Teambuilding joke – I love that joke. I once had a client tell me I can't do that joke. It turns out the company had just laid off a bunch of people, and those people took office equipment! Too funny. Bummer, it would have killed!

If you want to hear stories from my comedy career, check out my short podcast wherever you listen to podcasts. It's called Comedian Stories. I kick off with a joke, tell a short 3 or 4 minute story, and end with a take-away tip from what I learned. All under 5 minutes.

That's it for today. Take care and enjoy your journey.

And it's the Saturday edition of Finding the Funny, which means I'll be giving you a tip to find the funny yourself! I've written for everyone from the Tonight Show to CEO's giving speeches. I now travel the country showing organizations how to use humor in business.

Here's your 60 second humor tip to find the funny yourself. One quick way is to twist an adage or idiom. Idioms aren't the people in congress  - but rather they are sayings that we've all heard a million times like . . . kill two birds with one stone or Idle Hands are the devils tool.

People recognize these, so they'll pay attention to what you're saying. Twist them a bit to make them funnier, like . . .Idle hands are the devils tools, so come to our staff meeting and be saved! Or A fool and his money . . . are still welcome at our staff meetings. You get the idea.

Check out my joke tomorrow – it's not an adage, but I do joke about a subject that people are familiar with, and it goes over great. People pay attention to things that are familiar!

If you want more fast tips on coming up with humor in your communications, then check out my book on Amazon – Finding the Funny Fast. It's how to create quick humor to connect with clients, coworkers and crowds.

That's it for today. Take care and enjoy your journey.

So I got to go to Hawaii for 3 full days. I had to do an hour long keynote. I met the president the night before, and he was nice but I felt like he thought he was a comedian too. He was kind of trying to be funny, and he talked a LOT. The next morning, when he went on stage ahead of my keynote, he talked. . . and talked . . and talked. The group had to be out of the room by 10 a.m., so by the time I was introduced, I had 16 minutes. The client apologized. I was like, I'm okay with it . . .but I felt bad for them. Hey I got 3 days in Hawaii for 16 minutes of work.

This week I'm talking about how to set up a successful event, and today's tip is to make sure you time things out in advance. If you know someone likes to hog the stage, for example, then build in extra time for them. Also look at your award give-aways . . . if you're giving some out, but no one has to walk to the stage or make a speech than the awards will go a lot faster than if people get up and down and talk. I've been at events where they finished an hour before I was scheduled to speak. Luckily I was in the room and could hop on stage, otherwise they'd have been doing shadow puppets while they waited for me to get there. Don't just assign random times to things. . . time it out. Don't just assign times for people to talk, make sure you've talked to them in advance and you have a good feel for how long they want to talk. Because they'll go short or long regardless of what time you give them. Trust me.

This is where having a Master of Ceremonies can really help – The week of February 3rd, I gave tips on being a great emcee. If you'd like to hire one instead, check out my emcee website - comedyemcee.com

That's it for today. Take care and enjoy your journey.

So I'm standing on a banquet chair in the middle of the room filled with about 500 people, and I'm doing my act. Why? Yes there was a stage, but I got a crappy introduction. The introducer spoke softly, didn't hold the mic up to their mouth, and never got people's attention. When I got on stage, the entire room was loud and ignoring me, in fact they probably had no idea I was even up there. So I figured I had 2 choices. I could quit and leave and not get paid, or I could try something to get their attention. . .like dragging a chair into the middle of the room. That did it!

This week I'm talking about how to set up a successful event, and my tip today is to get the right people for the right role. Too many times the wrong person is doing something they really shouldn't be doing. Maybe the person introducing me isn't good at it or doesn't know how, so it's awful. Or the client hires a big name entertainer, and then gets upset that they use curse words. I've been on shows where 2 ventriloquists were booked on the same show, or where the person in charge of the room doesn't have the authority to tell the banquet manager not to have the wait staff clearing dishes while I'm on stage. Make sure you know everyone's role, and make sure you have the right people doing each job.

Check out my website TheWorkLady.com and see clips of me at various events!

That's it for today. Take care and enjoy your journey.

.  I was performing at a 50's themed event once, and during the sound check the DJ and the band got into a huge fight. It turns out that the DJ was playing all of the 50's songs that the band was gonna sing later. 

My topic this week is how to put together a successful event. I've been at thousands of events, and so I've seen what works and what doesn't. And today's tip . . . don't try to cram too much into the event. I mentioned not doing more than one thing at a time – like clearing dishes while the speaker is on. But today I'm talking about having too many things going on at the event – even if they're not happening at the same time.

The 50's event didn't need both a DJ and a dance band. They also had me doing comedy and a bunch of awards and a powerpoint presentation, and a dinner. It was too much. And sadly I've been to many events where they have several different entertainers, and awards and all sorts of stuff. The attendees many times just want to talk and socialize – they don't need to have every single second taken up with something. I think entertainment is great – obviously. But I've had people push me to do 90 minutes to 2 hours minutes after the group has had dinner and awards, and before they do Karoke. It's too much. Some of the best run events are where they just have one thing – like me – and they aren't filling up every single second with an activity.

If you want a peak behind the scenes of my comedy career, where I talk about stuff that didn't go right, check out my book on Amazon – "Convention Comedian: Stories and Wisdom From Two Decades of Chicken Dinners and Comedy Clubs"

That's it for today. Take care and enjoy your journey.

I got off stage after a great show for a big health care company only to have several people comment that I SOUNDED funny . . .but the center pieces were in the way. And yes, the center pieces on each table were beautiful  . . .and about 6 feet tall.

I'm talking this week about putting together a successful event, and my tip today is to pay a LOT of attention to room set up. Here's a quick list:

Don't get too creative with centerpieces that reach the stars.

Make sure the first row of tables starts close to the stage. You may have dancing later, but if there's a dance floor, or moat as we call it, between the stage and the audience, then the things happening on the stage lose their intimacy and the audience has a hard time staying interested.

If it is a big crowd like over 500, then how about some imag screens.

Set the stage on the long side of the room . . .not the short side or people are going to be way, way in the back.

Also for big crowds, a monitor on stage so that speakers and entertainers can hear themselves is key, and a spotlight might be good so the audience can see facial expressions.

For small crowds of 50 or less people, make sure there's a microphone. People giving speeches may not think they need one, but they really do. Otherwise they'll have to shout, and that frustrates the audience and the speakers. 

And if you don’t have a professional AV team, then at least make sure you have a backup microphone and extra batteries – AA and 9 volt.

And finally, you may have big wigs at a table on the stage, but for heavens sake, if you're having entertainment after the official part of the event is over, then make sure they are not sitting behind the entertainment. Yeah, I've had that happen!

These are all little things that will make a huge difference at your event. Trust me. I've had to work through many of them.

And as a reminder, I give these tips monday through Friday, and then on Saturday I give you a tip to find the funny yourself, since I've sold comedy material to just about everyone. And on Sunday I have a live clip of my clean comedy.

That's it for today. Take care and enjoy your journey.

. I was doing a big fundraiser event and it was going great. I'm plowing through joke after joke and the crowd is loving it. All of a sudden, things got quieter and quieter. I can't see anything from the stage, so I started wondering if I said something that offended people. It was weird. I finally wrapped up, got off stage, and the meeting planner came over and said – well I guess I shouldn't have rolled in the 6 foot high chocolate fondue fountain during your show. Really? What a horrible idea. Nothing can compete with chocolate. I lost everyone's attention in the room instantly.

This week I'm talking about how to put together a great event. I've run a few meetings in my life when I was a marketing person before comedy, and now as a comedian I've been a part of thousands of meetings. I know some do's and don'ts. And my first tip. If you want to have a good event, don't have several things going on at once. Whether it's a chocolate fondue fountain being rolled in or the wait staff clearing dishes with the speaker or comedian on stage. Don't have more than 1 thing happening at once. Period. I've had to perform while people lined up in the buffet line, I've performed during a raffle – where they took a break to hear comedy and then continued the raffle. It doesn't work. Have one main event going on, and don't make it a literal 3-ring circus. It sounds like common sense not to have too many things going on at once, but you'd be surprised how many times it happens!

If you want to add humor to your event, check out my comedywriterblog.com.

That's it for today. Take care and enjoy your journey.

:  smokers joke. Yes that's probably a true statement! There is something good to be said about smoking.

If you want to hear stories from my comedy career, check out my short podcast wherever you listen to podcasts. It's called Comedian Stories. I kick off with a joke, tell a short 3 or 4 minute story, and end with a take-away tip from what I learned. All under 5 minutes.

That's it for today. Take care and enjoy your journey.

And it's the Saturday edition of Finding the Funny, which means I'll be giving you a tip to find the funny yourself! I've written for everyone from the Tonight Show monologue with Jay Leno to realtors and even wart removal cream companies. I now travel the country showing organizations how to use humor in business.

So here's your 60 second tip! If you want to grab people's attention and use some humor, then make a counter intuitive statement. Counterintuitive means counter to what we think it should be. I used to have a joke that Diet Coke makes you gain weight. . .because everyone drinking it is fat. I made a statement that is opposite to what we think, Diet Coke makes you fat, and then I proved it by making the point – because everyone drinking it is overweight. It's a mean joke. I don't use it any more.

If you want to grab attention and get people to come to a meeting for example, then say something like "Attending our meetings will make you skinny" or "attending our meetings will get you dates." Then list the funny reasons why this is true.

I did a show for the Missouri tourism board, and I used the example that Visiting Missouri will make you skinny. And then backed it up with things like:

• We have 89 golf courses that you can walk.
• We have wild animals that will chase you.
• We have the 240 mile Katy Trail to jog on.

I just proved my counter-intuitive statement. So grab people's attention and use some humor by making a counter intuitive statement and then backing it up. Listen to my joke about Smokers tomorrow – where I talk about the benefits of smoking by starting off with a statement that makes you think WHAT? And then I back it up.

If you want more fast tips on coming up with humor in your communications, then check out my book on Amazon – Finding the Funny Fast.

That's it for today. Take care and enjoy your journey.

Years ago my friend Michael and I were talking about how he had just worked with David Brenner – a really famous and funny comedian. David was performing in Vegas that night, and David had told Michael to just pop by whenever he wanted, and Michael would be allowed in the VIP section. Vegas was 4 hours away, and so on a whim we decided to go to the show that night. We got there and walked up right as the show was starting. When we got to the VIP section in the balcony, Michel's name was not on the list. Michael explained to the bouncer that we were allowed in because David said so. We could almost see the bouncer's brain working as he tried to decide if we were for real or not. . .and in the end, he let us in. And we saw a great show and one of the masters of comedy.

My tips this week are on making decisions, and today's tip is very basic. If you're trying to decide between two things, do what that bouncer did and make a fast pros and cons list. I'm sure when that bouncer put his pros list – maybe we're for real, there are empty seats, and it's no skin off his back, versus the cons – David gets mad, we're lying and we got free tickets, he decided the safest route was to just let us in.  Do the same thing when you're making decisions about things you just can't decide on . . . just make a fast list of pros and cons, don't over think it or spend too much time on it. Do a fast list, make your choice and move on.

I have to make dozens of choice in the moment when I'm on stage as to what and who to joke about. Check out my website ComedyEmcee.com to see some of those choices I make when I'm the Master of Ceremonies.

That's it for today. Take care and enjoy your journey.