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COMEDIAN - Where does comedy come from?

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The other night I had Jerry Seinfeld's COMEDIAN out from Netflix, I enjoyed it a great deal, I'm not much into violent films with thin story lines, as I much prefer a good period drama, thriller, foreign film or PBS documentary. The Seinfeld series is one of the few American comedies I found funny on TV, so I was interested to see where Jerry Seinfeld finds his comedy.

Well this movie doesn't really answer the question in the title but it does demonstrate how much effort goes into being a comedian, I had always made the assumption that these folks were naturally funny and just on, this film shows pretty clearly that they put a lot of time and trial into their jokes, and shows how even the ones they think are going to be huge belly laughs bomb like a lead balloon, be sure to watch the deleted scenes for Jerry giving a great description of one such joke.

Much of the movie is used to cover a guy called Orny Adams, this guy is now my category of really irritating people like Shane Richie and Barbara Walters. If success means you have an arrogant attitude and big head then this guy will be huge, if success comes when you appear even the little bit humble then this guy has a long wait ahead of him.

What was interesting was that although these two guys tried to make out that Comedians were some kind of special breed in their preparation to perform, I actually disagree with them. In my career I have had the opportunity to present to many audiences both large and small, and I think many of the things that Seinfeld identified as being required for a successful show are much the same as what is required for a successful demo.

If you're interested these are my 10 unwritten rules when I present
  1. Be Prepared - as with anything the more you know your material the better you'll come across.
  2. Believe and be passionate about your subject matter - you'd be surprised how easily people can spot someone that doesn't care about their subject matter.
  3. Treat every presentation as if it's your first - sure it may be the 12th journalist today, but for them it's the first time to meet and hear you.
  4. Take your hands out of your pocket - lazy presentation styles can come across as arrogant, people don't like arrogant presenters. Also with your hands out of you pockets you feel more obliged to use them, which can make for a more engaging presentation.
  5. Use slides as a support tool - slides are there to kind of give an agenda for each page, they are there to help people follow where you are. Try and avoid slides that have more than 6 bullets, the reason you're speaking is to present what's on the slides not read them.
  6. Avoid reds in presentations - Colour projectors, even today, still struggle with the colour red, it tends to bleed into other colours and just looks bad. However there are times when it is good to use red, psychologically red signifies danger, so putting your competitors name in red isn't necessarily a bad thing.
  7. Admit you don't know - The best way to get in to a lot of trouble quickly is during the questions. The mistake most people make, is to not admit when they don't know the answer to a question. If you don't know, say you don't know but will be happy to research it etc. Otherwise if you make up an answer and somebody asks a related follow up question you're going to be in hot water quick, and you will lose much of the credibility you built up during your presentation. Not knowing can sometimes be good for business, it gives you the ability to get the person who asked the questions business card for your follow up, which could include I found out the answer, and do you want to buy xyz.
  8. Check your fly (zipper) before you go on - Common sense really, no one likes to see someone else flying without a license. If you're a woman I guess the equivalent is check you didn't tuck your skirt into your tights.
  9. Don't imagine the audience naked - Have you seen us IT guys dressed?
  10. Don't listen to any of my advice - just be yourself and relax

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