Laughter and Leadership: A Conversation with Adam Christing

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Hey everybody, Brian Beckcom and I have got Adam Christing.

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I am so excited about this podcast for so many reasons.

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Adam, before we get started, welcome aboard.

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Thanks for coming, man.

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I'm super excited about this.

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BB, it's my privilege to be with you.

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Thanks for having me on.

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You know, thank you for saying BB by the way.

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I've started using that BB a lot.

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You know why?

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Because I just read a book on LBJ and a book on JFK and I was like, those guys did this on
purpose.

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So I'm gonna start being BB.

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So I'm telling everybody, nobody does it, but anyway, thank you for saying BB.

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Augustus, B-A-B.

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So it would be B-A-B.

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Yeah, which is bad.

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a friend who's a speaker agent and so I'm AC, Adam Chrising, and he's BC Barrett-Cordof.

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And it's a strange thing.

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Maybe it's almost sets the table for what we're talking about, but it's not hilarious.

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But I'm like, BC, he's like AC.

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It's like, we just got this little bond with our initials, you know.

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yeah, yeah, yeah.

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Well, you know, and it's funny because like people that you're really close to, you tend
to call them by something other than their names.

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Like when one of my really close friends says, hey, Brian, I'm like, dude, who are you
talking to?

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Because it's always Beckham or Beck or BB or Becks or something like that.

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When they say Brian, I'm like, dude, what's wrong with you?

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I had someone very polite person, you know, I'm older than she is and I hadn't seen her at
her place of work for 20 years.

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She remembered that I'm a member of this famous club in Hollywood called the Magic Castle.

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You have to have a pass to get into this club.

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And so she emailed me, Mr.

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Christing, would you be so kind as to provide these passes again?

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And I wrote back, said, certainly no problem.

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And I said, please call me Adam.

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Sincerely, Mr.

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Christing.

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eh

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And she said, I laughed out loud.

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So yeah, sometimes the dumbest things, but you know, the familiar, like when we're when
we're bonding, like you telling me about your background as an attorney, someone who's

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passionate about learning and leadership, it's like, I'm always looking for ways, can I
create an inside connection with someone and where it gets challenging?

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Like, I'll give you a quick example.

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I was on stage, maybe 150 people.

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And they told me that this one gentleman in the front row was the founder of this
nonprofit group.

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And everybody was wearing lanyards, know, name tags.

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And I'm doing some standup comedy, a little bit of comedy magic.

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And I look at this guy and he's just laughing his head off.

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And I said, what is your name, sir?

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I didn't know he was from East Texas.

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And he goes, Ken.

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And honest to goodness, I was having a hard time understanding.

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said,

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I said one more time and he goes, Keon.

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And I said, is that one syllable or two?

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And then I kept calling him Keon and it became such a thing, Brian, BB, that he, the
meeting producer changed his lanyard, his name tag and wrote Keon and it just became this

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running gag.

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And so I saw him a year later and he was still wearing the Keon name tag.

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And so,

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Comedians call these things callbacks, know, where you're bringing back to life a shared
memory.

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I don't know what it is about human nature, but we just get into that.

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That's awesome.

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And I tell you, one of my best friends, maybe my best friend, is from East Texas.

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And he's got a five-year accounting degree.

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He's got a business degree from the University of Chicago.

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But his town is, he's from a town called Maybank.

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And it's so small, nobody's heard of it.

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that he tells people he's from the next biggest city, which is Gun Barrel City.

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Because some people have heard of Gun Barrel City.

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But it's funny, I was with him this weekend.

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And he can't say sit, like S-I-T.

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He's unable to say.

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He says set, S-E-T.

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We set next to you.

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We set next to you.

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uh I'll tell you, so I'm Texan, I'm Southern.

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We use the word y'all a lot.

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to refer, do you know what the plural of y'all is?

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lot of people don't know this.

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Close, y'all all.

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Y'all all, yeah.

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Yeah.

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I just, my wife and I just moved to Western North Carolina.

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I'm from Los Angeles originally.

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And so yeah, I've had to learn that kind of thing.

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Y'all I tell people we live in a town.

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went from LA millions of people in Southern California.

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Our town of 8,000 people is called Brevard.

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It's kind of like Andy Griffiths Mayberry.

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We have one post office, one movie theater, but $5 general stores.

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You got a Dairy Queen?

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Dairy Queen's the best country basket.

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Well, I'll tell you, my best friend, the guy from Gum Barrel City, you know where he lives
now?

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Los Angeles, California.

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On the beach.

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He literally lives in Manhattan Beach, about 500 yards in the Pacific Ocean.

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It's really cool.

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So Adam, I'll tell you what.

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When somebody asks, what do you do?

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Like what do you do, Adam?

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Like how do you answer that question?

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Like what's the answer to that question?

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funny you ask that, you know, I've been doing whatever this is for about four decades.

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And my mom who's now about 88 years old, honest to God, BB, she says to me, so you think
you're to get a job sometime?

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And one time I was doing a gig and really crushed these people had had a few drinks,
insurance awards program or something.

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And I got a standing ovation, which doesn't happen all the time.

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this one very sincerely came up to me afterwards and she goes, that was amazing.

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She goes, what do you do?

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And so my goal has always been to just get people laughing together.

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And so my goal has never been like, Adam's the funniest guy I've ever heard.

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I mean, I like getting the laughs and the applause, but it's more, can I create a
connection with people?

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Can I get

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People, maybe they're on the opposite sides of a union dispute at their medical practice
or something.

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Can I get them laughing together?

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If I'm with a group that's mixed politically, can I get them laughing together?

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Can I get Baptists and Catholics laughing together?

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Whatever it is.

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it's strange how it really is uh magical when, like you can't be mad at somebody.

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Like let's say there's tension with management and staff.

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If you put the manager or the staff on stage together, have them do something fun, you
just kind of notice even physically the tension just kind of dissipates.

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Yep.

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You know, my wife and I have been together for 25 years and I think that I'm a very dumb
man in so many different ways, but the one thing I've always been able to do, Adam, is I

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can make her laugh.

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like, yeah, like, and it's sometimes I can like literally make her tear up and like get a
little sick because she's laughing.

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And I'm like, the second I lose that, have nothing that she's going to be interested in at
all.

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I'll tell you the first time I met my wife, I was uh going to Mexico.

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I was a single dad.

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I was come down and a buddy of mine was supposed to fly with me from Los Angeles, Mexico.

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We're just going to hang out, play chess, whatever.

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And he canceled on me.

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So I said, well, I still got the ticket.

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I'm going.

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And I'm goofing around with some couple.

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In fact, they were newlyweds and I was showing them a card trick.

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And this beautiful woman walks up to me, never met her before.

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She's from Canada.

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And she says, hi, I hate magic.

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And we've been married 25 years now.

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And so like for you guys, that humor.

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And I think this is true, whether you're talking about business or law or relationships,
it's like this glue.

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And once you know somebody's laugh language and you can almost like play the strings of
their instrument and make them laugh, you know, so my wife and I both love language, so

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she's into poetry.

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So.

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I might hit her with a crazy pun or something like that.

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And then she will mock me.

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Like I can have an audience busting up at a live event and then the same bit doesn't play
for her.

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And we both laugh about that.

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So, yeah.

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Yeah.

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My favorite pun is, and a little kid told me this joke.

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And so imagine like a five-year-old kid telling you this joke.

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He walks up to me and he goes, did you hear about the dog that limped into the bar and
said, I'm looking for the man who shot my paw.

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I just, think that's the cutest joke coming from right from a little, a a young kid.

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And when you were a kid, by the way, you got into magic and comedy and things like that.

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You referenced the Hollywood magic castle.

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You were, I think you joined as a teenager.

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Most of the people, quite frankly, that listen to my podcast are leaders in some capacity.

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So they're CEOs, they're military leaders, they're political leaders, they run businesses,
they're professionals.

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Tell us a little bit about how you got into magic and comedy, what the Magic Castle is,
and how that taught you how to handle a room, how to handle a group of people.

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Yeah, it's crazy.

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I used to get in trouble in school for things I get paid to do now, know, being the class
clown.

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When I was in eighth grade, I was uh gambling in the boys' restrooms, you because I knew
sleight of hand, I could do some tricks with quarters and kind of cheat my friends oh out

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of cash.

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And I got called in one day, BB, and the vice president, vice principal said, I need to
talk to you.

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I thought, I'm busted.

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They found out about my little gambling problem.

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And he said, how would you like to run for student body president?

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And I'm like, okay.

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So I crafted a monologue in eighth grade and my opponent said, do we really want to clown
as our class president?

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And apparently the voter said, yes.

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So I became student body president.

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I won't make any comments about today's politics, but anyway.

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So flash forward.

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Now I'm, uh I'm 17 years old and there's this famous club in Hollywood, the Magic Castle.

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Johnny Carson was a member, Steve Martin, think Paul McCartney when he's in town, likes to
go, it's like a pretty cool place.

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you men have to wear a coat and tie to get in and ladies have to wear a dress or evening
gown.

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They won't let you in.

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And you say open sesame and the bookshelf opens, you go in.

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So I'm 17.

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I'm so nervous.

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And I'm trying to get this playing card into the secret slot of my hands, like shaking.

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I'm so nervous.

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I can barely get it in there.

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And I thought I've blown this audition because it's a junior society of magicians.

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And Diana Zimmerman, who really founded the club, she's very blunt, very loving.

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goes, you know, your magic's not very good, but you're funny.

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We're going to let you in.

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And it changed my life.

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Two years later, I find myself assisting David Copperfield on a TV special.

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And I get to see hilarious comedy magic, juggling, stand up, ventriloquism.

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Improv I just got immersed in that stuff and then I was working at a job.

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I was newly married at maybe 22 years old and I decided to quit just didn't like this
Situation I was in I like well, I don't have a job So I got into what I call getting the

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gigs where I would make 50 phone calls a day and I would call schools and corporations and
churches and I would just instead of saying hey I'm really funny book me

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I would say, you're trying to tell kids to say no to drugs.

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I have a comedy show that'll get them laughing and get them saying yes to their dreams.

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Or I remember pitching myself to a Cadillac dealership.

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I'm like, let's create an award show that they'll never forget.

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And we'll roast them and we'll toast them.

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And so I've literally been exposed to several hundred different types of organizations,
whether it's...

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uh

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Insurance people, construction people, funeral directors.

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I mean, you name it.

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I've been in front of the group.

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And my secret weapon is that I make it about them.

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I mean, I know I can be funny.

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Give me a microphone.

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I can work the room.

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But if I can get some inside scoop about this guy's golf game or her coffee addiction or
whatever it is, that stuff would not play at the Comedy Store in Hollywood, but at the

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Cadillac dealership where we're roasting and toasting

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Tony, it's like comedy gold.

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Yeah.

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The first question that kind of came to mind when you started talking about this was, do
you tailor your presentation for your audience if you can?

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Is it the same kind of shtick or speech or performance, regardless of whether you're
talking to a

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355 year old slightly overweight insurance agents versus a birthday party for Beyonce's
kids or something like DT Taylor.

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By the way, I have done birthday parties for celebrities.

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I won't name names, but in Hollywood, know, Beverly Hills or whatever, I was once booked
to do.

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This is what a bad marketer I was, Brian.

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I mean, the worst.

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This celebrity called me up and said, you know, I was probably 17 years old.

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said, I have $50 to spend on a birthday party.

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And I said, I only charge 40.

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So.

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Perfect.

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Yeah.

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but yeah, I'll give you an example.

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I was hired by a KPMG to roast 11 of their retirees.

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gave me one hour, so approximately five minutes.

225
00:14:18,104 --> 00:14:22,408
And so I probably spent 15 hours writing jokes.

226
00:14:22,408 --> 00:14:29,034
And the key was tell me the uniqueness, the eccentricity about each of these retirees.

227
00:14:29,034 --> 00:14:33,767
so, you know, let's say Jerry is known for being a flashy dresser and

228
00:14:34,057 --> 00:14:37,359
Sheila, everyone jokes with her because she's cheap.

229
00:14:37,359 --> 00:14:41,942
And so first I made sure like, OK, are they cool if I go after them on these little
quirks?

230
00:14:41,942 --> 00:14:49,578
And once we got the green light, I had to write about eight lines about each one of them.

231
00:14:49,578 --> 00:14:51,629
And man, they were dying laughing.

232
00:14:51,629 --> 00:14:58,323
And the people who laughed the most were the ones being toasted and roasted themselves.

233
00:14:58,323 --> 00:15:01,336
And so now that looked very spontaneous.

234
00:15:01,336 --> 00:15:03,227
It looked like I was just kind of riffing.

235
00:15:03,227 --> 00:15:03,967
But

236
00:15:04,095 --> 00:15:09,216
As Mark Twain once said, takes me three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech.

237
00:15:09,245 --> 00:15:10,145
I love that.

238
00:15:10,145 --> 00:15:13,108
He's got another uh great quote.

239
00:15:13,108 --> 00:15:16,851
I would have written a shorter letter, but I didn't have enough time.

240
00:15:16,851 --> 00:15:19,093
I love that kind of stuff.

241
00:15:19,314 --> 00:15:22,186
let me real quick unpack what you said.

242
00:15:22,186 --> 00:15:29,322
Because first of all, the very first thing you said was you really try to learn something
about your audience.

243
00:15:29,322 --> 00:15:32,804
You try to tailor it to the extent you can.

244
00:15:33,202 --> 00:15:34,202
to your audience.

245
00:15:34,202 --> 00:15:39,484
one of the, I tell you, I've been doing this leadership podcast for quite some time now.

246
00:15:39,484 --> 00:15:48,526
Every single leader I've talked to, basically almost without exception, military, sports,
New York Times, bestselling authors, you name it.

247
00:15:48,526 --> 00:15:52,067
The number one principles leadership is not about yourself.

248
00:15:52,147 --> 00:15:54,438
Your comedy show is not about yourself.

249
00:15:54,438 --> 00:15:57,889
It's about the people you're serving, right?

250
00:15:57,889 --> 00:15:59,509
As a comedian, you're...

251
00:15:59,707 --> 00:16:01,538
You're serving these people.

252
00:16:01,538 --> 00:16:08,832
And then the second thing is, you talked about it looks impromptu, but it's a lot of work.

253
00:16:08,832 --> 00:16:15,665
There's a famous, famous ah speech that General Douglas MacArthur gave.

254
00:16:15,665 --> 00:16:17,186
I think he gave it to West Point.

255
00:16:17,186 --> 00:16:23,689
And the ending of the speech was basically something like, old generals don't die, they
just fade away.

256
00:16:24,453 --> 00:16:36,278
Like he made it seem like the whole speech was completely impromptu, but he spent weeks
and weeks working on that quote, impromptu speech.

257
00:16:36,278 --> 00:16:37,699
So how much time?

258
00:16:37,699 --> 00:16:47,973
I'm curious to know, because one of the things I want to talk to you in a little bit of
detail, if you have some time, Adam, is like how you prepare for a presentation, how you

259
00:16:47,973 --> 00:16:52,745
deal with nerves, whether you still get nerves, if you do, how you deal with them.

260
00:16:53,261 --> 00:17:03,659
One of the ways I've found as a trial lawyer, I've been trying cases where millions and
millions and millions of dollars or somebody's freedom for 25 years, I still get super

261
00:17:03,659 --> 00:17:05,611
nervous before every single trial.

262
00:17:05,611 --> 00:17:08,173
And I've tried all sorts of different tricks to fix it.

263
00:17:08,173 --> 00:17:10,915
I've tried to reframe it into excitement.

264
00:17:11,135 --> 00:17:18,120
The one thing that I've found that works is if I write down verbatim,

265
00:17:18,786 --> 00:17:23,390
Every single word I want to say, it relaxes.

266
00:17:23,390 --> 00:17:25,371
I don't read it verbatim.

267
00:17:25,752 --> 00:17:35,149
if I had, I write down exactly what, it's funny because I have a younger kid that works
for me.

268
00:17:35,149 --> 00:17:37,201
He was a debate champion in college.

269
00:17:37,201 --> 00:17:41,705
I used to get up there and just, you know, I'd know about the case and I'd write out a
bunch of stuff.

270
00:17:41,705 --> 00:17:45,367
But then I would get up there and I'd speak extemporaneously with no notes.

271
00:17:46,548 --> 00:17:47,989
And I was like, oh

272
00:17:48,027 --> 00:17:57,231
He said, in debate, we write down literally every single word we're going to use, just so
we have that there in case we need it.

273
00:17:57,231 --> 00:17:59,246
Winston Churchill was the same way, by the way.

274
00:17:59,246 --> 00:18:00,367
He's one of my heroes.

275
00:18:00,367 --> 00:18:10,025
When he would give a speech, he would not only write down every word, he would write down
pause for effect, take a second here, expect some commentary here, stuff like that.

276
00:18:10,025 --> 00:18:11,896
So it's super duper detailed.

277
00:18:13,838 --> 00:18:16,239
yeah, sure, sure, any time you want.

278
00:18:17,161 --> 00:18:18,041
Yeah.

279
00:18:18,479 --> 00:18:25,841
You think about this, maybe the two most important figures, I Stalin would certainly be up
there, but Hitler and Churchill, it was like a war of words.

280
00:18:25,841 --> 00:18:37,164
Hitler was a masterful speaker, persuader, and Churchill crafted words that not only all
of England could rally around, but all of the West.

281
00:18:38,395 --> 00:18:39,343
right on.

282
00:18:39,343 --> 00:18:41,557
Yeah, that's him right behind me.

283
00:18:41,557 --> 00:18:49,617
embarrassing and not so romantic for my wife, but I have a Winston Churchill bust next to
the bed, my side of the bed.

284
00:18:49,617 --> 00:18:50,517
Yeah.

285
00:18:50,537 --> 00:18:51,037
Yeah.

286
00:18:51,037 --> 00:18:53,737
he was very humorous.

287
00:18:53,737 --> 00:19:03,493
I mean, you wouldn't think of him as a standup, but like when he said, we are all of us
worms, but I do believe I am a glow worm.

288
00:19:03,579 --> 00:19:05,612
Yeah, I love that.

289
00:19:05,612 --> 00:19:09,276
I am beyond a Winston Churchill fan.

290
00:19:09,276 --> 00:19:11,809
he spent so much time.

291
00:19:11,809 --> 00:19:18,557
So you talked about spending, I think you said 15 hours working on a quote impromptu
speech or an extemporaneous speech.

292
00:19:18,557 --> 00:19:19,447
What do do?

293
00:19:20,719 --> 00:19:29,734
like as a comedian or somebody that does magic and jokes and things like that as an
entertainer, what does your preparation look like?

294
00:19:29,734 --> 00:19:31,604
And so that's the first part of question.

295
00:19:31,604 --> 00:19:34,936
Second part of the question is, do you still get nerves?

296
00:19:34,936 --> 00:19:36,857
And if so, what do you do about it?

297
00:19:37,325 --> 00:19:42,668
Well, yeah, let me answer that one first because I now get nervous when I don't get
nervous.

298
00:19:42,968 --> 00:19:46,390
So sometimes I'll have this inner dialogue going.

299
00:19:46,390 --> 00:19:51,353
I've literally done more than 4,000 humor presentations in the last four decades.

300
00:19:51,353 --> 00:19:53,774
I still get nervous every single time.

301
00:19:53,774 --> 00:19:59,117
And what I've learned to do is you might call it reframing it, but I just say embracing
it.

302
00:19:59,117 --> 00:20:00,058
just think, you know what?

303
00:20:00,058 --> 00:20:01,038
This is adrenaline.

304
00:20:01,038 --> 00:20:03,480
This is my body saying it's game time.

305
00:20:03,480 --> 00:20:06,463
Athletes feel this before, you know,

306
00:20:06,463 --> 00:20:08,133
championship game.

307
00:20:08,654 --> 00:20:12,766
I've been in chess tournaments where I get this adrenaline buzz.

308
00:20:12,766 --> 00:20:14,126
And so that's what nervousness is.

309
00:20:14,126 --> 00:20:17,227
It's a way of your body saying, this is important, make it count.

310
00:20:17,227 --> 00:20:20,589
So instead of trying to fight it, it's just like embrace it.

311
00:20:20,589 --> 00:20:24,600
I'm being empowered to, you know, comedians say, I'm going to go out there and kill.

312
00:20:24,600 --> 00:20:28,762
I don't know why that we use all this violent language, you know, I murdered him.

313
00:20:28,762 --> 00:20:30,023
I played him.

314
00:20:30,023 --> 00:20:30,683
Yeah.

315
00:20:30,683 --> 00:20:34,784
But as far as also want to talk, I was a, I was a speech major in college.

316
00:20:34,784 --> 00:20:36,105
And if I do,

317
00:20:36,607 --> 00:20:49,040
another book on presentation, I'll probably, so you're getting a little sneak preview, but
I use these five P's and whether I'm preparing a sales talk, a lecture, a keynote address,

318
00:20:49,040 --> 00:20:51,041
I'll just hit you with them real quick.

319
00:20:51,061 --> 00:20:53,162
They're all five P letters.

320
00:20:53,162 --> 00:20:55,042
So the first one is pow.

321
00:20:55,202 --> 00:20:56,363
I want to grab them.

322
00:20:56,363 --> 00:20:59,283
I want to assume that they're not paying attention.

323
00:20:59,283 --> 00:21:03,244
So that could be a startling statistic, could be a joke.

324
00:21:03,244 --> 00:21:05,601
Like if I'm doing a comedy magic thing,

325
00:21:05,601 --> 00:21:09,441
I will make a dove appear and then fold it up and put it in my pocket.

326
00:21:09,441 --> 00:21:13,563
And it's like, well, it's it's a fake latex stuff, but I've hooked them.

327
00:21:13,622 --> 00:21:14,884
So hooking them.

328
00:21:14,884 --> 00:21:17,464
The next one, this is the one speakers.

329
00:21:17,524 --> 00:21:21,645
And when I say speakers, presenters forget, and that's pain.

330
00:21:22,086 --> 00:21:26,627
We jump into our solution before we've aggravated their pain.

331
00:21:26,967 --> 00:21:33,148
So take a few moments and talk about scratch where they're itching, right?

332
00:21:33,229 --> 00:21:35,489
You can't help them until you.

333
00:21:35,501 --> 00:21:37,733
em That's a way of putting it.

334
00:21:37,733 --> 00:21:40,104
The next P is prescription.

335
00:21:40,104 --> 00:21:41,425
Okay, so what's your solution?

336
00:21:41,425 --> 00:21:51,771
You've reminded me that I'm dying or I'm overweight or I'm not cool with the opposite sex
or whatever the pain point is.

337
00:21:51,771 --> 00:21:56,696
Now your prescription matches the problem that you talked about.

338
00:21:56,696 --> 00:21:59,228
And that might be three points, your prescription.

339
00:21:59,228 --> 00:22:02,510
That's usually the beef of the talk.

340
00:22:02,510 --> 00:22:04,671
And then here's the next two that...

341
00:22:04,671 --> 00:22:08,003
Many presenters skip proof.

342
00:22:08,003 --> 00:22:12,276
Now, as with a lawyer backer, you might be thinking, well, cases or studies.

343
00:22:12,276 --> 00:22:16,168
But what I'm talking about is show me, don't tell me.

344
00:22:16,209 --> 00:22:21,052
One of the best courses I've ever heard in public speaking, my friend Bill Butterworth put
it this way.

345
00:22:21,052 --> 00:22:29,398
said, giving a speech is like building a house, more windows, less lumber.

346
00:22:29,838 --> 00:22:31,409
Let me see what you're saying.

347
00:22:31,409 --> 00:22:34,165
So if I was doing a course on how to be funny,

348
00:22:34,165 --> 00:22:40,947
I might call someone up on the platform and we would actually see them improve their joke
or their delivery.

349
00:22:40,967 --> 00:22:41,287
Right.

350
00:22:41,287 --> 00:22:43,618
It's, it's almost like the before and after.

351
00:22:43,618 --> 00:22:45,868
So that P is called proof.

352
00:22:45,908 --> 00:22:53,030
And then maybe the most important, and I think any kind of speaker needs to tap into this
and that's purchase.

353
00:22:53,030 --> 00:22:55,091
What do you want me to buy into?

354
00:22:55,091 --> 00:22:56,421
What do you want me to believe?

355
00:22:56,421 --> 00:22:58,845
Do want me to hire you?

356
00:22:58,845 --> 00:23:02,353
Do you want me to start an exercise regimen?

357
00:23:02,353 --> 00:23:04,159
What, what, are you asking me to do?

358
00:23:04,159 --> 00:23:13,255
If you, if you do that sequence of those five P's, you'll really have, mean, right there
that I've just outlined what could be easily like a 30 minute talk.

359
00:23:13,415 --> 00:23:16,297
Now, as a comedian, I'm going to prepare a little bit differently.

360
00:23:16,297 --> 00:23:25,684
I want to know not so much what I'm going to say as who I'm talking to, who is someone
that everyone loves that I could have some fun with.

361
00:23:25,684 --> 00:23:33,629
What are some sayings, uh acronyms, slogans, who's the company's biggest competitor, but

362
00:23:34,303 --> 00:23:40,185
My biggest compliment that I get Brian and I don't always get it, but I often get it as
they say, this was great.

363
00:23:40,185 --> 00:23:42,355
How long have you worked for our company?

364
00:23:42,355 --> 00:23:46,837
They think I actually worked for them because I'm doing a deep dive.

365
00:23:46,837 --> 00:23:53,038
Now I have many comedian friends who are coming in and basically doing their standard set
and it rocks.

366
00:23:53,038 --> 00:23:56,720
It's just so funny, but that's just not, that's not my personality.

367
00:23:56,720 --> 00:24:00,270
My personality is I want them to bring me back year after year.

368
00:24:00,270 --> 00:24:02,301
So if I make it about them,

369
00:24:02,721 --> 00:24:07,316
Then next year they have a different theme and they might have new customers or new
attendees.

370
00:24:07,316 --> 00:24:10,845
We can do a whole new set of material the next year.

371
00:24:11,056 --> 00:24:14,378
Yeah, this is absolute gold.

372
00:24:14,378 --> 00:24:18,080
Like everybody listening can benefit from...

373
00:24:18,080 --> 00:24:25,184
I'm sitting here, so we got POW, we've got pain, prescription, proof and purchase.

374
00:24:25,184 --> 00:24:32,316
And I'm sitting here going, this is my next opening statement and try, like I'm gonna
follow this outline.

375
00:24:32,316 --> 00:24:38,716
Any good speech starts with something like you have to capture people's attention in some
way, right?

376
00:24:38,716 --> 00:24:44,156
And you know, one of the ways to do it that I've heard is, let me tell you a story.

377
00:24:44,156 --> 00:24:44,696
Boom!

378
00:24:44,696 --> 00:24:47,941
All of sudden people are like, uh oh, I like to hear stories.

379
00:24:47,941 --> 00:24:52,361
I saw a TED talk, I forget the speaker's name, but it just grabbed me.

380
00:24:52,361 --> 00:24:58,201
He comes up as a serious corporate, like a theater auditorium setting, and he starts to
light up a cigarette.

381
00:24:58,201 --> 00:24:59,641
And everybody's like, what?

382
00:24:59,641 --> 00:25:01,301
And he's like, what, what?

383
00:25:01,301 --> 00:25:05,321
And then he talks about diabetes as a bigger killer than than smoking.

384
00:25:05,321 --> 00:25:08,601
So he's he's hooked me with his pal.

385
00:25:08,941 --> 00:25:11,081
Now I'm ready to listen to the next thing.

386
00:25:11,081 --> 00:25:11,515
Yeah.

387
00:25:11,515 --> 00:25:14,267
now you're ready to go.

388
00:25:15,029 --> 00:25:29,439
So, for those of you that are trial lawyers, CEO, business people, when you, I mean,
you've all sat in the conferences or the seminars where somebody goes, such and such, Jim

389
00:25:29,439 --> 00:25:33,621
Bob, Jimmy Smith is coming up here to give us a speech about last quarter.

390
00:25:33,782 --> 00:25:37,324
Boom, a PowerPoint slide goes up and it's.

391
00:25:37,324 --> 00:25:49,563
like an avalanche of words and then he sits there and looks at the words that are on the
slide that you can already read yourself and then reads the words on the slide and that

392
00:25:49,563 --> 00:25:57,439
boy i'll tell you what presentations are a whole nother let me just real quick do not put
a bunch of words on a slide unless you want people not to pay attention to what you're

393
00:25:57,439 --> 00:26:04,384
saying put one image or something like that but the point is stop doing that guys find out
something

394
00:26:04,776 --> 00:26:10,488
shocking or gripping or super interesting that makes people go...

395
00:26:10,488 --> 00:26:13,320
Another thing is starting with a question, right?

396
00:26:13,320 --> 00:26:19,102
Because you have that open feedback loop and then at the end of the thing you can answer
the question.

397
00:26:19,102 --> 00:26:21,463
But anyway, pow!

398
00:26:23,004 --> 00:26:24,115
It's amazing.

399
00:26:24,115 --> 00:26:33,842
ah when I was growing up, had a professor say, when you're doing a presentation, here's
another quick sequence, hook, book, look, took, right?

400
00:26:33,842 --> 00:26:34,942
You hook them.

401
00:26:34,962 --> 00:26:39,735
The book is getting into your content and then the look is, so what does it mean?

402
00:26:39,735 --> 00:26:40,169
What do do?

403
00:26:40,169 --> 00:26:42,167
And then the took is what are they taking away?

404
00:26:42,167 --> 00:26:46,880
I changed it in my mind to hook, book, hook, look, hook, took.

405
00:26:46,880 --> 00:26:47,552
So,

406
00:26:47,552 --> 00:26:54,947
Don't assume that once you grab their attention with the startling question or the great
visual or whatever it is, I saw, I saw one CEO that I did an event.

407
00:26:54,947 --> 00:26:55,467
was the MC.

408
00:26:55,467 --> 00:26:58,840
He wrote on a Harley and born to be wild was playing.

409
00:26:58,840 --> 00:26:59,870
He hooked them.

410
00:26:59,870 --> 00:27:02,447
But after that first five minutes, they weren't hooked anymore.

411
00:27:02,447 --> 00:27:06,035
you've got to, you kind of keep hooking them.

412
00:27:06,035 --> 00:27:06,655
Yeah.

413
00:27:06,655 --> 00:27:07,085
Yeah, yeah.

414
00:27:07,085 --> 00:27:10,834
Then he killed him with a PowerPoint slide, which literally had the speech on it.

415
00:27:10,834 --> 00:27:13,757
Hey, if you're going to do that, just give me the PowerPoint slide.

416
00:27:13,757 --> 00:27:20,128
One of the things, one of the things, Adam, that I think, so you're a quote clean
comedian.

417
00:27:20,128 --> 00:27:25,462
You have this no gross and it's acronym GROSS.

418
00:27:25,462 --> 00:27:27,773
Wow, you did a deep dive on that, yeah.

419
00:27:27,924 --> 00:27:37,420
I did, and you know, the interesting thing to me about that is I think there's a lot of
people, their initial reaction to that would be, well, that cuts out a whole range of

420
00:27:37,420 --> 00:27:38,000
comedy.

421
00:27:38,000 --> 00:27:41,092
Like you've just, you've cut out a whole range of things.

422
00:27:41,092 --> 00:27:49,877
When in actuality, I think having those boundaries probably forces you in some ways to be
even more creative than you otherwise would be.

423
00:27:49,877 --> 00:27:54,820
mean, dropping F-bombs and telling dirty jokes is actually probably a lot easier.

424
00:27:55,278 --> 00:27:59,675
than having some sort of boundary set up that you don't go beyond.

425
00:27:59,675 --> 00:28:08,307
Tell us a little bit about the clean comedy versus the not as clean comedy and why you
kind of chose that path.

426
00:28:08,514 --> 00:28:18,202
Well, you know, when we started uh CleanComedians.com, that's name of the company, uh
there were some raunchy comedians who at that time were blowing up big.

427
00:28:18,202 --> 00:28:20,243
Andrew Dice Clay was one of them.

428
00:28:20,364 --> 00:28:22,475
And turns out he's a very, very nice man.

429
00:28:22,475 --> 00:28:26,509
I met him in person and it was like his whole act was an act.

430
00:28:26,509 --> 00:28:33,024
But we had this guy who did an impersonation of Andrew Dice Clay working clean.

431
00:28:33,024 --> 00:28:35,896
And he comes out and he's like, good evening.

432
00:28:36,998 --> 00:28:38,048
Good night.

433
00:28:38,210 --> 00:28:40,530
like, yes, go act.

434
00:28:40,790 --> 00:28:42,470
But I think you're right.

435
00:28:42,470 --> 00:28:46,830
I think it is easier because humor is inherently shocking.

436
00:28:46,830 --> 00:28:53,630
It doesn't mean it has to be profanity or sexual innuendo, but humor almost always has a
jolt of surprise.

437
00:28:53,630 --> 00:29:01,070
And so the fastest way is to to embarrass the audience or say a raunchy word, whatever.

438
00:29:01,210 --> 00:29:07,730
But what's happened in our culture is what was shocking when I was a kid is like
considered tame, right?

439
00:29:07,730 --> 00:29:08,474
Like

440
00:29:08,514 --> 00:29:18,369
uh And so I've been to comedy clubs in Los Angeles, Chicago, wherever, where it's not
even, it's all an attempt at shock.

441
00:29:18,369 --> 00:29:25,213
so then you get someone like a Nate Bargatze, who's just hilarious and clever.

442
00:29:25,213 --> 00:29:26,964
And then that becomes shocking, right?

443
00:29:26,964 --> 00:29:37,780
So now, in fact, one time I was years ago, I did a high school assembly comedy bit and
this kid came up to me and he was like,

444
00:29:37,780 --> 00:29:43,573
in shock, he said, I didn't know comedy could be clean.

445
00:29:44,054 --> 00:29:47,276
And so it was a whole reframe for him.

446
00:29:47,276 --> 00:29:54,060
So what happens when you can't do vulgarity or whatever is you have to rely on variety.

447
00:29:54,280 --> 00:30:03,656
And like Jerry Seinfeld has spoken a lot about this is like you have to actually do the
work and you know you've done the work as an attorney, you've done the work as a leader.

448
00:30:03,924 --> 00:30:09,290
And I'm not saying all your listeners or viewers have to become professional comedians,
but just like anything, you've got to do the work.

449
00:30:09,290 --> 00:30:18,920
You've got to develop that 30 minutes or that really funny opening joke or take a story
that's interesting and make it super compelling.

450
00:30:19,098 --> 00:30:19,817
Yeah.

451
00:30:19,817 --> 00:30:20,224
Yeah.

452
00:30:20,765 --> 00:30:31,960
Yeah, so if you can't rely, I mean, you can rely on vulgarity, but it's not going to play
too well, you know, when you're doing the Chevron corporate awards show or something, or

453
00:30:31,960 --> 00:30:36,612
if you're at the Baptist General Conference annual retreat.

454
00:30:36,672 --> 00:30:46,256
And so I have discovered that there are five, there are many, many ways to be funny, but
there are five laugh languages.

455
00:30:46,256 --> 00:30:48,817
call them humor tactics and

456
00:30:48,957 --> 00:30:55,331
Here's the thing, whatever makes you laugh is probably a clue to what is your natural
laugh language, right?

457
00:30:55,331 --> 00:31:03,105
So if you're into, if you're a punster and you're into the dad jokes, if that makes you
laugh, that's probably a good tool for you to use.

458
00:31:03,106 --> 00:31:07,128
If you're a storyteller, that laugh language is called amplify.

459
00:31:07,128 --> 00:31:13,332
Like think of a lot of the great standout comedians like a Robin Williams, they were
exaggerators.

460
00:31:13,332 --> 00:31:14,452
They were acting it out.

461
00:31:14,452 --> 00:31:15,913
They were amplifying it.

462
00:31:15,913 --> 00:31:25,313
If you go to the grocery store and it turns into a story that sounds like, you know, the
Civil War or something like that, you probably gravitate toward being an amplifier.

463
00:31:25,313 --> 00:31:34,073
So once you find your style for making people laugh and smile, get into it, practice it,
try it.

464
00:31:34,073 --> 00:31:42,213
It's almost like maybe you're good at playing the guitar, but you're going to get better
if you keep playing the same song and learning it and trying it out.

465
00:31:42,253 --> 00:31:45,345
And a big mistake I see people make, Brian, is they

466
00:31:46,301 --> 00:31:49,143
They try a joke and they go, oh, that bombed.

467
00:31:49,143 --> 00:31:51,125
I'm never doing that again.

468
00:31:51,145 --> 00:31:59,552
But if they had taken that same joke and done it for families, their family at
Thanksgiving or somebody's birthday party, they tried it out at their Rotary Club.

469
00:31:59,552 --> 00:32:08,620
And then when the chips are down, they tried it at that important sales meeting, let's say
they might have crushed with that same thing because they felt more relaxed.

470
00:32:08,620 --> 00:32:10,371
They felt more confident.

471
00:32:10,871 --> 00:32:14,452
So are you telling me Adam that you weren't born funny?

472
00:32:14,452 --> 00:32:25,445
Are you telling me the comedians like Jerry Seinfeld when I saw him in Vale in March, are
you telling me he didn't just walk up there and just start telling jokes?

473
00:32:25,445 --> 00:32:31,506
Like there's actually some work and some professionalism to this comedy?

474
00:32:31,506 --> 00:32:35,342
Like are you telling me that people can learn to be funny?

475
00:32:35,342 --> 00:32:38,990
Absolutely, Absolutely.

476
00:32:38,990 --> 00:32:49,630
is such a, you know, and boy that is a, I don't know if the insight's the right word or
not, but some people just like think I'm just not a funny person.

477
00:32:49,630 --> 00:32:52,370
Like, and I'll never be a funny person.

478
00:32:52,510 --> 00:32:55,250
And you're either funny or you're not.

479
00:32:55,450 --> 00:32:57,970
And you're to tell us.

480
00:32:58,410 --> 00:33:04,422
that just like just about anything else in life, you can work at it, you can practice it,
and you can get better at it.

481
00:33:04,422 --> 00:33:05,975
So how would somebody do that?

482
00:33:05,975 --> 00:33:10,690
if somebody's sitting there going, because here's what I'm thinking, here's what's going
through my mind.

483
00:33:10,690 --> 00:33:14,201
All right, Brian, BB actually, BB.

484
00:33:14,320 --> 00:33:21,526
Next time you have to give a speech, not in trial, but next time you have to give a speech
outside of trial.

485
00:33:22,402 --> 00:33:23,843
you're going to tell a joke.

486
00:33:23,843 --> 00:33:25,454
That's what I'm telling myself.

487
00:33:25,454 --> 00:33:28,266
And I'm already getting nervous about it.

488
00:33:28,266 --> 00:33:40,012
I don't even know where I'm going to be speaking because telling jokes and bombing, I just
bombed in front of a whole crowd.

489
00:33:40,012 --> 00:33:45,955
How do you get past that kind of uh mental obstacle that so many people have?

490
00:33:46,176 --> 00:33:47,396
It's one thing to give a speech.

491
00:33:47,396 --> 00:33:49,537
It's one thing you got to give a speech and be funny.

492
00:33:49,537 --> 00:33:50,778
Are you serious?

493
00:33:50,996 --> 00:33:53,323
That's really, really hard for a lot of people.

494
00:33:53,323 --> 00:33:59,539
know, one of my buddies who sadly we lost, Steve Bridges, he used to impersonate George W.

495
00:33:59,539 --> 00:34:02,642
Bush and he was on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno like 35 times.

496
00:34:02,642 --> 00:34:03,102
Hilarious.

497
00:34:03,102 --> 00:34:05,614
But he shared something interesting with me.

498
00:34:05,614 --> 00:34:09,388
He said he did not like being introduced as a comedian.

499
00:34:09,388 --> 00:34:13,212
He liked being introduced as a speaker so then he could surprise them with the humor.

500
00:34:13,212 --> 00:34:15,293
So take the pressure off yourself.

501
00:34:15,293 --> 00:34:19,401
if you're in, let's say you're doing a talent show or something.

502
00:34:19,401 --> 00:34:23,761
If you're introduced as the funniest guy in the world, it's like the audience is going to
be like this.

503
00:34:23,761 --> 00:34:34,001
But if you were introduced to give a serious talk or like if you if you're sharing in a
legal setting, no one's expecting it to be funny.

504
00:34:34,001 --> 00:34:37,581
So it'll be a wonderful surprise when you slip in a one liner.

505
00:34:37,581 --> 00:34:41,461
And by the way, we both mentioned Winston Churchill.

506
00:34:41,461 --> 00:34:46,921
I was invited once to do a commencement address and their theme was

507
00:34:47,513 --> 00:34:51,957
light that they were like bringers of light to the world or something like that.

508
00:34:51,957 --> 00:35:04,588
And so I dramatically from my jacket removed a golden three by five card and I read that
Winston Churchill quotation, you know, we are all worms, but I do believe I'm a glow worm.

509
00:35:04,588 --> 00:35:08,351
Now got a chuckle, but I turned it into a dramatic moment.

510
00:35:08,351 --> 00:35:15,317
So you want to give your humor uh opportunity to land and so avoid this mistake.

511
00:35:15,317 --> 00:35:16,051
Don't

512
00:35:16,051 --> 00:35:17,902
Don't say, okay, I'm gonna do a joke now.

513
00:35:17,902 --> 00:35:18,972
Just do it.

514
00:35:18,972 --> 00:35:22,723
And then the other mistake is stepping on your own punchline, right?

515
00:35:22,723 --> 00:35:30,125
And so someone'll do the, they'll get to the end of their story or their punchline and
they'll go, you didn't get it.

516
00:35:30,125 --> 00:35:32,006
Or they'll start laughing.

517
00:35:32,106 --> 00:35:40,008
And I mean, think of, I grew up with, you probably did too with Johnny Carson as maybe the
greatest uh TV talk show host of them all.

518
00:35:40,008 --> 00:35:43,446
He would get bigger laughs when he didn't get a laugh.

519
00:35:43,446 --> 00:35:44,687
Isn't that funny?

520
00:35:45,041 --> 00:35:45,351
Right?

521
00:35:45,351 --> 00:35:48,615
Because he would just be president, sit with it.

522
00:35:48,615 --> 00:35:52,430
So the audience is actually rooting for you.

523
00:35:52,430 --> 00:35:53,020
Remember that.

524
00:35:53,020 --> 00:35:54,332
Like, they don't want to be bored.

525
00:35:54,332 --> 00:35:55,763
oh

526
00:35:55,763 --> 00:35:57,603
People think the audience is against them.

527
00:35:57,603 --> 00:36:02,503
The audience, everybody in the audience, think about when you're in the audience and
somebody's really struggling.

528
00:36:02,823 --> 00:36:09,663
Unless you are a complete psychopath, you're sitting there going, God, I hope this person
does a good job.

529
00:36:09,663 --> 00:36:12,283
You're really rooting for them.

530
00:36:12,783 --> 00:36:14,781
We all are rooting for them.

531
00:36:14,781 --> 00:36:20,821
you feel when a speaker gets up and says, well, they asked me to give this talk and I'm
really not prepared, but here I am.

532
00:36:20,821 --> 00:36:22,601
You're like, oh, then why are you up there?

533
00:36:22,601 --> 00:36:22,941
Right.

534
00:36:22,941 --> 00:36:29,921
So every moment that you're, whether you have 10 minutes or an hour to present it's gold.

535
00:36:29,921 --> 00:36:31,801
And so make every moment count.

536
00:36:31,801 --> 00:36:40,241
Recently, I was booked, this is crazy, but true for the air traffic controllers meeting
that all the managers gathered.

537
00:36:40,387 --> 00:36:49,121
And one of the speakers, because we were in the shutdown during that time, one of the
speakers couldn't be there for those reasons.

538
00:36:49,121 --> 00:36:54,203
And so I was supposed to do a 40 minute thing and they said, can you do 70 minutes?

539
00:36:54,563 --> 00:37:00,606
And so there's no way that I could have scripted out 70 minutes, but I used the five P's I
shared with you.

540
00:37:00,606 --> 00:37:07,128
And so I had planned for what I did is I broke it into five minute pieces and I said,
okay, I'm going to go for a laugh here.

541
00:37:07,128 --> 00:37:08,753
I'm going to go for a...

542
00:37:08,753 --> 00:37:10,516
audience participation here.

543
00:37:10,516 --> 00:37:12,859
I'm going to show a slide here and tell a story here.

544
00:37:12,859 --> 00:37:15,293
And so it didn't feel so overwhelming.

545
00:37:15,293 --> 00:37:19,869
It's like, just need to be engaging in these five minute chunks.

546
00:37:20,202 --> 00:37:33,408
You know, one of the things you talk about like when Carson would bomb with a joke or
somebody else bombs with a joke and they sit there and they just kind of like make a funny

547
00:37:33,408 --> 00:37:35,979
face like how hilarious that is.

548
00:37:35,979 --> 00:37:43,862
And I think what that gets to is the power of silence, like allowing silence to do some
work for you.

549
00:37:43,862 --> 00:37:47,594
So to put that in another context.

550
00:37:48,320 --> 00:37:56,703
There was a famous trial lawyer, he's not with us anymore, but he would get up sometime,
they'd say, the court would say, okay, Mr.

551
00:37:56,703 --> 00:37:59,014
O'Quinn, come give your opening statement.

552
00:37:59,014 --> 00:38:05,716
And he would shuffle some papers around and he would walk up to the podium and he would
kind of get prepared.

553
00:38:06,217 --> 00:38:11,729
And he would like take way too long to start speaking.

554
00:38:11,729 --> 00:38:14,520
it would seem like a minute or two.

555
00:38:14,520 --> 00:38:17,521
know, most people just want to jump up there and start talking.

556
00:38:17,609 --> 00:38:22,914
But he would intentionally kind of fits around, fuddle around with his stuff.

557
00:38:23,295 --> 00:38:30,542
And by the time the first words out of his mouth, everybody was in rapt attention.

558
00:38:30,542 --> 00:38:33,614
Like, cause you just wanted this guy to say something.

559
00:38:33,614 --> 00:38:42,473
And he, you know, once he was ready, he would kind of peruse the jury for a little bit
longer than most people.

560
00:38:43,219 --> 00:38:46,221
And then by the time you start, and that's the power of science.

561
00:38:46,221 --> 00:38:49,453
It's the same thing like for the lawyers in the audience.

562
00:38:49,614 --> 00:39:00,702
If you ask a witness a question and he gives you a dumb answer, the best thing that you
can do is not say anything for a little bit, right?

563
00:39:00,702 --> 00:39:02,743
Like let it settle in.

564
00:39:03,064 --> 00:39:04,625
Same thing with a joke.

565
00:39:04,625 --> 00:39:10,529
I tell you, my favorite jokes personally are the jokes where you tell yourself the
punchline.

566
00:39:10,941 --> 00:39:11,842
in your own head.

567
00:39:11,842 --> 00:39:13,122
You know what I mean?

568
00:39:13,283 --> 00:39:24,011
And so I like the jokes where you tell a joke and then the other person looks at you and
it takes a couple seconds for you can literally see the neurons connecting.

569
00:39:24,312 --> 00:39:26,273
And then they start laughing, right?

570
00:39:26,334 --> 00:39:34,500
But like you're saying, if you're too eager, if you move too fast, you kind of step over
your own question.

571
00:39:34,500 --> 00:39:40,965
step like, Hey lawyer, that witness just admitted that he killed Jimmy Hoffa.

572
00:39:41,489 --> 00:39:49,955
You might want to pause for five seconds so the jury can let that sink in before you go to
your next question, right?

573
00:39:49,955 --> 00:39:50,146
this.

574
00:39:50,146 --> 00:39:58,640
think the pause is the most powerful thing in your arsenal, whether you're an entertainer
or a lawyer or speaker, uh motivator.

575
00:39:58,640 --> 00:40:04,153
And it can feel risky because the pause becomes loud.

576
00:40:04,873 --> 00:40:05,823
gosh, so loud.

577
00:40:05,823 --> 00:40:09,305
you can almost feel it, but what it does is it draws us in.

578
00:40:09,305 --> 00:40:21,919
I'll tell you, the other day I was at a corporate event and I'm honest to goodness, I'm
not a big self promoter or anything, but I knew that they were giving a copy of my book to

579
00:40:21,919 --> 00:40:27,082
every attendee that when they went back to their hotel room, that was like a basket or
something.

580
00:40:27,082 --> 00:40:29,323
So I wanted to get them excited.

581
00:40:29,323 --> 00:40:33,225
I said, you know, I've only got one copy and I held up my book and I said,

582
00:40:33,469 --> 00:40:35,553
I said, this is really funny.

583
00:40:35,553 --> 00:40:38,436
said, let me just read a little bit.

584
00:40:39,878 --> 00:40:40,944
Hahaha!

585
00:40:40,944 --> 00:40:42,626
didn't read anything from it, right?

586
00:40:42,626 --> 00:40:43,665
But I'm just having a moment.

587
00:40:43,665 --> 00:40:50,252
So that's another secret, BB, is if you enjoy it, they're going to enjoy it.

588
00:40:50,252 --> 00:40:53,044
It doesn't mean laughing at your own jokes all the time.

589
00:40:53,044 --> 00:41:03,983
What it means is I had a great, I'm not a terrible actor, but I had a great acting coach
who the one big takeaway I got is he said, you're not enjoying this right now, are you?

590
00:41:04,124 --> 00:41:06,345
And so that's coming across.

591
00:41:06,345 --> 00:41:09,629
If you don't want to be up there, why should we listen?

592
00:41:09,629 --> 00:41:24,006
Yeah, you know, I think there's a long history of comedians having depressive ah episodes
and kind of depressive personalities and stuff.

593
00:41:24,006 --> 00:41:29,899
And I think part of that is because comedians are some of the most intelligent people in
the world.

594
00:41:29,899 --> 00:41:33,021
They understand the human condition.

595
00:41:33,423 --> 00:41:39,856
Some of them are a little bit, they kind of understand the absurdity of human nature.

596
00:41:39,996 --> 00:41:48,239
And they also understand some real deep truths about human beings, what makes us work,
what makes us tick.

597
00:41:48,620 --> 00:41:50,220
What do you think?

598
00:41:50,313 --> 00:42:01,245
I think there's comedians right now, especially, can say things that most people can't
say, because it's kind of cloaked in

599
00:42:01,872 --> 00:42:12,103
humor but there's always like a real important underlying message behind some of the jokes
so do you intentionally like try to

600
00:42:12,711 --> 00:42:19,845
you know, makes any sort of, and you don't have to talk about what it is specifically, but
you try to make like really good points cloaked in humor.

601
00:42:20,146 --> 00:42:29,501
look, I think of it like, you know, when you used to take a little, you had to take the
medicine and your mom would give you a little sugar to make it go down a little bit

602
00:42:29,501 --> 00:42:30,192
easier.

603
00:42:30,192 --> 00:42:31,434
The, you know.

604
00:42:31,434 --> 00:42:34,575
I would go to the doctor and my mom, I would be getting a shot or something.

605
00:42:34,575 --> 00:42:36,388
She'd say, think about Disneyland.

606
00:42:36,388 --> 00:42:36,609
Yeah.

607
00:42:36,609 --> 00:42:42,243
was like, yeah, exactly.

608
00:42:42,283 --> 00:42:45,606
Um, but yeah, you've really touched on an important point.

609
00:42:45,606 --> 00:42:48,358
There was a great director.

610
00:42:48,358 --> 00:42:52,191
I can't remember his era, the fifties and sixties, I guess, Billy Wilder.

611
00:42:52,191 --> 00:42:59,277
And he said, if you're going to tell people the truth, be funny or they'll kill you.

612
00:42:59,474 --> 00:43:00,297
I love that.

613
00:43:00,297 --> 00:43:07,364
was a comedian named Rick Reynolds who did one of the funniest one man solo shows I've
ever seen in my life.

614
00:43:07,364 --> 00:43:09,766
And the title of the show said it all.

615
00:43:09,887 --> 00:43:11,905
Only the truth is funny.

616
00:43:11,905 --> 00:43:17,910
So Rick Reynolds show, the premise was everything I'm about to share with you is true.

617
00:43:17,910 --> 00:43:20,452
And it's one of the funniest shows I've ever seen in my life.

618
00:43:20,452 --> 00:43:25,476
In fact, if you go on YouTube and type in Rick Reynolds, only the truth is funny.

619
00:43:25,476 --> 00:43:29,739
That might be the funniest opening to a show I've ever seen in my life.

620
00:43:29,739 --> 00:43:36,324
And so where it gets tricky is if you just tell the truth, it can feel informational.

621
00:43:36,444 --> 00:43:40,297
If you pour yourself into it, can feel transformational.

622
00:43:40,297 --> 00:43:52,674
So what I tell, I'm coaching a business executive, let's say on how to be more um
entertaining on the platform is I would say, don't tell us this story, relive it.

623
00:43:52,674 --> 00:44:00,821
So instead of saying, and there I was, you actually become there and you're with the
crocodile or whatever's happening is like, how did it feel?

624
00:44:00,821 --> 00:44:02,762
Re-experience it.

625
00:44:02,762 --> 00:44:05,416
And that's risky because you're putting yourself

626
00:44:05,416 --> 00:44:06,841
Put yourself out there.

627
00:44:07,040 --> 00:44:22,132
Trial lawyers and executives that do that, when they give speeches, they don't just
describe in words what happened, how it smelled, what they saw, what the colors were like,

628
00:44:22,413 --> 00:44:24,275
what it reminded them of.

629
00:44:24,275 --> 00:44:30,530
This all gets back, I think, to what I think the number one principle of any speech is.

630
00:44:30,530 --> 00:44:35,303
In fact, every time somebody's about to give a speech, I say, I'm going give you one piece
of advice.

631
00:44:35,688 --> 00:44:38,700
And this is the best advice you will ever get for the rest of your life.

632
00:44:38,700 --> 00:44:40,532
There's only one thing you have to do.

633
00:44:40,532 --> 00:44:42,033
And if you do this, it'll be good.

634
00:44:42,033 --> 00:44:49,623
And everybody's like, Whoa, I like to, I like to be a little, I like to oversell these
things a little, but I actually don't think I'm overselling this.

635
00:44:49,623 --> 00:44:53,042
Tell stories, tell stories.

636
00:44:53,042 --> 00:44:59,938
People that Dave Chappelle is so damn funny because he is a phenomenal storyteller.

637
00:44:59,938 --> 00:45:04,911
Like when he's telling the story, he's inhabiting the personality of the other people.

638
00:45:05,044 --> 00:45:05,905
who he's talking about.

639
00:45:05,905 --> 00:45:14,199
So suddenly he becomes his Asian wife and watching a black guy like Dave Chappelle imitate
a Asian wife is hilarious.

640
00:45:14,541 --> 00:45:19,007
that's not even really part of the joke, right?

641
00:45:19,120 --> 00:45:21,420
you're an entertainer, a comedian, that's perfect.

642
00:45:21,420 --> 00:45:27,760
If you're a speaker, I would say this, make a point, tell a story, make a point, tell a
story.

643
00:45:27,760 --> 00:45:28,280
That's it.

644
00:45:28,280 --> 00:45:35,760
You could do that 10 times, make a point, tell a story, and you would have an effective 30
minute talk.

645
00:45:35,760 --> 00:45:42,200
Whereas what we normally do is tell a story and then make points for the next 30 minutes,
and we've lost them.

646
00:45:42,200 --> 00:45:45,402
And that's because we want

647
00:45:45,402 --> 00:45:48,193
connection more than we crave content.

648
00:45:48,193 --> 00:45:55,195
I've never heard someone come up after a compelling keynote talk and say, man, I really
wanted more content.

649
00:45:55,195 --> 00:46:01,456
What they say is when I, yeah, yeah.

650
00:46:02,757 --> 00:46:07,628
I was just with a guy who overcame unbelievable obstacles and became an Ironman guy.

651
00:46:07,628 --> 00:46:13,700
And what we really loved about it was we saw ourselves in his struggle.

652
00:46:14,494 --> 00:46:16,205
We didn't care so much about the details.

653
00:46:16,205 --> 00:46:19,576
wanted the drama of overcoming.

654
00:46:19,576 --> 00:46:26,549
so part of what I, it's funny, we're talking more about speaking than comedy, but they're
kind of like kiss and cousins, right?

655
00:46:26,549 --> 00:46:33,712
The best stories, the best speeches have this, what Joseph Campbell called the hero's
journey, right?

656
00:46:33,712 --> 00:46:41,665
Where we start in a normal situation and then there's some pain, there's some threat, and
then we have to learn new things.

657
00:46:41,665 --> 00:46:42,966
We have to become a new person.

658
00:46:42,966 --> 00:46:43,996
And finally,

659
00:46:44,242 --> 00:46:50,020
We go to this cave that we've been avoiding and what did he say?

660
00:46:50,442 --> 00:46:54,793
The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you are seeking.

661
00:46:54,793 --> 00:46:56,990
One of my favorite quotes of all time.

662
00:46:57,212 --> 00:47:05,245
I would go so far as to say it's impossible for humans to think without telling stories in
their head.

663
00:47:05,245 --> 00:47:06,705
Like I think that's actually how we think.

664
00:47:06,705 --> 00:47:12,117
think if, so for example, let's use the most routine, like non-story.

665
00:47:12,117 --> 00:47:16,787
Let's say somebody throws a bar chart up on a, on a, uh

666
00:47:16,787 --> 00:47:24,029
PowerPoint slide or something, your brain starts constructing a story about what that bar
chart is.

667
00:47:24,029 --> 00:47:36,763
And I think that's why, quite frankly, comedians are some of the most intelligent people
walking the planet because they understand the psychology of the human mind and how to

668
00:47:36,763 --> 00:47:37,603
manipulate it.

669
00:47:37,603 --> 00:47:41,894
And by the way, I don't mean manipulate in a uh bad or good way.

670
00:47:41,894 --> 00:47:43,555
I just mean they know how to...

671
00:47:43,859 --> 00:47:45,079
They know how it works.

672
00:47:45,079 --> 00:47:49,554
And it's absolutely phenomenal to watch.

673
00:47:49,554 --> 00:47:52,837
By the way, that is the heart of improv.

674
00:47:52,837 --> 00:48:06,508
I studied a little bit of improv with uh Sandy Holt, who was with Second City, and she
said that it was accepting what is happening and then bringing a new story to that party.

675
00:48:06,508 --> 00:48:11,202
So for example, one time I was doing a improv skit.

676
00:48:11,202 --> 00:48:13,383
Someone had their finger like this.

677
00:48:13,884 --> 00:48:19,608
And like you just said, Bibi, I could turn that into, that's a carrot.

678
00:48:19,792 --> 00:48:22,995
I could say, you're flipping me off and you're doing it wrong.

679
00:48:22,995 --> 00:48:26,032
I could say, uh don't wave a weapon at me.

680
00:48:26,032 --> 00:48:29,270
I could say, oh, yeah, you're pointing to the rain.

681
00:48:29,270 --> 00:48:30,982
I can make that mean a million things.

682
00:48:30,982 --> 00:48:33,074
So as humans, we are meaning makers.

683
00:48:33,074 --> 00:48:36,327
There's what happens and what we make it mean.

684
00:48:37,043 --> 00:48:39,943
Adam, I know you got to go here pretty soon.

685
00:48:39,943 --> 00:48:48,563
This has been, this has really been truly a really funny and also really enlightening
show.

686
00:48:48,563 --> 00:48:49,203
Do you have time?

687
00:48:49,203 --> 00:48:51,543
got some lightning round questions for you.

688
00:48:51,543 --> 00:48:52,543
Just kind of boom, boom, boom.

689
00:48:52,543 --> 00:48:54,063
You got time for that?

690
00:48:54,843 --> 00:48:55,183
Okay.

691
00:48:55,183 --> 00:48:58,443
Who's your, who's the toughest crowd?

692
00:48:58,543 --> 00:49:01,843
Teenagers, engineers, or senior executives?

693
00:49:02,437 --> 00:49:03,992
Senior executives.

694
00:49:05,382 --> 00:49:16,283
What's a, and I'll put you on spot here, can you share a clean, like a one-liner, or like
a quick joke you love that would be safe, uh would be suitable for work?

695
00:49:17,083 --> 00:49:21,676
My wife says I'm really nosy, at least that's what she keeps writing in her diary.

696
00:49:24,474 --> 00:49:26,575
Sorry, that's great.

697
00:49:26,575 --> 00:49:31,850
uh I Steven Wright.

698
00:49:31,850 --> 00:49:35,983
I put a humidifier and a dehumidifier in the room and let him fight it out.

699
00:49:35,983 --> 00:49:37,098
I mean, brilliant.

700
00:49:37,098 --> 00:49:37,560
Yeah.

701
00:49:37,560 --> 00:49:42,026
Rodney, you know, my wife and I were happy for 20 years and then we met.

702
00:49:42,355 --> 00:49:50,347
m Here's a good little husband wife joke.

703
00:49:50,347 --> 00:49:55,880
Cop pulls over, husband's driving erratically, cop pulls him over, leans into the wife.

704
00:49:55,880 --> 00:49:57,551
Does your husband always drive this bad?

705
00:49:57,551 --> 00:49:59,301
Nope, only when he's drunk.

706
00:50:01,282 --> 00:50:03,553
What's the most memorable location you ever.

707
00:50:07,173 --> 00:50:18,226
I was at this five-star resort in Hawaii, and you might think I was going to say it's that
one, but what happened was I was doing a benefit for the Salvation Army on the other side

708
00:50:18,226 --> 00:50:24,018
of Oahu, and my wife and I were put up literally in a shack.

709
00:50:24,298 --> 00:50:28,980
And it was the people and the beauty of the natural setting.

710
00:50:28,980 --> 00:50:33,881
This is many years ago, and I'm like, this is just wonderful, making people laugh in
paradise.

711
00:50:33,979 --> 00:50:40,557
For me, it's not the venue as much as it's the, I'd like to say, what is the purpose of
your party?

712
00:50:40,557 --> 00:50:50,519
If I can get into that, whether it's raising funds or just laughing or health or whatever
it is, know the purpose of your party and it almost doesn't matter where you meet.

713
00:50:51,524 --> 00:50:52,785
Last question.

714
00:50:52,785 --> 00:50:57,861
One comedian, clean, not clean, that you'd love to sit down and have a coffee with.

715
00:50:59,365 --> 00:51:00,656
Well, I've gotten close.

716
00:51:00,656 --> 00:51:02,517
Steve Martin would be that one.

717
00:51:02,517 --> 00:51:07,960
And I got to work with Martin Short one evening on his birthday and it was just a delight.

718
00:51:07,960 --> 00:51:15,134
But if I had to answer it for all time, believe it or not, it would be Stan Laurel of
Laurel and Hardy fame.

719
00:51:15,995 --> 00:51:25,321
Very serious guy, very sweet man who would personally handwrite letters, but he was not
afraid to look like the fool.

720
00:51:25,899 --> 00:51:27,522
And I just love that.

721
00:51:27,522 --> 00:51:30,647
I love the humility of his humor.

722
00:51:31,193 --> 00:51:32,064
Awesome.

723
00:51:32,064 --> 00:51:36,810
Adam, this has been, like I told you, I've been looking forward to this for a long time.

724
00:51:36,810 --> 00:51:39,052
I knew this would be a super fun show.

725
00:51:39,052 --> 00:51:42,347
Before I let you go, where can people find you online?

726
00:51:42,347 --> 00:51:44,249
Tell us about your books a little bit.

727
00:51:44,635 --> 00:51:52,989
Yeah, I have my most recent book is called The Laughter Factor, the five humor tactics to
link, lift and lead.

728
00:51:53,189 --> 00:51:58,051
And there's a website where people no charge, they can take a quiz and discover their
laugh language.

729
00:51:58,051 --> 00:52:09,596
So if you just go to the laughter factor.com in four minutes, it shoots out an email to
you and tells you which of the five laugh language is most suited to you.

730
00:52:09,776 --> 00:52:11,087
And our company

731
00:52:11,087 --> 00:52:13,769
CleanComedians.com is a great resource.

732
00:52:13,769 --> 00:52:25,899
So if you want to get big laughs that don't get you in big trouble, hire one of our Clean
Comedians for corporate event fundraiser, and we'd love to give your group the gift of

733
00:52:25,899 --> 00:52:26,819
laughter.

734
00:52:27,347 --> 00:52:28,307
Love it.

735
00:52:28,307 --> 00:52:29,347
Love it.

736
00:52:29,347 --> 00:52:30,807
Adam Christening, everybody.

737
00:52:30,807 --> 00:52:32,037
Thanks a lot, Adam.

738
00:52:32,037 --> 00:52:33,292
BB, I've really enjoyed it.

739
00:52:33,292 --> 00:52:34,667
feel like we bonded.

740
00:52:34,667 --> 00:52:36,503
I feel like we're pals now.

741
00:52:36,532 --> 00:52:38,960
Me too, me too.