Archive for comedy
Don’t wind up on the least-wanted list
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Yes, kids, it’s that time of year again.
ChristmaHanaKwanzaKah is once again in the hearts and on the minds of everyone from sea to shining sea – and beyond – so it’s time for a remedial lesson on How to Succeed in Business Without Really Lying.
Here are the Mighty Casey Media rules for surviving the holidays with your sanity – and your client list – intact:
- Don’t be a grinch. If you’re not a big fan of the holidays, don’t trash those who are. You don’t have to go overboard and wear a pair of reindeer antlers all month, yet neither do you have to tell the office Christmas Elf that s/he is crazy for loving the holidays.
- Be a gracious guest. If you’re invited to a holiday celebration by a client or a colleague, accept with thanks. Attend with intent to find the cheer. Bring a friend along who could be a good prospect for the business. Holiday gifts can come in the form of customers. Take it from one who knows.
- Be a thoughtful host. If you host a holiday gathering, make sure to keep the conversation and connection flowing. Configure your party so there’s plenty of opportunity to interact, and make the rounds continually to ensure that everyone is enjoying themselves. And have a defined end-time for the party, which saves having to shovel folks out the door.
- If you can’t deal, deal yourself out. If the holidays drive you nuts, that seems like a great excuse to take off on a vacation, a retreat, or a sabbatical. Deal yourself out of the holiday merry-go-round, and return to the game refreshed after Santa’s blown town.
Merry ChristmaHanaKwanzaKah to all, and to all a way to make the end-of-year insanity work for you!
A funny thing happened on the way to the dairy counter
Posted by: | CommentsWhen I was still doing stand-up, one of my compadres had a regular bit where her punchline was “women: we make milk. We make eggs. We’re a dairy!”
I’m a big fan of the dairy. No, not the human variety, the kind you find in grocery & gourmet stores. So imagine my surprise when I saw the latest ad campaign from the US Milk Board. The Milk Peeps have been riding on “got milk?“ for almost 20 years.
It seems that they saw a niche messaging opportunity, and ran with it. Did they run over a cliff? You be the judge.
I’m a big fan of the funny, as you know. However, when you deploy the funny in service of a brand message, you’ve got to make sure that everyone in your intended audience is on board. Women howled in protest from sea to shining sea when the campaign was launched about 4 weeks ago.
As someone who knows PMS only too well – totally an insider, trust me – I would have advised the Milk Peeps to make a woman the face of the campaign. She could warn her boyfriend/husband/boss/random strangers that their lives might be at stake unless dairy products were brought forth right-damn-now.
And it wouldn’t hurt to add some commentary on the potential risks of drinking milk that has rBGH (a/k/a bovine somatotropin, or bovine growth hormone) in it: like the pus from mastitis – udder infection – that cows who get pumped full of the stuff wind up suffering from. Who needs that, right?
The campaign has certainly kicked off some buzz. I don’t think it’s exactly the buzz that the Milk Peeps were looking for, but buzz is, after all, buzz. Just ask Rupert “help-I’m-strapped-to-a-buzz-saw” Murdoch.
That’s my story, and I’m stickin’ to it …
Last Pitch Standing: Comedy Writing Tips for Speakers
Posted by: | CommentsI’ve been doing the short-form intro version of my “Last Pitch Standing” workshop pretty frequently of late.
Here are PDFs of the two handouts – they can get you started on opening your comedy writing chakras. If you’d like some personal coaching, you know who to call!
MightyCaseyMedia’s Comedy Writing Tips
Mighty Casey Media comedy worksheet
Make ‘em laugh!
