I will now take questions from the floor.” Needless to say, it got a huge laugh and her program went on.
Comedy bit: Performing the ‘four-coin-roll-out’ trying to sell them on my ‘TRICKcoin’
Joke: “These are still uncertain times for Bitcoin. With 85% extracted. You’re going to be needing another proxy currency. That’s where I come in. (Executing the four-coin roll out) “Instead of the ‘Clever BITcoin’, use the ‘Heather TRICKcoin!’ You don’t even have to mine them. I’m selling them in the lobby for $5 Canadian!”
In conclusion, there are infinite ways to connect with your audience. The very best way is by bringing your signature style into every nuance of your program. The special quality of your own quirky genius is what your booker is paying you to deliver. When you pair this with deeply customized comedy written especially for them, they will not only love you, they will remember you.