The Rise of Entertainment
Today entertainment is more accessible then ever. There is prolific availability that has come with the internet and streaming services like netflix, hulu, and youtube. This has created a market for people to become creators of content and given those content creators a means to distribute their content to customers. Comedians specifically have found significant financial success on services like Vine, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and others. Comedians have the ability to gain traction via these sites by making bite size, free content that ideally drives consumers to buy tickets to their live stand-up comedy shows or to watch their comedy specials. As the art of comedy has developed and matured into an easily penetrable and profitable field, we have seen comics go from mere funny people to sales experts.
Building the Joke
Comedians are typically very creative and emotionally intelligent individuals. The first essential skill required to create a bit or joke is to have the ability to deliver a story that is relateable to consumers in an interesting way. Comics must have the ability to think like the people they are delivering to and deliver content in one such way. A YouTube phenom such as Jake Paul, who is creating internet content primarily consumed by children and teenagers, must be aware of who they are creating their content for compared to those who are creating content for adults. The jokes told by comics are catered to the individual listener. In this aspect comedians are very similar to salesman.
Comedy as Sales
Comedians and salespeople share common ground in delivery. Comedians, like salespeople, have to be aware of those they are selling to. Comedians entire income is based off of them talking to a crowd of eager listeners. However, comics still require the skill of listening. Comics often change their bits based off of crowd feedback. Often times this involves removing or adding a bit based off of the response they get from the crowd. Successful comedians are able to listen to the crowd and extract information on what it is the crowd thinks is funny or wants and is able to deliver that back to them. Comics often can be seen doing “crowd work”. Crowd work is when a comic is on stage and is having a conversation with an audience member. Often times, comics can take this interaction and turn it into a bit. This sense of listening to feedback to improve delivery is common in the world of sales as well. A large proponent of selling is finding what people want and giving it to them. The most successful comics have unlocked the secret to listening rather than talking. While it takes a creative and funny person to be a comedian, the ones that truly break through are those who are able to take a sales approach to comedy entertainment and listen to their audience.
BoweryJE22
This is a really interesting article. I think comedians definitely have a way of drawing in listeners – they all find a way to relate to us and keep us engaged at the same time. I’ve never thought about the connection between sales and comedy though. Good thoughts!
Just like interviewing to find out a prospect’s pain, comedians have to find what hits an audience’s soft spot to make them laugh. Looking at comedians as salespeople make me think a salesperson is someone who knows how to get a reaction or action out of someone with whom they are in contact.