The Power of Standup Comedy in Corporate Life

On this day seven years ago, I had the wonderful fortune of being invited to appear on Comedy Central .

Performing in front of more than 2,000 people in Kuala Lumpur’s HGH Convention Centre, I recorded my first TV appearance as a professional comedian, together with 15 amazingly talented comics from across the globe.

Having watched a lot of Comedy Central TV growing up, it was somewhat surreal to be appearing on the channel myself.

Was I dreaming?

In all honesty, what started as a cathartic hobby in 2013 to distract myself from a crazy corporate life became a parallel profession that allowed me to tour across the world and make people laugh…or ask for a refund.

And I was getting paid to do it!

However, being a standup comedian has been a parallel career in more ways than one.?

Many of the skillsets that I’ve learnt in comedy are applied on a daily basis in my corporate life (and vice versa).

Let’s have a closer look at what I mean:

?? OBSERVATIONAL SKILLS / INTELLECTUAL CURIOSITY?

Most comedians are hyper-curious. We pay very close attention to things happening around us every day. This provides the ammunition for our material on stage.

That very same curiosity is invaluable in the corporate world: paying close attention to a company's internal processes, the market, competitors, clients, and colleagues, and utilising such knowledge to improve the way that we work and/or our firms operate.

Curious and hyper-observant employees tend to be great problem-solvers who stay up-to-date on their industries. That’s a huge asset for any business to have.

?? PERSPECTIVE

My life is no different from the average person. It's certainly not funnier.

I wake up, eat breakfast, go to work, meet with clients, have lunch, share some boring weekend stories with my colleagues (i.e., "I went to the beach"), head off to the gym (aka Happy Hour), have dinner with friends, watch some Netflix, and hit the sack.

So, where does the "funny" come from?

As a comedian, I simply look at things from a different perspective: “what is it about these everyday life experiences that are peculiar, pique my interest, or make me laugh?”

The ability hire people who see things differently and think “outside the box” is every employer’s dream, given the leverage that different perspectives can provide in otherwise homogenous corporate settings.

??? PUBLIC SPEAKING / PRESENTATION SKILLS

Comedy is the without a doubt the most nerve-racking form of public speaking anyone can voluntarily subject themselves to.

You’re in a room full of strangers (with the exception of the occasional sympathetic friend who’s there for moral support, i.e., "free drinks"), feel completely naked on stage, and, unlike playing in a band, giving a speech, or singing a song, are actively seeking out audible reactions from the audience...in real-time.

The timing, volume, and duration of these reactions then feed (or kill) your energy, as well as your focus for the remainder of your set. And let’s not even get on the topic of drunk hecklers!

If you can master a comedy stage, working a boardroom is child’s play. While you might have a heckler, they'll at least (hopefully) be sober!

?

?? READING A ROOM & ADAPTING

If there is one universal truth about comedy, it’s that there is no such thing as an objective sense of humour.

Some people like dad jokes. Others like very dark, un-PC humour (i.e., me). Some like slapstick comedy, while others enjoy more subtle forms of sarcasm.

We are all unique, and different things hit our funny bones in different ways.

As a comedian, your job isn’t to make everyone in the room laugh all the time: it’s to make the majority of people laugh the majority of the time.

If your jokes are falling flat, you need to know how to pivot your material/style/demeanour/tone/body language/audience engagement in real-time, re-establishing common ground with your audience.

The same applies in corporate settings: if you’re presenting an idea to clients or colleagues and everyone is looking at their phones (or at the ceiling), you need to know how to win them back immediately and get your message across with impact.

Just as startups need to learn to “fail fast” and pivot to survive, comedians do too.

?? KNOWING YOUR AUDIENCE

Comedians perform to new audience members all the time.

Unless we have some die-hard fans, 80-90%+ of the audience at every show will be people who haven’t seen us on stage before. And we have a grand total of 10 seconds to win them over.

Before my sets, I look closely at the composition of the audience (e.g., ethnicity, age, demeanour, what worked for the comics on stage before me) to decide how to best connect with them in my opening one or two lines, including identifying the all-important “callback” to a previous comedian’s joke.

The same thing happens in the corporate world: people are quick to make judgments and you only have one shot to make a first impression.

Just as comedians do their homework on the crowd before they hit the stage, it's important to do your homework on your audience - be they your clients, peers, boss, or juniors - to understand what will resonate with them.

???? SELF-CONFIDENCE

The one thing all comics know is that it takes a hell of lot of guts to hit the comedy stage for the first time! I commend anyone who has ever tried their hand at this insane craft.

Because of how terrifying it can be, performing standup arms people with confidence levels that can only be measured on a Richter Scale.

Just as most employees hate being put on the spot to speak up, the ability to master this fear yields positive outcomes over the long term in the form of more self-confident individuals who are prepared to step outside of their comfort zone.

?? HUMILITY & GROWTH MINDSET

Comedy can be painfully humbling.

Every single comic has crashed and burned on stage, without exception. Even the biggest comedy superstars can tell you countless stories about their nightmare sets. Rest assured, the experience is seppuku-inducing!

You’re only as good as your last performance, so it’s important to keep honing your craft and learning to deal with rejection, which happens a lot in comedy.

It's also important to keep writing. Unlike bands, comedians can't tour around the world with the same 10 jokes that people have heard before.

We need to stay relevant. That means constantly writing, trying out new material, refining old material, and watching things sometimes go horribly awry on stage. But we keep honing our craft and understand that "trial & error" is a natural part of the comedy process.

The same goes for corporate life: never stop learning. If you're comfortable in your job and don't feel challenged, there's a genuine problem and you'll be the one who ultimately suffers.

It's also critical to know how to handle failure. If you manage it correctly, you’ll see the frequency (and pain) of these failures diminish over time.

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS

The skills that you learn from standup comedy are some of the most powerful skills you can bring to a corporate career.

After all, laughter is the world’s common language that has an amazing ability to bind people together, regardless of our age, race, religion, or sexual orientation. It diffuses tension, builds rapport, and gives us a shot of endorphins that are so important for our mental health.

The fact is, nobody has ever had a bad time laughing. So, be sure to embrace the power of humour in your corporate life...and you might just end up having a good time too!

?

#comedy #standup #standupcomedian #comedian #humour #laughter #jokes?

?

?