Five Things I Learned From Forensic Files
Comedy from a TV show? You betcha! I watch a variety of murder shows from Forensic Files to Who the Bleep Did I Marry and beyond, and I’ve learned more than how to get away with murder. I’ve put together a list of 5 things that you can learn and apply to business. Below is my latest humor newsletter article. It’s a GREAT example of taking a hobby, such as watching murder shows, and pulling out humor lessons that can be applied to your business life.
What do you like to binge watch?
THAT is where you’ll find the material to write funny articles. Now of course, don’t make fun of people. Murder affects families, so I DON’T make jokes. But I do find lessons that are funny. Click here for the article.
Here’s an Excerpt:
THREE: Your pets CAN get you arrested. Yes, cat and dog fur left on victims has been traced back to the pet owner. LESSON: The details that you pay the least attention to are the ones that will cause you the most grief. Should you skip that sound check? Maybe not, because this sound system might be slightly different than the last thousand ones you’ve tested. Should you really re-read an email again before blasting it out to clients? Do it. I almost sent one to a recent client saying, “I hope you have not had a chance to relax since the event.” Oops! I changed “not” to “now.”
Click here for the full article.
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How I Learned About Comedy Headshots the Hard Way!
“What’s a Headshot?” I asked my friend Rob. He explained that it’s a picture of your head. Oh, makes sense and sounds straight forward.
We had both started out in comedy together and we were learning all the lingo and terms so we could be real comedians, and we kept hearing the word “headshot.”
Nowadays you can take a headshot with your phone, but in the 90’s
a headshot was a BIG DEAL. You slap on make-up (no app filters), find a photographer, bring 4 – 5 different outfits, and then once you saw the proofs, you had decide on which one to buy to make copies of. It was expensive and lots of work.
Rob found us a professional photographer, I’ll call Steve, who lived nearby. This guy had never photographed comedians, but he had traveled on USO tours shooting rock stars. Perfect! We figured we’d soon be rock star comedians!
My shoot went great – aside from the fact that it was the 90’s and my hairstyle looked it, plus I wore a turtleneck for the shoot. But luckily I went with a picture of me smiling as opposed to other comics who got all fancy by cocking their heads and pointing at the camera (Rob and I called it the “I’m gonna make you laugh” look), or doing something else whacky with their hands.
After picking the perfect picture and paying for 100 prints of it, we found a snag. Steve had put his copyright on the photo, and, as it turned out, most of the clubs couldn’t use it. Many newspapers wouldn’t run a copyrighted picture, and some clubs had a hard time using it in the promo kits. Ugh.
I figured out a solution by attaching a letter from Steve each time I sent the headshot out, saying that he gave his permission for it to be printed. It was a huge hassle and it didn’t work for many places, but it helped a little. I guess even newspapers knew that sometimes comics forged stuff. . . like a letter from the photographer (though mine was legit).
So after a year, back to Steve I went to do them again. I told Steve ahead of time that he was NOT to put his copyright on the photos. He agreed . . . until after he took them. That’s when he said, no. It’s his work, and he’s going to let people know it. We had a HUGE blowout argument in his studio. I finally said, ok, put your copyright on them. But the first time it gets refused by a newspaper or other media, then he has to pay for reprints without the copyright. That got his attention. Copies were expensive.
So, in a flurry of rage, Steve slammed the proofs down in front of me, screamed “fine! Have it your way!” and stormed off. He was shaking and so was I, but I got the non-copyrighted proofs from him and made my prints.
In retrospect he should have thanked me. Does he really want credit for the shot you see here? I doubt it would have gotten him work! LOL.
But lesson learned. Get agreements, like copyrighting, in writing. It would have saved me a big screaming match and lots of ill will.
For more stories and lessons from my comedy career, go to my FaceBook business page
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Enjoy your weekend!
Jan
Bombing Onstage: An Important Lesson
I’ve had a few weeks in my early comedy career that REALLY stand out . . . for the beating I took onstage. Not a physical beating, but mentally they were knockouts.
One memorable week of being pummeled started out great. I had a killer set on the first show of the first night which was perfect because the club owner was there to witness it. The next day she left for a conference, and I proceeded to have some of the worst shows ever. NOTHING WORKED. I was doing the trifecta of bad comedy: my stage presence, jokes, and timing all tanking at once. The audiences were not amused; literally. I was pretty baffled too.
As I continued through the week, my “baffled” turned to frustration as I tried everything to figure out what was going on! But I had no clue. In fact, my first show Friday night was so bad, that, in an attempt to get whatever bad vibes I was attracting off of me, I went back to my hotel room between shows and changed my shirt. Maybe a new outfit would bring new energy. The late show went even worse; turns out the bad shows weren’t my shirt’s fault.
I can’t tell you the variety of emotions you experience during a long week of bombing; from anger at yourself to fear of never working again to frustration that these are the same damn jokes I’ve told before to raucous applause and laughter. It rocks you to your core.
Finally,
the last show on Sunday night show arrives and so does the club owner back from her trip. I got on stage and ROCKED THE ROOM. Yeah, I was pretty surprised myself!
After the show, as I’m standing in the back office being paid by the owner, when she causally asked how the week went. My first thought was to say the shows were fine and pretend that I didn’t notice the silent stares from 7 separate audiences. Hey, she saw the 2 shows that rocked. I figured I could save some face, hightail it to my car and never be heard from again. BUT I knew she’d see the comment cards and then know that I was not only a terrible comic, but a liar.
So I fessed up and said that they didn’t go great, and in fact I said that don’t think I ever do really killer in her room. Without missing a beat, she said “I know Jan. You never do really great in my room. But I really like your act and I think you’re funny, so I’ll keep booking you.” RELIEF! And surprise!
I left the club feeling like I was on cloud 9. That one compliment did it. And the fact that she liked my act and believed in my comedic skills was such a huge bonus.
The lesson –
If you don’t give yourself an honest personal assessment when things go wrong, you won’t give someone else the chance to make you feel good about your mistakes.
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Take care and enjoy your journey!
Jan
Recording Jokes
I'm finally using technology for comedy. . .sort of! I got the new-to-me iPhone 5 (with Siri of course) and there's a neat-o recording app that allows me to record comments. I know there's been other recording devices, and this really isn't a huge writing...
Using Your Ears For Comedy
One of the best research techniques I know of to find humor is to LISTEN. Because most people are so busy talking that they don't listen to what's going on around them! Here's how I found humor just by listening this past week. The speaker ahead of...
Make it Memorable, Make it Funny
We don’t cost an arm and a leg, we just want your tows . . . is the ad I heard on the radio this week in Nebraska for, you guessed it, a towing company! I laughed out loud – sorta makes the whole towing process more palatable with a laugh. Okay, probably...
A Rule Of Humor Marketing
Okay, it’s been a while since I’ve written in this blog. . I’ve been on the road with my comedy shows and humor keynotes running crazy – guess the humor marketing is working! I was last talking about using humor in your marketing by tying it to a funny...
A dozen common comedy subjects you can kick off a joke with
Since we're kicking off the new year, then maybe I should elaborate about kicking off with your jokes. Last week I talked about getting people to like you from the get-go, and one of my tips was to start off with a common subject. So I thought I’d give you...
Connecting your jokes to products for GREAT humor
I did a comedy show for an education group this week, and I got it off to a great start by making jokes about some of the products in the exhibit hall. There’s a goldmine of comedy information and potential for tasteful humor in what the exhibitors offer,...
4 Ways to Use Self-Deprecating Humor
Self-deprecating humor is one of the quickest ways to get the audience on your side. As I’ve said, a lot of comedy is about people feeling superior to the comic, so if people think you have a flaw then they’ll either feel superior OR be able to relate to...
FUN WITH FOOD
Fun with Food So a lot of speeches take place at banquets, luncheons, and breakfasts. . .which means you have tons of opportunity to do some quick humor by having fun with the food. Now this doesn’t mean you should be super mean about it – you don’t want...
17 Reasons To Use Humor In Your Business Communications
Just in case you weren’t sure if you should use humor in your business communications, I’ve come up with . . . 17 Reasons To Use Humor In Your Business Communications Great way to break the ice on a tough topic Great way to make small talk & mingle...
4 ways you can write jokes about a serious topic!
This past weekend someone told me that his wife would never put jokes into her speeches at work because her topic is tooooo serious - I think it was like a food stamp program or something. Well certainly you can’t make fun OF the people on food stamps, but...
Joke Set Lists
People tell me that they’re afraid to SAY the joke after they’ve written it because they’re worried that they won’t remember it exactly. I kick off my keynotes with at least a dozen or so jokes on the group, so memory is a BIG issue for me. I’ve got a few...
Human Traits for the Joke
One fun, easy way to make a mundane noun (that’s person, place or thing) funny is to give that item a human trait. For example, this week I’m doing a show for a group in Austin, TX, and one of the unique things I was told was that Austin has millions of...
Joke Writing For Extreme Solutions
Jokes and joke writing are about taking things to the extreme. As I’ve said before, when you want to imply that someone is old, you don’t say 110 – because it’s plausible, you say 310 because it’s outrageous. So make sure in your joke writing that you’re...
On Being Counter-Intuitive
Okay, I just talked about proving a premise, but another technique for fast humor is DISPROVING a premise. The easiest way to do that is to find a principal that we all typically agree on. This can be a phrase or a statement or whatever, and make it...
PROVING A PREMISE
When you’re coming up with jokes, one quick way is to come up with a premise, and then prove it. For example, I have a joke about cats being better than kids, because. . . “. .cats clean themselves, they don’t talk back, and they will survive a drop from...
Timing Your Jokes
Sure there’s timing of your jokes when you say ‘em, but the time I’m talking about is a little different. Yesterday I was at the new Aria hotel in Las Vegas. . .very cool, very high tech! When I walked into the room, music from the TV kicked on, the room...
Timing Your Jokes
Sure there’s timing of your jokes when you say ‘em, but the time I’m talking about is a little different. Yesterday I was at the new Aria hotel in Las Vegas. . .very cool, very high tech! When I walked into the room, music from the TV kicked on, the room...
Making the Familiar UnFamiliar
One very quick way to come up with some humor on the spot is to use adages and/or familiar wording and then twist it. There are tons of adages – you know, sage advice like “when it rains it pours” or “if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, then...
On Being Specific for Writing the Joke
And now for part two of being specific. . .after your research where you’ve now got specific data, you need to actually write a joke that is specific. Take a look at the words you’re using and see if you can get very, very specific. Don’t use a rounded...
10 ways to get started with a joke – part 2
Okay, now part two of kicking off with a joke. As I mentioned, getting into the joke is sometimes the hardest part, so use one of these tactics to set yourself up right. 1. Address what they see. If you’ve got some outstanding feature/hairdo/etc. ....
FUN WITH FOOD
Fun with Food So a lot of speeches take place at banquets, luncheons, and breakfasts. . .which means you have tons of opportunity to do some quick humor by having fun with the food. Now this doesn’t mean you should be super mean about it – you don’t want...
How To Do A Joke When You Are Afraid To Say A Joke. . .
So if you want to add in a joke, but you’re scared of doing the set-up punch thing right off the bat during your speech because you’re afraid either no one will laugh at the punch line or you’ll mess it up. . . no worries. You can still add some humor by...
A GREAT place to look for humor at an annual event. . .
Okay, so you’ve got a big event coming up that you want to kick off by writing jokes about the event. The problem is, nothing they’ve told you is funny! Okay, forget about the present, and look to the past! If this event has taken place over a number of...
3 Easy Ways To Get Over Joke-Writer’s Block
Here's a blog post I wrote as a guest blogger a while ago. . .on the Incurrable Disease of Writing blog: http://www.missyfrye.net/Blog/?p=2653. So I'm re-posting it here. . . 3 easy ways to get over joke-writers block So I took like a month or so off of my...
The Anatomy of a Joke. . . Part 1. . .2 Quick Tips
The Anatomy of a Joke By comedienne and comedy writer Jan McInnis Want to add a few jokes to your next written piece? No problem. As a professional stand-up comedienne and writer who stays afloat by selling volumes of jokes each month (Clinton’s antics...