Someone told me they know online entertainment’s going to be over soon as everyone gets vaccinated and the world opens up again. I know they weren’t talking about Netflix, or Fortnite, or Instagram. They were talking about entertainers that were shoehorned into Zoom meetings so they could keep on going and maybe brighten up some virtual gatherings.

People are doing really good things online right now. They will keep on finding success online. There are people doing bad things online and finding success too. There are people who will stop as soon as possible. On a personal level, if we like making online entertainment, or we think we could like making online entertainment in the future, we have stuff to do.

Online entertainment will grow every year. There will be fans, there will be money.

Lump in with the successes

We can see that we’re in the same industry as anyone else and that industry is thriving or dying. We could say restaurants are dying because more restaurants fail than succeed, or we could say restaurants are thriving by looking at the reports of the top restaurants. If we make an online magic show, we can say we’re in the same industry as Freddy Smoke (fictional name) who has gone bankrupt in the past year doing terrible Zoom shows, or we can say we’re in the same industry as TikTok and we can figure out how to thrive with them.

Lean in

There are independent creators dabbling in various forms of online entertainment. They hear that it could be good, so they dip a toe. If we want to do this, we can commit and we can win. Once we know what we want, we can get there thru trial and error. If we don’t don’t look toward the future, we won’t improve as much as is necessary to make this thing work.

Get Stage Time

Many people are pulling back now. This is the time to get out more. Get more time in front of audiences. Try more stuff out. Get more experience. The entertainment world is bloated with education and anemic in experience.

Improve things

We gotta figure out how to advance in interactivity, marketing, and understanding our audiences’ needs. Two things to work on…

1. Make it more mass appealing — Lower ticket prices, more tickets sold
2. Serve a small audience better — Higher ticket prices, more satisfied fans

Most people probably don’t want to duplicate this, but for Scot Nery’s Boobietrap, I was always trying to make the emails resonate and make them personal. I wanted folks to take action. Ticket sales were dragging because it was like the Superbowl or something, so I pulled out the (little) big guns. I wrote…

{first name}! do you think you’ll make it to Boobie Trap tomorrow?

In the next 24 hours, I had to reply to about 400 emails to clarify and communicate and we sold out.

• People thought I was mad at them.
• People thought they might be booked to perform.
• People apologized for not being available.
• Conversations started.
• People told me they couldn’t afford it (which is helpful info to receive).

Conversations are good. Action is good. Personalization is good. Putting in the labor is good.

Sometimes we want to make the email that is perfect for everyone, that protects us by having all the information. We want to create a message to our customers that really sells our thing. We want something that scales – it’s perfect and it does all the work. Sometimes, we gotta get in there and get our elbow pits dirty with the work of actually talking to actual people. Sometimes we need to get that started.

Entertainment is going to get more personal, more one-on-one, and more customized in the future. We can’t fake it.

At the end of the day, we can log the work we’ve done. It’s a game-changer. I’m writing this for everyone, but mostly to keep myself in it. I can see what I did. I can feel like I didn’t waste my time. I can see where I get annoyed. I can see what is not working. I can see what is working. I know during my day that I’m going to be held accountable to myself.

I’ve spent some time with reality TV and documentary producers and I’ve seen how they cast and edit. They want archetypes and sound bites. They want the story to be simple…

• “I’m skinny, but I want to be strong”
• “My culture is very important to me”
• “I’m a chauvinist”
• “I’m dumb”
• “I’m a nerd”

… and they want people to reiterate their story over and over in small chunks of monolog or dialog…

• “I’m sore and cramping from too many protein shakes”
• “I don’t dress like this to impress your parents. I am devout!”
• “I intimidate girls with my car.”
• “I ate a sandwich … backwards”
• “It’s like star wars, but with Vulcans”

Some people naturally see themselves as archetypes and talk this way, but the skill can be learned. I am often a different person to different situations, so I can’t just come up with catch phrases to always use. I try to think through what I want to say, what the producers/ editors will want, then figure out how to put it in a small chunk of words.

It’s kinda weird

It feels uncomfortable. It isn’t the normal way to talk to people. It doesn’t feel conversational. It feels maybe confrontational. It’s talking in little chunks.

A client told me that after a first performance, he felt like he just got in a fight. I knew exactly what he meant. When I’m driving away from a juicy argument and I can’t stop thinking about what I could have said. It’s a million chess games running thru my head. If I said this, they woulda said that…

When I did street shows, I would walk back to my hotel or apartment on long walks just spinning – doing imaginary show after imaginary show.

This sensation can be haunting. It can cause lots of insomnia. It can make a person crazy, but it is magic for making for exponentially more “stage time.”

Cultivate it with quiet time after a moment of creation.

I have a baby and a dog. They need “yes” space. As much as possible, we try to keep them in areas where they can do no wrong. I can leave pieces of plastic wrapper on the floor and yell “no!” at the dog every time he goes near it, or I can pick up that piece of plastic.

I love “yes” spaces for me, too. I like it when I can do no wrong, or at least where I know the rules. It’s fun to go to precious places, but generally, I’d rather be in a dive bar than a snooty restaurant because I’m less likely to get judgemental looks or booted out.

Master entertainers create “yes” spaces for their audiences. We make it as clear as possible what’s expected, and make it easy to attain a rewarding experience. We light up the stage. We darken the audience. We don’t give the crowd swivel chairs.

It takes a lot of forethought to make space yessable, but that effort is exponentially paid back with a collaborative audience.

Let’s do better. Let’s think about what we “no” and take it away, or make a “yes” alternative. This article is related.

prereq: everything that we learn / remember is tied to a story.

I loved the power of the story of being a street performer. I was a punk kid on the street shouting at people walking by, then 30 minutes later was surrounded by 300 strangers cheering for me and giving me money… Almost like rags to riches in real life. I got from point A to point B with nobody’s help, using only my wit and will. It’s not a totally true story, but it was a great one that I got to share with thousands and thousands of people.

When I got on stage, my story was that I was wild and energetic, but the audience wasn’t really sure if I knew what I was doing. After some stumbles, I eventually made a show that was insanely successful. People would come up to me after the show remarking how it all worked out. They would ask me how long I’d been performing and would be surprised that I had lots of stage time. Seasoned pros knew I didn’t just luck out that night, but the normal audience member got to enjoy that story.

When we watch AGT, we see it’s not about the best trick, it’s about the best story. And that story needs to be happening right there on stage at the moment. We want to see someone changed.

This can be a difficult balance for someone who wants to present consistency. It’s tough to connect with an audience through some thread of authenticity, but also change in front of their eyes. We can’t completely change who we are every single time create. All it takes is a dedication to thinking, “How can I elevate the contrast between how I’m (or my character is) perceived at the beginning and at the end.

I street performed for 4 years. I met a lot of beggars. A beggar says “Spare a dollar?” They don’t say “Spare a dollar, or you know I need socks, or give me some food, or your subway card, or treat me with some respect.” It’s clear and it’s simple and it works.

A single call to action is aggressive

Asking for one thing is direct. It might feel intense to ask someone directly for one thing. That aggression and directness can create a tension that drives action from the askee.

A single call to action is bold

Being direct is a responsibility for the asker. On the flip side, that responsibility is a relief to the askee. We follow boldness. We assume that a bold person is to be followed / responded to.

A single call to action is rewarding

When a friend tells me their favorite flower, I know I can get them that flower and receive positive feedback. It’s a simple game. When we ask someone for one thing, they know what they need to do; and if they think it’s an attainable goal, it will be a joyful little journey.

Ask shrapnel sucks

Due to insecurity, or lack of direction, or general excitement, we can sometimes have trouble asking for one thing. We end up giving people a wishy-washy, uninspiring, unfulfilling, situation. We don’t get what we want, and we end up burdening them with the responsibility of decisions and rejection.

We might think we’re hedging our bets when we ask someone to subscribe to one of 4 social media platforms, or buy a ticket, or get a book, or give us a call… but we’re doing them a disservice.

Pick a thing. Doesn’t have to be the most important thing. If it’s important, ask for it.

We’re possibly getting back to doing shoulder-to-shoulder live shows. I mean, responsible producers are getting back to it. Some people never stopped.

People talking about “returning to normal” always made me feel creepy MAGA vibes. I don’t want anything to return to normal. I don’t want anything to return to anything. We’ve come thru a year and we’ve learned a lot and grown a lot as a civilization. We made and released a vaccine in less than a year! We changed so much stuff about the world! Here’s some stuff that I hope happens coming up for entertainment…

1. Online entertainment gets better. We’ve had a chance for online entertainment to grow at warp speed since the lockdown. I think online video platforms will have more ways to interact, I think online entertainment will tap into other styles of content (like Clubhouse).

2. Hybrid gets better. Most stage shows will develop a streaming option. Streaming will be a different experience, but still valid for so many remote people.

3. Showbiz companies will get more efficient. It’s gonna be forced on us to find how to use remote workers, streamline casting, automate more, and find alternatives to old processes.

4. Being “the best” will be different. As the world gets more accessible and “content” becomes less valuable, audiences will know their options better than ever before. The best entertainment anyone can find will not necessarily be the best for everyone, or even the best for any of their friends. We’ll be able to find what works for us as individuals and we’ll feel like we deserve it. This will not eliminate group activities, but will make the group activities more about the group and less about the activity.

5. Customization will be crazy. We’ll start looking for customization, interaction, personalization, and malleability in everything. Someone’s going to be willing to provide it and we’re gonna know that we can look for it.

6. Audiences will have a toughness. It won’t necessarily be the case that audiences will be more difficult, but they know more now. They know what they can survive, and what they want better than before. They also know their own resiliency and this might lead to a confidence to not follow old patterns.

7. Everyone will be more prepared. Audiences and creators will be prepared for more pandemic type stuff. We’ll be watching out and figuring out how to enjoy precious moments, but looking around the corner.

8. Generous creators will thrive. People are being called out for who they are. We as a society are no longer trusting that someone in the spotlight is necessarily spotless. Generous creators who are sensitive to others and want to improve the world will be seen for their hearts. It will be obvious and they will be rewarded with the chance to give more.

9. Everyone will be used. There will be many people uplifting marginalized groups. We will spread privilege out and encourage all members of the world to participate and joyfully share what they have. Entertainment will finally get the guts to lead the way in more racial and other diversity — first as a consumer response, then as a social response, and finally a default economic response. We can all make more progress when everyone’s a part of it. Because of this, we’ll hear new voices and our entertainment will become more human and honest.

A great comedian knows when to get off the stage. Get the big laugh and scram. “Leave them wanting more” is the phrase, but it’s really not the strategy. Leave them satisfied. Don’t ask them for more.

Same in sales. People try to get booked by me and they keep giving me promo materials. A lot of them.

1. Here are my three videos.
2. Here’s my resume.
3. Would you like a ticket to my show?
4. Please look thru my entire website when you have a chance.
5. My mother will be calling you tomorrow.

It’s not likely that I’ll refuse to book someone because they give me too much, but it will change the interaction.

A booker wants to hear “I’m perfect”

All gatekeepers are waiting for is, “I’m the right fit for this job and here’s the exact proof.” A publisher doesn’t need to see a writing sample and know what our grades were in middle school English class. When we tell a gatekeeper exactly what they want to know and it’s honest, we…

• Get out of our way
• Give them peace of mind
• Show that we respect their time and bandwidth
• Look more like specialists, and less like jack-of-all-trades
• Save ourselves time and energy
• Foreshadow a good working relationship

All of this stuff is worth money to clients.

Minimize down to the crucial

At the start of my career, an agent told me that she could book people easier on a phone call than if she sent out all the videos and websites of her acts. This baffled me at the time because I loved advertising and marketing. I thought there’s no way that she could describe a juggler’s act on the phone as well as a video could express. I was right and she was right. The thing was, she didn’t have describe the juggler’s act or costume or anything else. She just had to tell the client how that juggler serves the clients needs.

Showing a picture of the juggler could trigger a red flag like “that juggler looks like my mean uncle!” or “that juggler’s costume doesn’t look like they’re top-shelf!” These false red flags don’t serve the client or the act.

Fulfilling purchase

Conveying simple value also results in our clients feeling good about their purchase. Everything that happens after the booking is in the context of that high value. They got a great deal, and everything that we do after that is a bonus.

My son, Arlo, is 12 months old today. I was thinking it would be really cool if I had some amazing lesson I’ve learned or some story that relates to fatherhood and entertainment.

I can’t think of something like that.

Life of a father in quarantine hasn’t been simple and distant. It hasn’t been a cute thing that easily falls into a neat quip. It’s been wonderful and complex and way more engaged with my heart than my intellect. My main audience for comedy has been my wife and kid and that has been marvelous and rewarding.

He’s taken away so much of my ego and my need to be in control. He’s helped me understand how much more I don’t understand. He’s helped me take love and generosity more seriously while taking poop and planning less.

He’s been like a vacation. I feel less attached, less ambitious, less hustle. I feel a relaxed motivation and anticipation toward enjoyment.

I was thinking I would be pulled to define his personality and his trajectory in life, but I really see him as a blank slate. He’s just who he is and that is constantly changing. I hope that I can see more people this way, including myself.

I hope he can see me on stage this year and I hope he understands that his mom and I love to give joy to people.

Variety arts like mime, juggling, and magic are viewed by many entertainers as a crutch. Real comedians don’t need a guitar to get on stage. Real musicians don’t need jokes. Real story-tellers don’t need to converse with a doll.

These concepts are valid, but not very important.

We don’t need to identify as a genre

Genres are good for simplifying the promise that we make to our audience. They give us a shorthand for what we will provide and who we serve, but they will never clarify what we do or how we do it. The best stuff bends genres and goes above and beyond our expectations.

So, for this reason, George Carlin doesn’t need to be a real standup. He can call himself a standup so he has a venue and it will get people in the door. Then, he can give them poetry, stories, and whatever else he thinks will be entertaining.

Crutches are a thing we rely on for support

Yeah. A juggler relies on their juggling, but that is by design just like a mechanic relies on a wrench. Variety artists make a commitment to rely on things but “crutch” in a derogatory sense doesn’t apply very well because that would imply an ignorance of the “crutch”s importance. A trapeze act is not saying, “I could do this just as well without the ropes!”

A comedy juggler writes jokes and demonstrates skills. So, while they might not have the tricks of a serious juggler, or the jokes of a standup it’s still possible for them to get bigger laughs than a lot of standups and bigger applause than a serious juggler by combining skills. This is true for me. I would dominate standup shows and get standing ovations among jugglers. I chose the combo because it was the best way for me to bring the power to audiences the way I wanted.

A handyman is extremely useful to certain people. They would prefer someone who can fix everything to someone who is only a plumber.

Variety arts are weird

I love variety arts for the same reason I love musicals. They are so unnatural. They set up a scenario where I’m trying to communicate with an audience, but the vehicle is so ingenuine that socio-typical behaviours can be ignored and we can get to the heart of how we’re all connected. Get rid of what’s “natural” and get into the supernatural nature of humanity.