Politics Needs Humor More Than Ever

As if the political landscape wasn’t contentious and conflict-ridden enough to begin with, we are now in a time where political discussions and arguments can instantly turn into raw, ugly strife and ad hominem recriminations. One possible antidote to this unpleasantness is the use of intelligent, well-crafted humor in political messaging. A deft comedic touch when advertising a candidate or projecting a political platform or issue can make the listener more open and receptive to the underlying message, and more generally appreciative of the “opponent” even if the views aren’t agreed with. The right kind of humor can lessen animosity and contribute to a kinder, gentler society.

Funny Biz Speech Writers has written jokes for a major presidential candidate for their appearance on a late night TV talk show and a video script for a statewide political candidate creating their first commercial. We have also written roasts of and by major politicians- current and retired- performed at well-attended gala events. Whether you are a political consultant, a candidate or someone involved in a political issue or event that needs to get the message out- by newspaper, online or in live speeches- a seasoned, versatile comedy writer with real-world experience can craft the kind of appropriate-yet-laugh-out-loud material that wins hearts and minds and equals votes. Now that’s just good common sense!

The Key to a Great Keynote Speech

A keynote speech is a powerful thing. It's a reproducible, universally applicable presentation that inspires, educates, coaches and, perhaps most important, entertains. There are so many group environments and milieus which need great keynote speeches, whether they be corporate, small business affiliated, tied into special interest groups, governmental or what have you. Whether you are already pursuing a keynote speech endeavor, have a successful keynote-delivering business or are just thinking of entering the keynote arena now, there is almost undoubtedly room to up your keynote game and make your keynote speech the most powerful, unforgettable and outstanding live (or filmed) experience it can be.

The not so secret weapon in a fantastic, Grade A keynote speech, regardless of the environment or audience? Humor! Sharp, original, contextually appropriate humor. Whatever your keynote speech is about- be it computer software, banking, outdoor adventuring or international infrastructure development- a tightly written speech with crisp pacing, plenty of personality and tantalizingly interesting sidebars and real-world examples, and JOKES. A whole bunch of laugh-out-loud punchlines. It's been proven in studies, as well as obvious anecdotal experience, that a strong sense of humor mixed into a speech, be it inspirational, educational, or for training purposes, makes the audience members want to hear what's coming next, personally like the speech giver, and remember the contents of the speech. For a keynote speech specialist this is pure gold.

It takes absolutely nothing away from a great keynote speech deliverer to get some help with their keynote from a seasoned professional comedyspeech writer. A corporate comedy specialist with a background in comedy in an entertainment context is a good bet to add the kinds of sharp, effective funny lines that will turn a pretty good keynote into a sparkling diamond that will get the highest reviews, the best word of mouth an the most re-bookings.

In this era of edutainment- yup, that's actually a popular term!- make sure you have the entertainment mixed in with your education. And that means making them laugh in order to be taken seriously.  

Raising The Bar on Bar & Bat Mitzvah Speeches

A lot of importance and ceremony is put on Bar or Bat Mitzvahs these days. Well, there probably has been for thousands of years, but now there's more emphasis on the after party, the large large social event, a gregarious gathering of friends and family where fun and good cheer becomes as important as the solemn, millennia-old religious ritual welcoming a child into adulthood.

Families spend on the meals, the appetizers, the DJ, the photographer and videographer, the live musical entertainment, the decorations, the location, the take-home gifts, the service staff and more. It is well advised to consider paying less than the cost of the first appetizer plate for a custom written funny Bar/Bat Mitzvah speech- which can be in the form of a special blessing speech or a candle lighting ceremony speech- to be delivered by a parent or other relative or the Bar/Bat Mitzvah boy or girl themselves. Invariably someone or even multiple people give a very personal speech to all who are gathered at a Bar or Bat Mitzvah. The speeches usually contain earnest, heartfelt facts or feelings about the Bar/Bat Mitzvah boy or girl, but what they usually lack is humor.... surprise... true fun and entertainment value.

If the food, drink, environment, guest list and everything else are stellar, why wouldn't you want the Bar/Bat Mitzvah speech to be exceptional, captivating and (appropriately) hilarious? The Torah is quite a serious document, but your Bar/Bat Miztvah speech doesn't have to be!

For the best custom written, totally personalized funny Bar or Bat Mitzvah speech, contact Funny Biz Writers

Using Sharp, Engaging, Funny Online Content

I've got good news and bad news for business owners when it comes to maintaining a widely projected and effective brand in today's marketplace. Whereas the Internet didn't even exist, for all intents and purposes, just a few decades ago, today online is the ubiquitous platform where people search for products and services and where products and services aggressively make themselves known to consumers and clients. Businesses do it through content-rich websites, thorough social media pages, captivating tweets and postings, bountiful blogs and all sorts of other formats and applications on the Web. The bad news is, if you own a business- large or small- you will almost certainly need to be maximizing and optimizing your Internet presence if you aren't already. The good news is, that such activity does not have to cost an arm and a leg. In fact, due to the nature of the online world and the types of content to which people gravitate, what content you don't do yourself (or have your in-house staff handle for you) you could probably get done for a mere small toe or rarely used back tooth. What's important is finding the correct and necessary mix of quantity and quality in your content.

The currently hot term “content marketing” refers to the creation and posting by businesses- usually on their websites or blogs to start- of helpful, informative, conversational, rather deep analyses into topics and issues which are likely of interest to potential customers of their product or service. This type of content is not just an ad or a sales blurb for a specific thing they're selling. It's more like an article you'd find in a magazine or online periodical. It covers a topic more generally and cares value for the reader completely separate from whether or not they buy a certain product. It enriches, edifies and often entertains, giving the reader something highly beneficial to take with them regardless of whether they become a client or customer.

For instance, a dog food company may offer high-quality content on its site about maintaining a dog's coat, proper canine dental care, and ideas for vigorous exercise outings for dogs with their owners, and while such content may indirectly lead a customer to the purchase of their dog food, each of those articles is excellent and useful free information the reader can take with them no matter what dog food they buy, and even if they buy no dog food at all, but instead make their own. In a sense, this kind of free-standing marketing content represents a welcome burst of integrity and principles into the world of commerce and consumerism.

Businesses today are encouraged to create a community of meaning and affinity and with that comes a lot of freely offered content that can be advisory, enlightening, technical, inspiring or even really funny. Even if the business doesn't directly mention or link to their own products or services in the content piece, it is thought that by winning the trust and good will of the reader with such valuable words, images or video, the reader is likely to feel warmth and loyalty toward the brand and its products or services in the future. Either way, there is often a real integrity within content marketing to make the content really good for its own sake, to have the content live up to standards found in journalism and publishing.

Another potentially powerful area that even businesses without huge manpower or budgets can readily compete for eyeballs is social media. Informative, clever, provocative or funny tweets, Facebook posts or Instagram photo-captions can create a growing following and draw in new people from the social media stream who happen upon them.

An excellent and highly advantageous tool to use in both your content marketing pieces and your social media is humor. Sharp, topical, appropriate humor cuts through the sea of boring, dry, technical or serious sales-driven content out there, and wins over viewers who are potential clients or customers. When a brand uses humor, it wins good will from readers and offers something that's entertaining, fun and likable as opposed to the old arm-twisting hard sell. Look at incredibly successful brands like Snapple, Trader Joe's, Dollar Shave Club and State Farm. Whether right on their products, in their online or hard paper content, on their social media, or in their TV commercials, they present their serious products (beverages, groceries, shaving tools, insurance) with a whimsical and enjoyable sense of humor. They don't take themselves or their product too seriously, and yet through a deft combination of funny and informative, we end up having a better idea of the details of what they're offering and we actually trust them more.

If creating sharp, cutting-edge humorous content marketing and social media feels out of the grasp of you or your employees, it would be extremely well worth it to hire a proven professional who can create this content for you, thus elevating your brand and increasing your revenues.

-Adam Gropman      Funny Biz Writers

Maids of Honor - Grab the Spotlight!

It seems like Best Mans (Best Men?) get the lion's share of the attention and glory so much of the time at weddings and that's just not fair. The ladies are just as able at delivering an hilarious, touching, provocative personalized speech as the boys are. It's time that even more of these very important women take advantage of their time in the wedding spotlight and deliver the Maid of Honor speech that steals the thunder in the room and leaves everyone gasping, surprised and laughing.

While the privilege and responsibility of the Maid of Honor includes being there for the bride, offering support and whatever small errands may make the bride's life easier on this big day, the occasion to speak in front of the entire wedding party holds the largest opportunity for fun and excitement. That's why the Maid of Honor should take the time to write a funny, personalized speech about the bride, possibly also including the groom and other friends and family members.

The funny Maid of Honor speech is ideally a 7-10 minute “This is your life” speech about the bride, covering her life from childhood through current adulthood, with inside information about her school years, academics, sports activities, social connections, college years, career trajectory and dating life up through meeting the groom. The ideal funny Maid of Honor speech makes frequent punchlines out of the bride's strengths and weaknesses, her likes and dislikes, and includes notable anecdotes for her life. It is highly personalized yet easily understood by people in attendance who don't know the bride very well. It has poignant passages and yet it is often laugh out loud funny.

Considering the size and scope of many weddings, and the expenses outlaid for this monumental day, it is often well worth if for the Maid of Honor to pay a proven professional comedy speech writer to custom write her funny wedding speech. A seasoned professional comedy writer specializing in speech writing can immediately cut to the most entertaining, relevant facts and can craft sharp, precise jokes that hit like the strongest standup comedians seen on TV, all but guaranteeing that the entire wedding is a hit. Nothing will bring tremendous honor to the Maid of Honor more than delivering a knockout hilarious speech.    

Business Can Be Fun. In Fact, It's Better That Way

If corporate employees or business owners and managers think that work-related public speaking needs to be dry, technical and lacking in humor, they are sadly mistaken. Have you ever seen an otherwise successful executive in, say, banking or high tech, deliver a presentation on a topic on which he or she is incredibly knowledgeable, but the message was lost on all but the most insider wonks because the content and delivery were awkward, repetitive and just... boring boring BORING? I have, and it's a real shame. First of all, it's audience abuse plain and simple. Second of all it's a wasted opportunity for that speaker to win goodwill and free positive networking within their industry and even outside of it.

In the corporate and small business worlds, there are so many instances when a higher up is required to speak to a group of people. Adding entertainment value and powerful humor to a speech turns it from a necessity into an opportunity. Whether the speaking situation is for education, training, inspiration, recognition or celebration, the hiring of a professional humor speech writer will catapult a speech from the depths of tedium to the heights of entertainment and edification. A corporate or business professional may have to deliver a quarterly sales meeting address. It may be a recognition speech for your top performing employees or a semi-formal promotion ceremony where a bunch of workers are moving up in title. They may be speaking to thousands of peers outside of your company but in your industry at a convention, or addressing hundreds or people in your own company at an annual event. Whatever the situation, a speech that is crafted and calibrated to flow and be captivating, with powerful TV-quality punchlines, when appropriate, will make the speaker successful beyond their expectations, not only with regard to the occasion, but also in their career generally. 

A corporate executive or business professional would be very wise to hire a professional humor speech writer, someone with a foundation as a comedy writer or a joke writer, to custom create the perfect entertaining speech while retaining all of the important technical information and serious points. There's nothing funny about under-delivering on a major- or minor- public speaking moment, and there is serious benefit to using strategic humor to smash every speaking engagement out of the park.        

Be The Best 'Best Man' You Can Be

Best Man is a weird title. It really should be Best Friend or Best Speaker. The label “Best Man” is really an incredibly high expectation to put on someone's shoulders. Is he the Best Man in this city? In this state? On Earth? And by what criteria are we measuring “Best”? Does that equal the kindest, smartest, best looking, highest achieving and most physically fit? That sounds more like a movie star or celebrity NFL quarterback than anybody who's you r friend and actual wedding Best Man. But that's the title we use and while it's overblown, it does reflect the importance and honor of being chosen for that position.

Besides offering support and aid to the groom on and around the wedding day, the Best Man customarily delivers a speech. Best Man speeches vary, but ideally it should be sharp and powerful. His speech should be intimately personal- within the bounds of acceptability of the crowd- and it should be very funny. Humor is one of the most effective speaking tools in offsetting the potentially over-dramatic and imbalanced tone of a deadly serious speech. Sure, some earnest and poignant passages are always good in a Best Man wedding speech, but the most effective and fun way to honor the groom on his wedding day is to tastefully “roast” him with some punchlines based on the actualities of his life, personality, likes and dislikes, strengths and weaknesses.

Just ask anyone who's been at a wedding with an hilarious speech, as opposed to a dull speech full of platitudes and surface level generalizations about the person. A Best Man may not be the Best Man on Earth, but with the right funny personalized speech he can be the Funniest, Most Entertaining Man at the wedding. And that's still saying a lot!