I’ve been listening to Captain Frodo’s Way of the Showman. It’s like a wonderful, complicated way to understand the simplicity of entertainment. I try to be blunt and pragmatic, while Frodo’s poetic and philosophical. We agree about a lot.

I just listened to “Soul Spectacle.” To kinda paraphrase he says something about an act exposing the creator’s soul. I agree 100%, but also…

1. I don’t believe in soul, but I get the concept
2. Souls aren’t that special
3. The act doesn’t come from the soul

We want our creations to come with a strong voice, but entertainers can get voice (a series of bold decisions based on the project, brand, and goals) confused with soul (some magical root of a person’s being). The danger is committing boldly to things without reason because the creator thinks this is who they are.

Developing a great act is not about us unveiling our true self to the public. It is us unearthing what the public wants from us.

I don’t know what an archeologist does

I’m going to compare developing an act to what I think an archeologist does. The inventor of a great act is really a digger. Digging a lot of dirt with different tools. Trying to find the best place to dig and then gently exposing truth. The entertainer does their best to unearth the general, gobal truths about humanity. The cool thing about archeology (in my imagination) is not what it tells us about past people, but what it tells us about all people.

As an act is brushed clean, it might be exposing the soul of the performer. It is showing the core of who that person is, but not because of their stubbornness or strong voice. The revelation is the result of listening to what an audience wants us to be.

Just like humans keep telling the same story over and over, and inventing the same religions over and over, and making a million brands of cola… the “souls” of entertainers are not original and special. If you want to be recognized as being a new flavor of person, being great entertainer is not the way to get that validation.

Great entertainers are gonna keep selflessly cleaning an artifact or digging for the next. It’s not our artifact. It didn’t come from us.

Just like the global truth of humanity; an authentic, preserved, exposed ancient artifact is rare and valuable. Making a show without listening to audiences is like making a crappy arrowhead yourself and getting it dirty.

The thing that keeps entertainment peeps going is something generous. A generous mission. Everyone I’ve consulted for has a mission that’s positive stuff for others.

We are never not selfish enough. We can feel the selfishness on a spectrum. It can be a little irritation, a bummer feeling, or can even lead to “stage fright” or “writers block”

When I’m thinking about myself before a show, I’ll peek through the curtain and spot someone I want to entertain. I’ll hang with the audience and empathize with them. They have normal lives and they would love a peak into mine. When I’m writing, I think of someone who could really use the info or the enjoyment.

All we need when we want to generate MORE is to remember others and remember what our work can do for them.

Get the motor started…

Just intentionally thinking up a joke that a friend will like or drawing a doodle for a spouse is a little vitamin boost for the generosity system.

In a high dynamic range photo, the whites are 100% white and the blacks are 100% black, and then hopefully there’s every value in between. That isn’t how it is in every photo. The brightness is the attribute people refer to with dynamic range, but DR could be measured in any attribute: hue, scale, saturation, subject matter, focus, etc.

When I see something I like in entertainment, it’s probably because it contrasts with something else. My first question is “can it contrast more?” or “can we take it further?”

When thinking about all the attributes of a video game, for example, you will go numb trying to go thru them all, but we can instantly attack one and make things more fun. People like picking their own characters in the game. They like that each one is different. Let’s start with size of character. Can the biggest character be double the size of the smallest? Can the smallest be a mouse and the biggest be a blue whale?

Stretching any dynamic range is an instant creative boost. The audience is expecting one thing and I’m doing something else. Can I set them up to expect something even more boring and I can do something more exciting? One act is a little shorter than another. That’s a delightful surprise. Can I make a 1 second act?

We just find a delightful contrast and inflate the contrast.

Entertainment pros call people out. We don’t need to call them out to shame them ( I think shame is useless ), but we call them out so the crowd knows the mission. It’s extreme, it’s disruptive, and it takes responsibility.

Scot Nery’s Boobietrap has a tradition of throwing snacks to the audience. One night there was a grumpy couple in the crowd. I told them to open up and have fun. Someone told me the woman got hit in the face with snacks and she was upset (everyone gets hit in the face with snacks).

To make it fun, we offered them prosecco and more snacks. They did not cheer up.

After the next act, I told them they were welcome to leave.

The man said “No, we’re here to see Josh.”

I replied, “Well, you’re in luck because Josh is next! Josh can you go next?”

Josh performed, did great. They clapped and cheered up, then I told them it was time to go and leave the rest of the show to the rest of us.

They mumbled, picked up their motorcycle helmets and walked out. Told me I wasn’t funny and the show sucked. I pointed out that nobody else agreed. The crowd roared. I had the ticket person meet with them on the way out and hand them their money back and they loudly complained to her so the whole audience could hear. I shouted after them, “You were the only ones here with helmets! You should have worn them!”

The point: I did it for everyone else

I didn’t call them out for

• vengence
• validation
• to get a quick laugh out of an awkward situation

I called them out for the rest of the audience. Anyone that was brought down by their attitude needed to know that this behaviour was not in line with our party. Anyone that was questioning, “Should I choose to be a bummer also?” needed to know you’re either with us or against us. Entertainment works with tribal unity. If someone breaks the rules of the tribe (which are not hard to follow) they are an outsider.

At every stage, we were working it for the rest of the crowd and making it obvious that there was an invitation to come back into the tribe. I was not a tyrant, I was a shepherd. When one of my sheep was a wolf, I had to get them out of the herd.

I was surprised that they would be so difficult. That’s very unusual and the vibe of Boobietrap is ridiculously amazing. We don’t really have issues with the audience. Still, even with a great audience, certain behaviours might need to be called out so that everyone has an equally good time, and so we can all go somewhere magical together.

Crowd workers take heed

Sometimes comedians attack the crowd. This is not cool. The comedian is in a leadership position and so the signals sent by the leader are meant to be directions for those they are leading. Random hostility toward an audience is not about a laugh, it’s about something being wrong. Destabilization without benevolent guidance is completely counterproductive to getting an audience in flow.

The last 5 day branding challenge for entertainment pros was a big success, and now I’m doing it again in September. It’s even brandier and challengier and great!

In my first year as a street performer, a lot happened. I was 21 and I lived in four cities doing probably close to 1000 performances.

Being a nobody, convincing people to stop walking by, proving myself and eventually gathering a crowd of 200 people that paid me was incredible. I established so much identity and understanding and confidence through these primitive performances.

New Orleans in the summer was rough. I went to Nashville to make some money doing whatever. Boston streets were gentle and beautiful. People would wait 45 minutes for a show to start. I got a lot better there and started making money on shows, but I was nothing. I realized I was nothing when I arrived in San Francisco.

There’s a mall on Pier 39 in San Francisco popular for street shows, but I would need permission to perform there, so I went to Pier 41 – a public amazing place.

It’s a big circle for pedestrians. It sits there and whispers “I’m a stage.”

I went to the center of that circle, set down my suitcases, and started to set up. There were no Boston-style lookie-loos. I told some people walking by that I was about to begin and they said they’d catch me on the way back. I kept telling people.

One guy seemed pretty interested — a gravely voiced 25yo on a BMX bike. He asked me about what I do in the show. He was impressed by how experienced I was. He reacted amazed when I told him I just drove from successful shows in Boston.

He had to leave and I went back to talking to people who didn’t give a fuck. Maybe a couple hours of making announcements, trying to quickly show off a trick, talking to people individually, and making jokes to passersby all amounted to squat.

While the area looks great for gatherings, there are some real challenges with the spot.

1. When a tourist is there looking in either direction, it seems like there’s a lot to do (there isn’t but it looks like it)
2. Daytime weather can inspire shorts, but nighttime wind and fog brings regret
3. There are some criminal type people out there

I was not in Boston anymore.

He came back. The guy on the bike, but it was not to see my show. He was dragging a big trunk. He set it down by one of the benches. Smoked a cigarette watching me not entertain anyone. Patiently finished the smoke and asked if I was done.

I laughed, gestured at the empty spot. I was exhausted and didn’t know how what I was doing could in any way inspire the same. It was obviously a bad night to do shows. I was the guy from Boston! I was great! I said, “you can try if you want.” I packed up my stuff and dragged it to the side – confused by him, but also grateful to not be alone.

If it wasn’t magic, it was perfection. He slammed down his case, rolled his bike to the center. Flopped open the lid of the case and had 15 people watching. In twenty minutes, it was a comedy club. He had a full circle of people who didn’t have any original intention to be there. They were glued and growing. It was a bad night for a show, but not for a miracle. He killed for 300 people, collected cash.

Moved his stuff out of the way so that I could do 20 more minutes of nothing with strangers, then I forfeited again to him to watch more genius. This was Chris Karney. He was not impressed with me. He was not amazed that I could juggle. I was arrogant and he was competitive and it was funny.

The only thing that was right about my perception that night was that I was not alone. We ended up trading off on that spot for years. Watching hundreds of each others’ shows. Going to bars with our cash for late dinners. We were sweaty and dirty and enamored with giving more to a crowd – with being undeniable.

I was a Christian, virgin vegan. He was a drunk-driving, cussing hustler. We didn’t get each other in so many ways, but there was one way we got each other. That way was the most important way for both of us. Our insane desire to connect with audiences made that friendship a perfect one.

I’m a grateful audience member when I can count the rings.

Dendrochronology is this thing when people examine the rings inside a tree trunk. It’s not just about counting the years of life. Dendrochronologists can tell what happened each year the tree was alive because each ring shows evidence of rainfall, tree parties, etc.  Dendrochronologists also know when a tree was cut down because it was them that did it.

I feel like I’m in deep dendro watching incredible performers. Every gesture, new decision, and response is proof of what a great entertainer has experienced. The gifts they give to every audience are the confrontation of the moment and the story of their fibrous leafy past. You can see that they know what to do when a child runs up on stage calling them gorgeous, or when a bat flies into the room. They’re ready and they’re bulletproof.

It’s this skill that sets me in awe watching many greats. They are the sequoias of the stage.

The “Gig Economy” is a real big thing right now. People are talking about how companies are doing short-term or project based hires more than ever. Here’s why it’s awesome… it gives corporations more and convinces individuals that they get more. It’s the perfect capitalist situation!

Delineating : Employee, Gig Worker, Corporation

Governments around the world have been working for a long time to set up protections for employees as far as fair wages, safe working environments, required benefits, etc.

The main way gig workers are protected is that governments try to figure out when a gig worker is actually an employee. This is a very effective way to keep gig workers safe by bringing them into the protections already setup for employees. Here’s the USA’s IRS rules for what makes someone an employee…

Behavioral Control:  A worker is an employee when the business has the right to direct and control the work performed by the worker, even if that right is not exercised. Behavioral control categories are: > Type of instructions given, such as when and where to work, what tools to use or where to purchase supplies and services. Receiving the types of instructions in these examples may indicate a worker is an employee. > Degree of instruction, more detailed instructions may indicate that the worker is an employee.  Less detailed instructions reflects less control, indicating that the worker is more likely an independent contractor. > Evaluation systems to measure the details of how the work is done points to an employee. Evaluation systems measuring just the end result point to either an independent contractor or an employee. > Training a worker on how to do the job — or periodic or on-going training about procedures and methods — is strong evidence that the worker is an employee. Independent contractors ordinarily use their own methods. Financial Control: Does the business have a right to direct or control the financial and business aspects of the worker’s job? Consider: Significant investment in the equipment the worker uses in working for someone else. > Unreimbursed expenses, independent contractors are more likely to incur unreimbursed expenses than employees. > Opportunity for profit or loss is often an indicator of an independent contractor. > Services available to the market. Independent contractors are generally free to seek out business opportunities. > Method of payment. An employee is generally guaranteed a regular wage amount for an hourly, weekly, or other period of time even when supplemented by a commission. However, independent contractors are most often paid for the job by a flat fee. Relationship: The type of relationship depends upon how the worker and business perceive their interaction with one another. This includes: > Written contracts which describe the relationship the parties intend to create. Although a contract stating the worker is an employee or an independent contractor is not sufficient to determine the worker’s status. > Benefits. Businesses providing employee-type benefits, such as insurance, a pension plan, vacation pay or sick pay have employees. Businesses generally do not grant these benefits to independent contractors. > The permanency of the relationship is important. An expectation that the relationship will continue indefinitely, rather than for a specific project or period, is generally seen as evidence that the intent was to create an employer-employee relationship. > Services provided which are a key activity of the business. The extent to which services performed by the worker are seen as a key aspect of the regular business of the company.

If you read all that, and you’ve been an independent contractor for a while, you probably said, “Hey wait!” Yes. The independent contractor thing is very often abused, and I know the US government still hasn’t figured out how to fix it.

Employees are protected. Independent contractors are not. Corporations are.

We know that corporations have lots of great protections. They’re our precious babies that keep us full of corn syrup.

The majority of the problems are new

Two things that are really going to crush the potential income for gig workers are provided by technology : long-tail connection & globalization.

Long-tail connection for example Uber connected people who weren’t able to connect without technology. Only a few people wanted to drive a taxi, and enough people wanted to take a taxi to pay for the industry. Technology made it possible for the few people that wanted to drive a little bit and pickup some cash to connect with the people that wanted to save money on a taxi. There was no way before for a dispatcher to call thousands of out of work standups and actors and ask them if they felt like driving that moment.

Globalization is incredible. You can pay someone in romania $500 in five minutes. A lot of websites are connecting you with the service you need and you don’t have to know where in the world that gig worker is.

The use of globalization and long-tail connection is going to be amplified by this pandemic because now companies are realizing their localized offices are not that important to productivity. Soon they’ll notice that their loyal employees are not adding as much value as delegating projects overseas to specialists.

Corporations are going to keep looking for ways to save money within the law, the government will not be able to protect gig workers.

If we don’t want to be employees during this time, we most likely want to own businesses.

… a business that can not be gigged out. That means…

1. Offer a unique value that can’t be compared
2. Communicate your unique value
3. Make the value so high that you can charge enough to afford growth and operating expenses

If you don’t have a strong brand that stands out from the pack, you’re going to be competing on price. There will always be someone who can charge less. A business that’s not growing is dying.

Oh my god, I’m a gig worker!

The time is now to start big picture planning. Being a “good” comedy writer, or a “creative” director, or a “funny” author that charges enough to pay bills is not enough.

Get a job on a staff where you can build your value and never be gigged out. Or, start a business where you offer a unique desired service.

Here’s where I give ideas to get over the glitch of your live streams and meetings.

Everyone has a glitch.

It’s going to happen in every single zoom or youtube stream. It’s going to happen, so don’t just try to eliminate the glitches, but plan on them.

1. Do not start out a stream by squinting at the camera. Start out with something that’s good quality and has a plan to it. Immediately launch with a smile and the positive attitude you want to share
2. You might not know if sound is working at the beginning, so start out with something silent and visual at the beginning, do a magic act for 3 minutes that’s totally silent or with music. After they like the thing you did, then you deserve to be able to adjust knobs for a second.
3. You don’t know when people will join, so start it early with a countdown and make the first few minutes unessential (like just something fun and additive, or if it’s a meeting, maybe just some chit chat, or an off-topic discussion topic)
4. Put together a mute plan. Most likely, if you’re muting people, you’ll need to do it because you don’t want to be making constant announcements “everyone mute your mic”
5. There is a huge delay in every single interaction. Make a plan for what to do every single time you ask people to do something. Are you asking them to type feedback or requests in the comments? Don’t ask them for feedback and wait. Say “gimme a request in the comments and we’ll come back to those right after this little video”
6. Do not read the comments on camera unless it’s entirely crucial. It’s better to cut away to something else of value if you must be reading comments. Otherwise, get someone to moderate comments and text you a single comment at a specific time, or get off camera to read the comments.
7. Have someone run the tech side of everything if you’re the on-screen performer.
8. Send invites to people, then remind them before the thing. Could be 45 minutes before or ten minutes before. one glitch is people forgetting
9. Figure out how to add more value to the experience so that when a glitch happens it’s more forgivable
10. If your presentation is mostly visual, plan a few audio things you can pop in if the camera goes out and vise versa. I’m not talking about an “under construction” screen, I’m talking about something that moves the presentation forward
11. When you’re going into a moment that’s more prone to glitches, lead in with positivity and value and maybe a cliff-hanger. Eg: it’s actually fun to see someone fiddle with their camera while we’re waiting to see the greatest gift that’s ever been given to them. It’s not fun to wait for no reason.
12. It might take a minute to switch inputs from camera to slideshow for example, so you need a plan of something to do during that time.
13. If you are doing a guest interview and your guest’s camera cuts out, have plans for what to do immediately instead of just staring and pointing out that you’re having trouble. eg: while we get Sally reconnected, she did some amazing connection with the children of Africa… Here’s a video of that…
14. Push through when you question whether things are working. It’s way better to watch someone confidently smiling and talking on mute than someone grumbling at OBS because they don’t know whether the sound is on.

Live streaming entertainment has a hefty tax. To do it right, you’ll need to pay that tax by creating contingency content and plans that you might not use. Backups for backups that might just sit there. If you decide to not pay the tax, your other participants will pay it and it will suck.

24yo Kenny Clark just signed a contract on Saturday for $70 mil. If you want to do that, you need to have value to someone, and be able to convey it.

Clark is a defensive lineman for the Green Bay Packers — one of the top entertainers in the world. What’s his value that’s worth more than $70 million to someone? He helps win games,

• Winning games brings ticket buyers
• Winning games makes people watch on TV
• Winning games sells licensed merch
• More fans, more advertising

If the packers give him money, they will get more money back.

This translates to every entertainment pro

I keep hearing people say that live entertainment is bankrupt right now, but that’s totally not true. Tony Robbins (up to you whether he’s in entertainment or something else) just did an online group program for over 22,000 attendees $700 to $1900 each. There is money in entertainment.

The game is to build three things.

1. increase the value we individually bring to people
2. increase our understanding of that value
3. increase the ability we have to clearly communicate that value

We’re all in the same league and we’re all able to get paid more. Even me ?

As independent creators, we often try to get people to value us for our job title, but that’s a mistake. The people that value us most, look at us holistically and can’t separate out the multitude of assets we bring to our work.

Reduce yourself to being a writer, or a developer, or a mime and you’re only worth as much as the lowest priced one of those. An instant easy way to exponentially increase your value is to join the team of the person you want to value you.

“I am on your mission” or “This is my mission, are you on it with me?”

When we’re on the same mission as our client, or collaborator, or customer; magic happens. This solidarity changes every single action.

• A teammate asks you for too much money, you talk to them about it, you don’t take it as an affront
• A teammate makes a major mistake, it’s only a mistake, not a deliberate action against everything you believe
• A teammate deserves your time
• A teammate isn’t going to just do one thing for you. They’ll do everything they can for you.
• A teammate is not self-motivated

I’m not advocating pretending to be on someone’s team. The real pursuit is choosing to be around and work with people we believe-in deeply (even clients) and then remind them over and over that we share a mission.

For me, at moments, this can feel like kissing up, but really it is clarifying communication and reminding everyone what’s most important — creating great stuff for great people. Go team!

People use you for your assets, but they love you for your flaws.

Most of the time showbiz people hyperfocus on the wrong details. If you call yourself a perfectionist, then you are hyperfocusing on the wrong details. Prolific people don’t have time to call themselves perfectionists, and perfection is not even what your audience wants – they want more of the good, real stuff!

So, then we’re in a balancing act of trying to serve quality entertainment with some messiness. The science, the craft, and the magic of developing great stuff is knowing which parts are important, and unfortunately there’s no formula.

There is a concept that can help though, it’s called “Value Engineering.” In value engineering, you try to reduce costs of production as low as possible without reducing perceived value. For a fast food company that sells billions of potatoes per day, they can geek it down to putting 5 fewer fries in every small fry order. That saves them a lot of money in the big picture. For a board game maker, it could be a conversation like “we love these cards, but if we use the lighter cardboard and the cheaper printing, how much money could we save in a year and would anyone notice.”

“Would anyone notice?” is a very tough question…

I see entertainment pros who go too far in both directions. Some folks think audiences are stupid and basic, or at least it’s not worth the trouble… and some people get really hung up on getting the very best microphone and using it perfectly… then end up having no life in their performance. Or, they get paralyzed worried that the audience will see thru them.

The part that makes the whole thing extra murky is it’s not a question of whether they’ll complain. So, they might be completely silent about your lack of value, but they’ll feel it. You probably won’t say anything about a wrinkly shirt on your neighbor, or a hollow chocolate bunny, or a ticket to a movie theater using generic tickets, but you’ll feel it. Part of you will notice “this is not premium”

It might be a feature; not a bug

By taking an empathetic view at your entertainment for your audience, you might find that some of the holes in your creation are portholes. They might think it’s funny that all your character names start with “G” by accident. Sometimes you luck out like this.

Planning for flaws

If you define clearly your brand or the experience of your stuff, you can make bold decisions about where to put the flaws.

With Scot Nery’s Boobietrap, we know that the hand soap in the bathroom being too thick to easily pump out of the dispensers is weird, but also kinda funny. We would rather have extra bubble machines than have the stairs to the stage be clean. For a show with 30 people involved every week, this doesn’t seem like a trade-off we’d have to make, but it is. And every organization with any resources has to do similar. We know if we are serving cupcakes for an anniversary show, every single food safety protocol must be followed, but if I get hurt during the show, that’s okay and probably fun.