Corporate Comedy, Corporate Comedians, Event Entertainment & Funny Keynote Speaker
Clean Stand-up Comedian Shaun Eli for your Serious Corporate Event?
Hire a comedian? A funny keynote speaker? Of course you should. Why wouldn’t you?
Corporate events should conclude with entertainment, in-person or virtual.
No matter how much your attendees love their work,
professional comedy entertainment will enhance your conference.
- Laughter is a shared experience that brings people together.
- Because studies have shown that humor helps people retain what they’ve learned.
- Because massive laughter at your event is like the fine wine or delicious dessert that helps you appreciate your gourmet meal even more.
- Because there’s no rule that says that a closing keynote speaker has to be serious.
- Because studies have shown that people value experiences more than we value possessions. The pleasure we get from buying something new wears off very quickly but a pleasurable experience lives on in our memory. A comedy show is a great, fun experience!
Read about Health and Business Benefits of Humor and Corporate Comedy FAQs
Is it appropriate to have comedy at your serious event?
That depends. Is the entertainer making balloon animals and singing silly song parodies? Or is he a hilarious Wharton-educated, award-winning economist & former bank vice president pleasing your audience with clean, smart comedy? Comedy that may include content specific to your industry. For example, it’s not just financial companies that use principles of risk management. So do stand-up comics!
Entertaining stories from the life of a comedian can show how he uses risk management to further his objectives and counter obstacles on the way to achieving his goals.
What is a corporate comedian?
A corporate comedian is a stand-up comedian whose material is not just clean but also appropriate for corporate events. He or she knows that what goes over at a comedy club isn’t necessarily suitable for a corporate conference or holiday party. Who knows that no matter what someone might tell him at the event, making fun of the company or boss isn’t acceptable. Who acts professionally both on and off stage. And who knows that ripped jeans, sneakers and t-shirts aren’t proper for your event.
Shaun is not a mainstream comedy club comic who tries to clean it up for corporate events. He’s a clean theatre comedian who has headlined shows on five continents, has written monologue jokes for the hosts of three late-night TV shows and has been profiled in numerous national magazines and major newspapers including The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Christian Science Monitor. Before becoming a stand-up comedian Shaun worked in finance for twenty years, after receiving a degree in marketing and economics from Wharton. He has been a professional comedian for 20 years and has 30 years of professional comedy-writing experience.
Read testimonials
Read over a dozen newspaper and magazine articles about clean comedian Shaun Eli
See him live on stage or watch his videos
Many corporate and organizational conferences end with entertainment. Not just to make the conferences more fun and make people want to come back…people retain more if they’re entertained & enjoy themselves at an event.
For more information or to hire Shaun, email Shaun at BrainChampagne dot com
or call or text (914) it’s-funny (914) 487-3866
Adding comedy to your conference doesn’t just make it more fun,
it makes it more powerful.
Make your event
More powerful More fun More memorable More talked-about
And make your attendees want to come back next year.
Some topics Shaun may cover in his corporate comedy performances
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- Creativity: Clever, maybe even sneaky, problem-solving
- Quality
- Tolerance & Adapting to others
- Fighting the system to improve it
- Drunk elephants
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Health and business benefits of humor
- Laughter helps you in a crisis: New York Times
- Laughter releases endorphins and has other beneficial effects for your cardiovascular system: National Institutes of Health November 2009
- Humor incorporated in lectures helps students to better remember the material six weeks later: Journal of Educational Psychology
- Humor during therapy helps build a closer relationship between patients and doctors: Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine
- Laughter reduces mortality rates: Yamagata Study in Japan and Journal of Biobehavioral Medicine
- Keeping a humor journal (three funniest things that happened that day) for a week increases happiness and reduces depression, continuing for at least six months (the length of the study): Journal of Happiness Studies
- Humor reduces stress and increases short-term memory: Loma Linda University study
- Laughter therapy has positive effects on depression, insomnia and sleep quality in the elderly: Geriatrics & Gerontology International
- Laughter has shown physiological, psychological, social, spiritual, and quality-of-life benefits: National Institutes of Health November 2010
- Laughter may reduce stress and strengthen the immune system: National Institutes of Health March 2003
- Humor therapies reduce blood pressure, reduce arrhythmias and other heart problems and decrease subsequent heart attacks: Advances in Mind-body Medicine
- Laughter benefits vascular function: American Journal of Cardiology and Medical Hypotheses
- Laughter may help treat allergies: Perceptual and Motor Skills
- Humour therapy may help treat depression in the elderly: International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry
- Humor conveys confidence, competence & status: Harvard Business Review and Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
- Managers with a sense of humor are perceived to be more effective: Psychology Today
- Shared laughter helps with bonding in offices: Human Nature
- Humor helps participants during a revolution to overthrow an autocratic government: Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science
- Couples who reminisce about shared laughter report higher relationship satisfaction: Motivation and Emotion
FAQs about Corporate Comedy, Corporate Comedians and Event Entertainment
That’s mostly up to you. We recommend no longer than a half-hour for a corporate event. Your attendees have probably already spent most of the day sitting around listening to other people talk. Twenty minutes can be fine. I can do well over 90 minutes if it’s appropriate.
Your attendees have probably been sitting and listening to serious presentations all day. They need comic relief. Even serious movies have at least a joke or two to lighten the tension.
Studies have shown that laughter improves retention- people remember more when they’ve laughed. They will also have more positive memories of your event. And laughter is a common bond that will improve employee morale.
(Read specific scientific studies proving health and business benefits of humor)
Towards the end- after dinner is best. It’s not great to have people eating and concentrating on food when they’re listening to a comedian. There’s no pause-and-rewind at a live show. Whether it’s before or after your speeches/awards presentation is up to you. Different comedians have different preferences.
We can. Expect to pay a lot extra for that, as writing jokes takes time. Especially jokes we can’t test out and hone over several comedy club performances.
But you don’t need custom comedy. If the comic can make one or two jokes about your industry at the beginning, and maybe one more reference towards the end, the audience will leave thinking “Wow, that was all about us!”
There are a lot of variables that go into pricing a performance. More famous comedians are more expensive- and that level of fame might be important to you. But it doesn’t necessarily mean a better performance. There are a lot of super-hilarious comedians you’ve never heard of. Other variables that affect cost include the night of the week (weekends are generally more expensive), how many attendees are expected, how far the comedian has to travel and whether it’s a for-profit or charity event. So- the best way to find out is to ask!
I sure hope not. You should absolutely, positively have a conversation about what you think is inappropriate before hiring a comedian for a corporate or charity event. I’m a clean comedian. I think comedians should know their audience. But what a non-clean comedian will probably say is, you hire me, you get me. You should know who I am.
I disagree with that, and if there’s a disappointment there’s fault on both sides. Avoid all that by discussing it in advance.
When I started in comedy someone told me that a comedian should dress at least as well as the audience. I agree. If the audience is in suits then a guy showing up in torn jeans and sneakers looks out of place.
I generally wear a dress shirt, sports jacket and dark jeans. That’s usually enough to blend in, but if you are all wearing suits and ties (or the female equivalent) and you think I should too, you should tell me that in advance. I own more than enough clothing.
And here’s something I discovered from working in comedy clubs, something that most comedians haven’t figured out: If a comedian dresses even a little bit better than the other comedians, even boots, a polo shirt and nice jeans vs. sneakers, a t-shirt and lighter-colored jeans, he gets heckled/interrupted/talked back to much, much less frequently (I say ‘he’ in this case because I haven’t done the research to see if this is true for women too, but few female comics dress sloppily on stage).
My thought on this is that it’s not a good idea. You may think your CEO is a good sport but very few people like being made fun of. If the CEO wants to appear approachable then he should be self-deprecating. Don’t hire someone to make fun of him.
(I say he/him because studies have shown that male bosses who are self-deprecating are seen as more approachable, but female bosses who are self-deprecating are sometimes seen as weak. And please don’t shoot the messenger.)
A corporate imposter is someone introduced as a leading expert on something related to the company. But they don’t actually make sense. As they continue to get more and more ridiculous the audience is confused until they realize they’re being put on.
I don’t like this. To me it’s basically one long joke that’s making fun of the audience. I’ve been offered a bunch of money to do this and I’ve always turned it down.
Absolutely a sound system. Even for a small group the microphone gives us a level of authority. A hand-held mic is best. Not one stuck to a lectern. A lavalier mic (the kind clipped to clothing) is not a great idea. We’ve all heard stories of someone who went to the bathroom and forgot to turn off their mic. Ideally also stage lighting and an elevated stage.
Most good comedians are experienced at emceeing events. Ask. I am. I emcee a lot of comedy shows and other events.
There are several ways to categorize comedians: clean/not clean, political/non-political. Impressionists. Musical acts. High energy/low energy. Physical comedians. One-liner comedians. Story-tellers. Observational comedians. My act is a combination of stories and short one-liner type jokes.
I don’t do political comedy unless there’s a specific reason to. I quickly learned that doing political material will turn off at least a third of the audience, and there’s really no reason for that.
You’re already on my website! Email Shaun at BrainChampagne.com or call or text (914) 487-3866 after 10 AM NY time.
Bring corporate comedian Shaun Eli to your conference or event.
For much less than you thought possible.
Book him without any hidden agency or speaker fees. Get all the credit for hiring a comedian at a great price.
Email: Shaun at BrainChampagne dot com
Call or text (914) it’s-funny (914) 487-3866 for more information.
More information: Intelligent corporate comedy: information on how to hire corporate comedians