Crowd-work Comedians Are the Best Communication Teachers I Know

Comedians who do crowd-work are a tremendous inspiration for me as a communicator. These are people who have trained themselves to communicate under pressure by listening intently and building off of what the audience says.

They may come into a "set" with a general framework of what they want to talk about, but the bulk of the impact of the show and the audience's experience comes from what surfaces in the room.

In my assessment, the ones who become extremely good are those who have had the most practice, which enables them to acquire a vast amount of data from which patterns emerge, allowing them to respond faster and faster each show.

This is worth reflecting on. We tend to think that "thinking quick on your feet" is a gift - you either can or can't. But at its core, quick thinking is applying intuition in real-time, and intuition itself is essentially recognition. As such, it is a skill that can be trained through lots of practice, with each rep giving you more data from which your intuition can quickly pull.

Here is the breakdown of those trainable skills:

• the skill of listening intently to what audience members are saying and building on it.
  

• attentively using their eyes to carefully identify things, appearances, and behaviors of the audience to surface,
  

• the skill of managing one's own ego and emotions when audience members reject their humor,
  

• and ultimately the skill of having a conversation with a whole room of people simultaneously.

These are skills that every professional could stand to learn. They are the core of my professional development work.

Start by watching and studying some great crowd-work comedians on YouTube - here are a few of mine: Andrew Schulz, Phil Hanley, Aries Spears, and Ian Bagg.

If you want to go further, dip your toe into Improv. In my 30s, I felt that to become a better communicator, I needed to loosen up a little and learn to think faster. So I signed up for Second City Training Center's 1-year improv curriculum in Chicago. Similar to the key skills of crowd work, it trains you to listen attentively, build on what you see, and think quickly on your feet - all in a fun and enjoyable setting. Look for an improv club around you.