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Just a little insight into the minds of our team members
Things to Help make sure everyone gets a really good laugh.
1 - Snuggle up. Make sure its not too big for the amount of people you have. The audience is part of the experience with live comedy. Its not by accident that – And if you have a huge room, think about setting the comedy up where the audience can be huddled together.
2 - Its better in the dark:
Some members of the audience get self conscious about laughing. Or nervous in case the compere might speak to them. The easiest way to make people feel relaxed is to turn down the lights.
3 - Food versus comedy
If there is food at your event, if it is happening at the same
time as comedy there will be a competition. Sadly the distraction of serving and eating might spoil the experience for some of the audience. It only takes a little noise for the audience to get distracted or miss the punch line.
4 – The sound of silence.
Can they hear you? A simple mistake can spoil the comedy .. if your audience is struggling to hear the punch line, they won’t laugh.
5 – Is the timing right
Depending what time of day/night the comedy is on, will have a huge impact on the type of comedian you are looking to hire. If its an after dinner affair, especially with alcohol involved, then you might want to choose a strong, high status comedian who is confident staying in charge. If it’s the ice breaker slot, whether pre dinner or 8am in the morning (yes we do a lot of that!), then you are looking for a high energy comedian.
Putting comedy on your agenda at your event
What’s the worst that can happen? Have you ever put off something because you think it’ll be scary? Or told yourself I could never do that?
When I first took up comedy, people would tell me all the time, I could never do that, I’m not brave enough.
It’s interesting though isn’t it. I wasn’t joining the armed forces with a high chance of being in real, life threatening danger. I wasn’t becoming a fire fighter and entering into burning buildings. I wasn’t becoming a nurse with a real chance of being exposed to infectious disease.
A comedian or a public speaker isn’t in any real danger. So why does our mind and body go into a state of fear?
The reality is that I did bomb .. many times. There are a couple of occasions where I only got one laugh in a full 10 minutes on stage.. and that was when I asked the audience if they thought it was going well.
But I survived, was it painful to my ego, yes it was. But in some ways it was the best thing that ever happened to me. Because now I know that even if the worst happens, I will be ok.
The more important challenge is how do we as humans learn to put fear into perspective?
It's not as scary as you think!
When I first started out my comedy kept failing. Why, well apart from not being that funny, I was confusing my audience. They were looking at a middle aged lady with a mum bod. And I was talking like I was a cool, 20 something, surfer babe with sculpted abs.
And it was hard. I had to let go of the dream. The ‘idea’ of who I wanted to be and truly embrace the real Anne. All of it, soft belly, jelly arms, the odd grey hair sticking out of my chin. And I didn’t like it. I didn’t want to expose that version of me to myself, let alone a room full of people. As I started to get over myself then something magical started to happen. Yes my comedy got better but even better than that. I started to like myself the way I am.
You will see this with comedians, if they are fat they talk about it, if they are having problems, they tell you. They are open, they share, they talk about the taboos. There is a feeling of freedom that comes when you don’t have to hide or pretend to be someone your not.
Its liberating, you don’t have to be a comedian and bare all in public .. you can just start laughing to yourself about yourself .. try it .. give it a go ..