I was having a chat with a Professional Speaker recently who said something that startled me a bit. She said “I’ve been trying to do a Stand Up Comedy Course for years, but I’ve never been able to do it because I haven’t been in town for 8 weeks in a row to get to all the classes”.
The reason it startled me a bit is that I’m pretty sure a Stand Up Comedy Course wouldn’t have solved her problem even if she had been able to get to all 8 weeks of classes.
At a Stand Up Comedy Course you learn how to be funny on stage for 5 minutes to a room full of drunk people. 8 weeks of classes is a really good investment of your time if that’s what you want to do. However, if you are a Professional Speaker or Presenter I would’ve thought that’s about as helpful as going to a tap dancing class when you really wanted to learn ballet. Sure they are both dance classes but the style and the outcome are very different.
The main goal of a Professional Speaker to educate, inspire or motivate first and foremost, and getting laughs and adding humour is desirable, but it can’t come at the expense of the message. Speakers need to ensure that their humour is used with purpose to support their key messages and topics, rather than just telling a joke to make people laugh.
A Stand Up Comedy Course only teaches you how to tell a joke and make people laugh. It doesn’t teach you how to add humour around your key messages and topics. Nor will it make sure that the type of humour you use integrates with your brand and personal delivery style so you feel confident and comfortable when using humour.
8 Weeks of classes is also a lot of time to invest to only get half the results, as you still need to integrate the humour into a Presentation. In my opinion, traditional Stand Up Comedy Courses are a high risk strategy with a big investment of time that only gets the job half done.
Through my work with one on one clients, I have found that Speakers, Presenters and Thought Leaders need a more structured and systemised approach to adding humour to their presentations. That is why I have created the Stand Up from the Crowd Framework which breaks down the process and provides a roadmap on how to use humour to engage and influence.
To download your copy of Stand Up From the Crowd Framework CLICK HERE.
Cheers Kate
P.S. You might be interested in the upcoming round of my introductory workshop “Foundations of Funny“. You can check it out here.
About the Author:
Kate Burr is a Humour Coach, Speaker, MC & Stand Up Comedian. With over 15 years experience in the Comedy Industry Kate brings her extensive knowledge and skills to teach others how to use humour to entertain, engage and influence.
Creator of the Stand Up From The Crowd Framework, Kate has “left-brained” comedy by adding her own templates, checklists, laugh data and reference maps methodology which she uses to help teach humour and comedy to Speakers and Thought Leaders.
Exclusively tailored for Professional Speakers and Presenters, Stand Up from The Crowd makes sure humour is used with purpose to support your key messages and topics, rather than just telling a joke to make people laugh.
