Allentown Clean Corporate Stand-up Comedian & Funny Keynote Speaker
Hiring clean stand-up comedian Shaun Eli for your corporate or charity comedy event in Allentown, or anywhere else for that matter.
About me
I grew up in and around New York City but I went to college in Philadelphia, PA. I studied marketing and economics and worked in banking for twenty years. I even won a prestigious economic forecasting competition. Pretty much by guessing. I’m not an expert on economic forecasting.
One thing I do know how to do quite well is how to make strangers laugh. I’ve been doing it all my life, professionally since 2003, and I’m pretty darn good at it. I even make customer service reps on the phone laugh, which can be beneficial in getting them to be extra-helpful. I make people laugh in stores and restaurants and sometimes on airplanes. But I try not to talk too much on airplanes because generally your seatmate just wants to be left alone. They’re afraid of being someone’s captive audience for six hours. I have a joke about that and I sometimes tell it on stage if I’m talking about travelling.
I travel all over the world performing stand-up comedy and it’s a great job, getting paid to make people laugh. It’s also great to travel for work being self-employed because I get to choose where to visit and how much time to spend there. So I got to spend two weeks in South Africa, a couple of weeks in Thailand, and not nearly enough time in Australia or New Zealand. They had wildfires in Australia and it looked like I was going to be spending my time stuck in hotel rooms because the smoke was so bad they said it wasn’t safe to go outside. But I got super-lucky. When I was in Melbourne the wind shifted and the smoke blew in the other direction. Then when I went to Sydney it shifted again and Sydney’s air was clear too.
Pretty much I’ve been very lucky in life. But not in the “Why did that jerk win the lottery?” sort of way. And no, I didn’t win the lottery. Not yet, anyway. When I do I’ll keep my job, because I love being a comedian, but I’d do more free shows for groups that may not be able to afford a pro comic.
My stand-up comedy
My comedy is clean and pretty friendly and a little sarcastic. But not in the “He need to go back to New York City where he came from” kind of way. In the “Yeah, that company deserves to get bashed by a comedian” kind of way. In an Allentown-friendly way.
Most of my comedy’s about me or my family or things that have happened to me or things that I’ve done. If you ever visit Philadelphia and park on the street you’ll want to hear my story about fighting a parking ticket there. If I get an unjust parking ticket in Allentown I’d probably fight that too. The Philadelphia parking ticket, a long time ago, was only $25 but I fought it because, well, I really don’t remember why because it cost me more than $25 to do it. I had to drive down from NY for it. I think I was annoyed that I was not guilty and they still found me guilty the first time. Fortunately the appeals court judge actually listened. It was his first time hearing anybody bother to contest a $25 ticket.
At the time I found the whole thing silly and then when I became a stand-up comedian I realized how funny the whole encounter was, and now it’s over six minutes of my act when I opt to include it.
I’ve performed all over the world, at all sorts of places. I do shows in theatres, at corporate and industry events, at charity fundraising events, for alumni associations and even at houses of worship.
If you want to see what I’m like on stage watch my stand-up comedy videos.
Funny Keynote Speaker
I can be either a live funny keynote speaker or a funny virtual keynote speaker. I’m not a motivational speaker. I won’t get people riled up but as a very humorous keynote speaker I will get them laughing for my entire time on stage. If I tell my story about fighting a parking ticket in Philadelphia I may get people excited to fight for justice. Okay, parking ticket justice. Hey, everybody’s got to start somewhere. If you’re looking for a funny keynote speaker I’m your guy. So if you want to call me a corporate keynote speaker that’s fine with me. As long as I get paid to make people laugh I’m happy. And you will be too.
Your audience will arrive full of enthusiasm for my keynote speech because I can provide you with video of me on stage that you can share with them in advance. They will depart happy and grateful and will be talking about the event for days if not weeks.
I have hours of material so I should be able to link my keynote address to the theme of your event, company or industry. With a business background I may understand your industry quite well, especially if it’s banking or finance (I was a banker for 20 years before becoming a full-time stand-up comic), accounting (my father was an accountant and I have accounting jokes and stories), advertising or marketing (I majored in marketing at Wharton), insurance (I was an actuarial assistant for a couple of years), aviation (I’m a licensed, instrument-rated pilot) or boating (former rower and dragon-boat racer and I have a rather useless New York State boating license).
Also law. Though I’m not an attorney lots of people seem to think I’m one. I served for 17 months on a federal grand jury, I have at least one pro-lawyer joke and I am 1-0 representing myself in New York State Supreme Court. I sued a home improvement contractor and beat the heck out of a trial attorney using the two most powerful weapons in my arsenal: humor and sarcasm. I also wrote an article for the New Jersey Law Journal on attorneys who became comedians. And in addition to not being an attorney I’m also not from New Jersey.
I love answering audience questions after a keynote speech. It gives me the chance to be spontaneously funny, to learn about what audiences are curious about, to tell stories that are fun and funny but don’t necessarily fit into either a stand-up routine or keynote speech. Audiences love it too. It’s like a backstage pass.
One thing to note: I speak. I may pace a bit. I tell jokes and very funny stories. I don’t use Powerpoint. I don’t need slides. Just a good sound system with a hand-held microphone (not a mic stuck to a lectern). Proper lighting also helps.
Back before I was a comedian I was a banker and was chosen to be the keynote (closing) speaker at an international conference on risk management. The speakers before me were from more prestigious companies. They had a lot of data to present and used a lot of slides. This was a bit anxiety-inducing until I realized that their extensive, detailed data and slides were a drawback. It was too much detail and was both rote and confusing. I was the opposite- I presented a case that was both interesting and easy to understand. Nobody was distracted or confused during my talk. I was the one who drew the most questions because I held their interest. And yes, they invited me back to be the keynote speaker again the next year.
Booking me for shows in or near Allentown, PA
Email Shaun (at) Brain Champagne dot com, or call or text me at (914) it’s-funny (914) 487-3866. You can even mail a letter but that’s way slower, especially because I don’t check my post office box every day. But if you really prefer to communicate on paper I can accommodate that. I believe in being customer-focused.
I’m sure you’ll have questions and I’ll do my best to answer them. I’ll have questions for you too. Not calculus or chemical equations or what’s the text of the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution (that’s the one prohibiting cruel and unusual punishment and excessive fines or bails; it’s the shortest Amendment), more like Who and Where and When and How Many and You Do Have Chairs, Right?
So get in touch and let’s have some fun!