Comedy
I've been on stage for 30 years. First doing stand-up comedy, and now I do a lot of keynote speaking at conferences. Yet you probably don't know who I am. And that means when I get on stage you don't know that I have 3 siblings, no kids, a cat and a dog, I live in LA, I ride motorcycles, I ski sort-of, I love to bike ride, and I've only had 5 cups of coffee in my life. . . I just don't like the taste. Yet, how in the world can I get information about me, across to you (the audience) quickly so that you "get" me and my humor? It's a tough job. I've decided us unfamous people get about 30 seconds on stage to be funny and connect with the audience before the audience judges us as not funny. Famous people get about 10 minutes. . .then if they're not funny, the audience will turn on them. This week I'm focusing on communication tips. Comedians communicate a ton of information about ourselves quickly so that you know about us and get our jokes. My first tip is that we repeat information. I will say the information in the set up line, two different ways quickly. My entire joke is about 3 lines long, not sentences, lines. By repeating the information twice in 2 different ways, you get what I'm talking about, whether it's about being an aunt or having a cat. Listen to any comedian, or to my jokes on my Sunday flash briefings, and you'll see what we're doing. We're telling you about us and what we want you to focus on twice in 2 different ways. Next time you want to give people a lot of information fast, repeat it in two different ways. They'll immediately focus in on what you're talking about. ACTION: If you want to listen to a few of my jokes to see what I’m talking about, go to my YouTube channel. It's under my name, Jan McInnis That's it for today. Take care and enjoy your journey.