WHAT'S SO FUNNY ABOUT LIVE CORPORATE EVENTS

In this episode we’re talking comedy with event host, podcaster, and author Scott Bloom. Not sure how to use humor at your event effectively? Want to use laughter to forge connections with your audience? Then hit the download button, screw your headphones on tight, and get ready to take notes.

You can read the transcript below or listen to Episode 19 on the episode page, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

EPISODE 19 TRANSCRIPT

JEREMY: All right, so I am here with a true legend of the corporate live event space. He has hosted literally hundreds of corporate live events over the last couple decades or so. He is a comedic keynote speaker. This is such a thrill and honor. I am here with Scott Bloom.

Scott, thank you so much for doing this.

SCOTT: Thank you, Jeremy.

JEREMY: You have on your demo reel, which I love. We'll link to it in the show notes, because, honestly, for those out there listening, if you haven't seen Scott's demo reel, it's just fun to watch. You'll have a fun five minutes, but you have a catchphrase on it, which is the “power of laughter, the language of business.”

Tell me about that. What does that mean?

SCOTT: Laughter and humor has a lot of power at corporate events. It's almost essential. It's not used to the potential that it needs to be. I think with every speaker, comedy and humor definitely draws people in and engages them… makes them feel good.

The reason why we had that as my sort of tagline, “the power of laughter is the language of business,” is because very early on I developed a lot of comedy specific for corporate audiences. I built a lot of my humor around stuff that I knew people in a corporate audience could relate to. I built material around their acronyms, their lingo that they're using, about relationship exercises, and about language.

I found a system to create comedy that will, universally, play to a broad audience and different demographics, whether they're salespeople, customer service people, but specifically for people in business. I'm talking about, “Hey, I just learned that you folks use a lot of acronyms,” and then I'll go into a little acronym litany about throwing in all their acronyms.

BETHANY: This is behind the scenes Bethany breaking in with a fact check. Technically, technically, I think Scott means initialisms, where the first letter of each word is pronounced individually, like ATM or VIP, as opposed to acronyms where the first letter of each word forms a new word like Radar or NASA, but the word acronym flows better and is easier to understand than initialism. That's why Scott is so good at what he does.

JEREMY: You said that laughter is essential to these corporate events. If there was someone out there who didn't intuitively get that, who said, “What do you mean this isn't a comedy show? This isn't about entertainment. This is a serious business meeting and we're supposed to be serious?”

How would you push back on that?

SCOTT: That's a very valid point. To be honest with you, a lot of times I am appreciative that people are taking that risk at some level. This is my bread and butter, so I know where that line is. what people don't realize is that even when I'm dealing with a pharma company and they're dealing with a very serious disease state, people need that release valve. They need to laugh, and when you do laugh, you just feel good. You open up and share something with the people around you. It becomes a very communal experience, and it just elevates the whole meeting or conference.

A lot of times I'm brought in being a professional, I know what's going to be funny to them. I've worked with audiences before, and believe it or not, there's a lot more consistency in me doing comedy at 8:00 AM in the morning as opposed to when I used to do comedy at 8:00 PM because I know what I'm getting there. This is a corporate audience. They're not expecting to laugh, so my job gets a little easier because anything I say remotely funny, gets a laugh. They don't expect it. It's almost a little bit of a reverence that creates that little fun tension that, “Hey, we're at a corporate meeting, we're post supposed to be serious, and I don't have to play the same sort of corporate role. I treat the executives, the executive team, and the leadership team as equals when I'm on stage if I'm interviewing. I don't have the same fear and I don't put them up on the ivory tower. I make everyone seem like, “Hey, it's just all of us. We're just hanging out together.”

I find that to be very effective to break down that fourth wall and really connect with them. A lot of my humor is interactive. I work with the audience. Knowing that this works time and time again, it gives me the confidence that I would need to improvise a little bit or I need to go off script a little bit. I can do that. I know I'll be in a safe zone, and I know that I'll continue to keep that laughter coming.

JEREMY: I love what you said about even when it's a really serious topic. It almost seems like the laughter's more important in order to have a little bit of release, but I think one of the things you do that is so extraordinary is the way you use laughter to create a connection. Not just between you and the audience, but among the audience members that they are bonding through your comedy. That's a real gift for them.

Now, if they don't have someone like you coming in, what would your advice be in terms of comedy? Is that something that executives can take care of or is this something that really should be left to the professionals?

SCOTT: My immediate reaction is the load of the comedy should be left to professionals. I'm there right from the beginning to shift that tone. “Hey, we're going to actually have fun at this meeting. I think about stuff that you folks do as creative directors. You're going to create this great experience. There might be a great opening, the set looks great, the lighting, and the transitions will look good, but at some point, there's going to be someone speaking for anywhere from 15 to 40 minutes there. You need things to break it up, and that's what I do as an MC. Besides setting the tone and going, “Hey, it's all right to laugh.”

What I've noticed a lot is if I open up a meeting and I give everyone permission to laugh, which they're not used to doing early in the morning at a business meeting, that the executives tend to do better. To answer your question, I become that primer that sort of released to go, “Hey, it's all right to laugh.” The executives see me on stage and they're like, “Hey, maybe I can take a little bit more chances or be a little bit more relaxed.” They hear the laughter backstage, and everyone wants some of that. As a performer or presenter, you want to feel that.

To answer your question, you can't rely on the executives to bring that humor. You do need a professional in it. However, people do have a sense of humor. Executives that are funny a lot of times hold that back because they're playing the role of, I'm the leader. I can't be goofy. I can't be funny. The leaders that have the strongest connection with their people are the people who can let their real personality come out, especially their sense of humor. A lot of times you hear, “Hey, I didn't know Jack was that funny.” I hear that all the time. That's because they see me doing it and they're not trying to emulate me. They've just been given permission. “Hey, I could be a little looser. I could be a little lighter.”

JEREMY: That's really interesting. I love the idea of the rockstar as the opening act that you are really good at it, better than they are at that particular skill, and yet you are setting them up to allow them to thrive. That's really fantastic. What do you do when you have the opposite problem? It's not that you have a charismatic leader who's really funny, who's holding it back; you have someone who maybe really isn't that funny, someone who thinks he needs to be funny, so he's trying to shtick up his presentation because he thinks that's what it's supposed to do. However, his team and the people he's trying it out on can tell it's maybe not going to work, but, he's a C-suite executive.

Do you have any advice? What do you do in a case like that?

SCOTT: Reign them in. There're people who are funny and then there're people who aren't. The ones who are trying to put in a lot of shticks if it's not working, and it's a tough thing because you usually have a lot of people around the C-suite folks. They're worried about their job security, so they're not always as honest as they could be, but I think saying something like, “Hey, that might be a little over the top, that doesn't seem to be working, or to work with one of the creative directors on. Hey, can you help me with this?” Those people can be a little bit more honest and get them plugged in.

You have to have a sense of humor. You have to have some ability. You can't just feed someone material and go, “Hey, can you just repeat what I said?” If they don't feel comfortable with it, it's hard to sell. Now, however, I was thinking back on when sometimes some executives were funny. A good thing to do is feed them something that is fail safe or maybe nothing is ever humor proof, but you can give them some slides. It always seems funny when people photoshop something, someone's in the Speedo, or someone didn't have hair. They've given them a whole head of hair, or they're placed in somewhere. You can get some mileage out of that, but I think the person who's speaking needs to be comfortable with the material.

Look, most standup comics spend months working on the clubs before we see it on screen. They're not going to have that opportunity to try out that material. I have to almost have an intuitive sense a lot of times on what's funny and what's not funny. I don't have a chance to try it on a small audience and then put in front of a thousand people.

JEREMY: I think your advice is very sound. People are afraid to tell these executives no, that they shouldn't do something, or that it might not make them look that good, but the truth is you're saving them from themselves and you're doing them a favor. If they're asking and they have some sense that maybe this isn't as funny as it was in their head on the airplane. I think you're right.

SCOTT: Comedy is subjective, clearly. I'm actually surprised at the success ratio that I've had. I'm not bragging. I’m surprised in the standup clubs you could be the most killer standup. You're going to have some bad nights. It luckily hasn't happened, maybe because I'm doing just 5 to 10 minutes. As I said, there are also times where I could see this audience was better. I had a better connection with them because comedy at a corporate event is really about the connection. It's this sort of unconscious connection and unconscious bond that you have with the audience, and I always say that some of my jokes, some of the humor might be a 6 or 7 out of 10. Because of that connection I have, they're laughing at an eight or a nine. Humor and laughter connects me to the audience, connects all the other presenters to the audience because that's what I'm setting up. It connects, as you said earlier, everybody in the audience, so it's such a more enjoyable experience. Everyone's having a good time and they're having fun. It's important to remember the audience needs to have fun at these conferences.

JEREMY: Yeah, absolutely. Now tell me about when you're working with people that are not professional comedians or actors and I'm sure some of them are naturally charismatic, funny, and others of them are not. How do you work with them? How do you make them look good?

SCOTT: I go in and I suggest different places to use me, always suggest that I open up the meeting, let's get the energy high from the beginning, here are some other places that maybe we need a little boost of comedy, and some laughter here. I'll say, “Hey, this might be a good place,” and make suggestions of what works. Then a lot of times I'll say, “Hey, if you have any presenters that don't feel comfortable presenting on their own, let's do a little interview format. Let's do a little morning show kind of thing. We don't need anything fancy.” It could be two high back chairs, but to get them on stage and sometimes just having me or a professional up there, they start to relax. What you don't want is the presenter to go up there, feel nervous, and uncomfortable. It takes a lot of the weight off of them to have to be entertaining. I always say, “Hey, gimme a couple of softball questions just to get them breathing and comfortable on stage before we launch into the interview.” They'll give me all the questions and the presenter will know the questions in advance. What I notice happens is they start to get more relaxed; all of a sudden, their personality comes out and all of a sudden, they start to become funny.

Even if they didn't start out to be funny. They just start, “Hey, I've seen you get some laughs. This is starts to feel good.” I love when that happens. When I see that sort of shift that goes on. I'm just thrilled when the presenter actually gets more or less than I do. I'm very comfortable with that. My job there is to always make the executives look good, everyone on stage looks good, and make sure that the audience stays connected to what's going on stage.

JEREMY: That's great, and I love that you look at the whole event holistically and are really saying, “Okay, how can I be of use here? Where can you slot me in? Where I'm going to elevate the event? Like you said, make them look better. That is such a valuable resource, like my head is going, “Oh yeah, where could I slot Scott in? Where he could, work his magic? I think that's really great. I think a lot of people, you know in your position, don't they say, “Oh, where do you want me? Okay, great.”

SCOTT: Yeah, I feel like I'm producing an event even though that's not my job. I have a lot more experience than the event planners. I have a lot more experience than the executives, so I'm always trying to share my experience, my knowledge, and I always say, “Hey, here's a suggestion. Here's something that's worked before in an awards program. Let's try to do it this way.” I not only take a lot of pride in what the overall show looks like, but I'm really there trying to be a part of the team that can, as you said, elevate the experience.

My opinion is every conference can be so much better when they do have an MC there, a professional, someone who has been doing it for years because of being a partner with the production team and with the meeting planners. They have an ally there going, “Hey, I've been doing this lately, this works really well or let's try to find some more interactive things that we can do with the audience.” Whenever the audience is involved, they're definitely engaged, and so I feel it's my job to, not only on-site be funny and creative, but to bring that in the pre-production and to help them craft the show.

There's always that feeling of why are we bringing an outsider into the event. The reason you're doing that is your VP has a lot more important things to do than remember who's coming up next. He's not a professional. He doesn't know how to bring the flow of the meeting and keep it moving. That's what professional MCs do, and you get this boost of laughter moments that, once again, elevate the whole experience. Everyone's having a good time. Everyone's now more open so that when the next presenter gets up there, they're not just looking at their phones and checking out, “Hey, I'm engaged. I want to hear more.”

JEREMY: Do you think there's any sort of resistance? Back to what we were talking about before, the notion of this is a business meeting, so we shouldn't have a professional MC host. It would set the wrong tone. I'm trying to figure it out. You said I think every event would benefit from this, and yet so many events don't have it. Why? Where is that disconnect?

SCOTT: I think it's something that is not seen in nature that often. I don't think they know it exists. They don't understand until they've seen it. We're trying to create a professional production here, and we want everything to flow naturally. We don't want there to be this big pause at a moment during a transition because the energy needs to be regulated. It needs to be manipulated, it needs to be played with, and you don't want it to have a big dip anywhere.

When they see it work, they finally get it. They understand it, and once again, the executives can do what they do and not have to worry about the minutia of introducing people, what's coming next, or doing housekeeping. It's embarrassing. Sometimes these VPs are having to do housekeeping. My job, even in the pre-calls, is constantly raising their comfort level. “Hey, I got you. I've done this before. Everyone's going to have a great time. I'm going to make you look good. I'm going to make your presenters look good. I'm there for you.”

Once they get that, that it's not about me, it's about them, and that whole “it's not about me, it's about them.” That's the same advice I'd give to any presenter too. Forget about just being funny, just be a presenter that can connect with the audience. As soon as you take the attention off yourself and you put it on the audience; you have this great information and they're excited to hear about it. Let them feel your excitement. Stop worrying about the presentation. You need to be prepared. You need to rehearse, but once you've done that, you got to let it go. Just be there on stage, be present, and connect to the audience.

JEREMY: Yeah, that's great advice. I mean I come from theater and that's what theater is all about. It's never about you. It's always about putting your attention on the other actor or in this case, the audience. Yeah, if more presenters could follow that advice, it would do them a great service.

Now you've done this literally hundreds of times. I would love it if you had a story from your past. Sometime that you used humor with a presenter, just something that went incredibly well, was really funny, or whatever story you want to tell. You must have just a great suitcase of stories.

SCOTT: One thing that comes to mind is, so I do this bit in my routine about being this world-renowned psychic. It's a bit I've been doing for 20 plus years and know it's a parody of all those late-night psychics on air, but they have the amazing gift of overstating the obvious. Then when they're wrong, they twist around and go, oh, that's exactly what I meant. It's a very funny bit. If I was to do a reading of you, Jeremy, and you can just answer honestly. I talk about how I'm a psychic to the stars and I start listing off all these names. I'll say to you, for example, Jeremy, you are single, are you not?

JEREMY: I am not.

SCOTT: Okay. When I say single, you are an individual. You're someone with a very strong sense of self. I see a lot of confidence coming from you. Jeremy, this is interesting. I'm just starting to see a wife, is there a wife in the picture?

JEREMY: Yes correct.

SCOTT: There is a wife. I was a little thrown off by Jeremy, he's got a little bit, you might not be able to see him. He's got a little bit of an intimidating air. I wouldn't be surprised if we weren't born under the same birth sign. What month were you born?

JEREMY: March.

SCOTT: Me too. March 17th.

JEREMY: That's right. St. Patrick's Day.

SCOTT: That is, it? Is it 17th?

JEREMY: Yeah.

SCOTT: I got it right.

JEREMY: Yes.

SCOTT: I'm a freaking psychic. Wow. Wow. See that's where the funny crosses over. You're probably wondering, oh, he probably looked up my birthday. No, I'm a freaking psychic. That's what just happened right there. Boom. Then I know and this just to finalize this because I'm getting the name of your significant other. I'm getting the name of your wife. We've never met before, but I don't know your wife's name. Just give me the first five letters.

JEREMY: There's only four letters.

SCOTT: Okay, then pause at the end. They are?

JEREMY: B E T H.

SCOTT: Space. Okay, I'm getting like a bath or booth. Beth. Beth, is it Beth?

JEREMY: It is Beth. Well done.

SCOTT: That first thing that came to mind. Always go with your gut, so that's the comedy piece.

BETHANY: This is behind the scenes Bethany breaking in with a fact check. Perhaps the most famous comic psychic was Carnac the Magnificent, a recurring character played by Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show. Carnac would first divine the answer and then open an envelope to read the question, such as when he answered the La Brea Tar Pits, and then opened the question to find what do you have left after eating the La Brea Tar Peaches?

JEREMY: Was there ever a time when something didn't go right on stage and how did you deal with that?

SCOTT: I was interviewing, Steve Wozniak from Apple. The Woz, an hour-long interview. We're sitting down. It's going really well. I've had a chance to interview a couple of celebrities. I had a chance to interview John Travolta once. That was great. Andre Agassi, another. I'm interviewing Woz and 30 minutes into the hour-long presentation; I realize I got to go to the bathroom. I got to go, I got to go pee. I've had this before in awards programs and you hold it in well at around like 40 minutes. It's getting painful. I don't think I'm going to be able to make it at 45 minutes. I'm in a severe pain and we're going to go into Q&A.

It dawned on me in that quick moment. I'm like, you know what? I'm going to jump out into the audience, so I grab the mic and go, “Hey, do we have any questions? There's a guy in the back of the room, I hand him the mic and I just keep on walking, and I walk by my producer in the back of the room and out the door. There is no one in control of the room right now. I don't know what's going on. I go to the restroom quickly. I relieve myself. I come back in. The producers like pointing at her watch, meaning, “Hey, we got to wrap things up.”

This wasn't the first question. This might've been like the third question when I finally had the guts to walk out the room because I couldn't take it anymore. I come back in and what I hear Wozniak saying is, “And that's why we did that way at Apple.” I just quickly grab the mic and go, “Okay, I think we have time for one more question.”

What I don't know is, while I'm in the restroom, he finished the question. He doesn't know I've left the room. He finished the question and then just in a moment he goes, “Yeah, but another way to look at it is,” and then kept on going on. I got saved. The business theater gods were on my side that day, wrapped it up. When I saw him after the interview, he was taking pictures. I stood next to him, and I said to him, “Steve, did you know that I had left the room?” He goes, “I had no idea. I had no idea.” It all worked out.

JEREMY: Oh my gosh, that's so funny. For those listening at home, do not try that at an event. That is not advice.

Tell me about the comedic keynote. What is it, how does it work? Why do people book it? What does it do for them? What does it do for you? Where'd it come from?

SCOTT: I took what I've learned as an MC, as a performer, what I've learned from building. Relationships with my audiences, and I realize there's parallels in sales. There's also parallels in team dynamics. I talk about how to better connect with your audience, whether it's an audience of one or a team meeting. I think my big distinctive offering is that I do really customize my material for the audience, so it's letting them see that you made an effort for them. It's about making an effort for another person in my keynote.

There's a lot of comedy which loosens people up, but I'm also talking about how to get outside your comfort zone, to connect with another person. That needs to be an active choice and to lower that fear level so that people can start to talk a little bit more about themselves, ask questions about others. The comedic keynote was built out of, hey, I have all these great comedy pieces which I do in my MC work, but I also do in my keynote. There's usually like a little lesson that I'm talking about that sort of segues or connects to a comedy piece.

I might talk about being more comfortable yourself or being at a level where you're relaxed enough that it's more of an intuitive connection that you have with the audience. I talk about how, as a comedian, I'm always trying to make an intuitive connection with you. We're going in and out of comedy and in and out of lessons learned. The name of the keynote is called Laugh, Learn, Connect, and we do all three of those things. It has been very effective.

I get brought in a lot of times when people are like, “Hey, we don't need the economists. We don't need the guy who climbed up the mountain. We just want the audience to come together,” and I’m there a lot of times as an opening keynote to once again, set the tone, get everyone together or to close out big. I'll get some of the information that they've learned, try to reinforce that information, but in a funny way. Also, have them have a fun experience together. Bring everyone together and up the level of comradery so that when they leave, they're leaving on a high note.

JEREMY: Do you do that for events that you also host, or is it an either or?

SCOTT: It's usually either or, but occasionally I'll get called in to, let's say, do an opening keynote. Then I'll MC. That's a great way to use me, too. Do a shorter, 30-minute keynote. It's essentially a little bit of what I'm going to be doing anyway as an MC, but it's just a longer period of time. There is that keynote part of their budget. I always thought, “Hey, instead of bringing someone in for an hour, bring me in for the whole day. Bring me in for two days. Let me do something upfront and then I'm with you.”

It's really all about relationships. It's building that relationship, and that's why a lot of these companies I work with year after year, I come back. They're excited to see me. I've built that relationship. If there's anything to take away from this talk is, it is about connecting and building relationships. I talk about it in my keynote, and I think, that's what the presenters are trying to do is build relationship with their audience and then a relationship where someone can feel something. I say that's the most important thing, is that someone has to feel something. A lot of these presenters get on stage, and we talked about comedy is one way for people to feel things, but by being a little bit more authentic and telling more stories, they can start to build that relationship. People should know you a little bit better from the time you're on stage than from the time you walked off stage.

JEREMY: The keynote sounds amazing. I didn't know all that. You also have your own podcast, No More Bad Events, which I will in full disclosure say I listened to and I'm a big fan of. The title somewhat speaks for itself, but I'd love to hear where it came from, why you started it, and what you've learned from it.

SCOTT: I get to talk to some great event professionals in the industry and I find out what is going on. I even surprise myself how much I've learned over 25 to 30 years. Sometimes they're friends and colleagues, sometimes they're new people, sometimes they're big names in the industry. I get a chance to talk to some great people, like yourself. We had some great things that we talked about, specifically storytelling, your background as a playwright, how to effectively take this audience on a journey, and have an emotional experience.

I just, I'm having so much fun doing the podcast. I meet a lot of interesting people and we keep on expanding. I had David Adler, the CEO of and founder of BizBash on. It keeps my mind sharp and keeps me connected to the industry. I just really enjoy working on it.

JEREMY: I think you do a great job with the people who you talk to. If you're listening to this podcast and you like podcasts about this industry, give No More Bad Events a try. You won't be disappointed.

If it's all right, I'd love to move on to our Lightning Round.

[AUDIBLE THUNDER]

JEREMY: This is three questions we ask all of our guests. The first question is, you've obviously seen hundreds of events and I'm sure you've seen tons of speakers, good, bad, and everything in between, who would be your biggest get? In other words, if you were throwing an event who is a guest speaker, an entertainer, or a subject matter expert that you would love to see at a live event?

SCOTT: I've worked with some great people, and I've seen the impact that they've had. I think John C. Maxwell is always a great speaker to have. He's a communication speaker and has the John C. Maxwell leadership program. Les Brown, who I might actually have on my podcast, has been a motivational speaker. He is one of the early ones, going back with all those great speakers that came before him like Norman Vincent Peale. I think he's pre-Anthony Robbins. He's in that same pantheon of great speakers. Oh, Mel Robbins. She has a podcast, but I've seen her speak. She just really connects the audience. She's really just present there. I think she's great, and personally like, as I said, I sometimes get a chance to interview celebrities. I know Tom Hanks these days is doing presentations. I'd love to get a chance to sit down and interview him.

JEREMY: Wow. Those are some great people. We'll definitely link to those folks in the show notes if people want to learn more about them.

Second question is, you've also seen tons of presenters on stage or executives, what is one thing you wish they did more of?

SCOTT: I think, and this is nothing new, telling some bit of a story about yourself to get an opportunity for them to see you, as I said in those interviews’ segments with the presenters or just me being there and shifting the tone a little bit. When they start to get more relaxed and their personality comes out, a lot of times that could be in a story, people just immediately connect and a story that has some emotion to it. In my keynote, I talk about building relationships through having an emotional experience of some sort. With me, laughter is where I connect, but you can connect with people on different levels. That's what these executives need to do. Find a way to really, you know, humanize yourself, tell a personal story, and you'll see the shift in the audience. They've already put you on this ivory tower. Come down and be with everyone else.

JEREMY: Yeah, I agree with that 100%.

All right, third question. What is something, could be a book, a movie, a song, whatever you like, that was a big influence on you and your career?

SCOTT: For me as a comedian, I think it would be some of the Tonight Show sets that I've seen. Back in the day, the 70s and 80s, watching Steve Martin, who’s my absolute idol, come on and do great. He's going to be a magician and he just comes on as the Great Flydini. I don't know if you ever saw that one, but that's something to put in your show notes, where everything just comes out of his fly. He has probably like an artificial arm, so his hands there. An egg will come out or a scarf will come out and not because it's corse. It's just so bizarre. He plays it straight.

I think watching those type of shows, watching Billy Crystal on the Academy Awards. At one time I think I had the moniker "the Billy Crystal of corporate events,” because I was doing a lot of award hosting and stuff at the time. I just thought he was brilliant and same with Carson and Letterman.

This ability to really connect with the guests and connect with the audience. They know they're going to be taken care of. They know they're going to have a good time. Those were the people that I always was striving towards.

JEREMY: Yeah, Steve Martin, particularly for me, he's just an absolute genius.

SCOTT: Oh, genius.

JEREMY: Scott, I really want to thank you for, taking the time and coming and talking with us. It really is a great honor and a great pleasure to talk to you. You're such a delight. You're so smart, you're so talented, and I really hope to be working on an event with you soon. Thank you again for interviewing me and being interviewed by me. It was a real pleasure.

SCOTT: This has been great. Thank you so much for having me on the show. I don't get a chance to be a guest as often, so thanks Jeremy. It was a pleasure.

JEREMY: Well, that was so much fun getting to talk with Scott about the role of humor at corporate events. For me, there were tons of takeaways, but these are the four tops:

• Number four, humor has power and is essential because of the connections it forms, even when the subject matter of the meeting is very serious.
• Number three, having a funny MC allows your presenters to loosen up and give better presentations.
• Number two, if an executive wants to try something that isn't funny, it's best to stop them, even if that can be a little awkward.
• Number one, presenters shouldn't worry about being funny. Be prepared. Put your attention on the audience and let the rest just happen.

Look, I could talk about this stuff all day, and if you want to talk to us about the role of humor in corporate events or anything about live events, check out our show notes for more info. There's lots of fun stuff in there or just go to Proscenium.com and drop us a line. We'd love to hear from you because at Proscenium, we help presenters do their best in front of their most important audiences. As we like to say, we help brands perform and I have a sneaking suspicion we can help your brand perform.