Humorous Speakers Bureau Series - Ten Funny Keynote Speakers and Corporate Comedians Who Market Intelligently

This is a ten-part series highlighting funny keynote speakers and clean corporate comedians who use both their creativity and intellect to market successfully.  To a be a successful public speaker, it is so important to combine these two aspects of the business.  As president of The Humorous Speakers Bureau and a clean female corporate comedian, there are keynote speakers and clean corporate comedians I admire for their business sense in marketing and social media presence.  I am presenting these speakers daily, but in no particular order.  They are all No. 1 in my opinion.

Humorous Speakers Bureau - Greg Schwem

     Greg Schwem responds to his client's need for customized entertainment.  When working for his corporate clients who include Microsoft, IBM and McDonald's, he stresses the "custom" aspect of his corporate comedy show. Greg Schwem will research a client's website extensively and include tasteful funny material about their people, products and culture.  Greg Schwem's videos are updated regularly on his web site and demonstrate the hilarity of customized corporate comedy.

Greg Schwem Business Humorist/Corporate Emcee/Syndicated Columnist/Author

"King of the Hill in the world of corporate comedy!" - Chicago Tribune

web:  www.gregschwem.com

watch:  www.youtube.com/gregschwem

follow:  www.twitter.com/corpcomic

Click here to read about Greg in Parade Magazine

Click here to learn about Greg's book

Hold on to Your Comedy Dream

It’s an interesting combination- piano teacher by day; clean comedian by night. To tell you the truth, I went for years denying my comic abilities, never telling the other grade school moms about the person I really was. None of them knew I’d spent most of my life, six days a week and sometimes threes shows a night, in smoky comedy clubs trying to make people laugh.  I have performed stand-up comedy at all the popular comedy clubs:  Zanies Comedy Club, The Funnybone, The Comic Strip and The Comedy Store.

I didn’t want to admit my comedy connection because I felt too many negative connotations come to mind in the words "club standup comedian" - drinking, drugs, lewd material and perhaps irresponsible mother. Living my teenage years at an all-girl’s Catholic boarding school, I’d been engrained with a lifestyle that was not a match. And so I kept my past and dreams a secret.

I took off many years from standup comedy when my children were small. After my third child was born, I missed them all so much when I would go out to do a show at night. I continually thought, "Why am I here? I want to go home." Eventually the desire to be with my children at night combined with a healthy dose of exhaustion convinced me that I could leave standup and lead a "normal" life. In retrospect, the lesson learned is - never turn your back on your dream - it will catch up with you, if you’re lucky.

What happened in those years that I stayed away from the stage? I wrote and wrote and wrote.

(Eventually that writing would become my first show entitled, "BIG PEOPLE, little people!") It was easy to write. I found my children endlessly amusing - let’s change that to downright hilarious. I thought to myself, "What if adults acted like children?’ "How long would it take for an adult who acted like a child to be committed?" Maybe less than a minute?

My son wore his Power Ranger costume to the grocery store. If I did that nobody would think I was cute. They’d commit me. They’d call the authorities. They’d call 911. They’d say, "Bag Lady in Aisle 6!"

What if I started screaming in church and tried to run up the aisle? Nobody would say, "She’s kind of cranky today." No! They’d hustle me out and everyone would be very "disturbed".

What if I ate a spaghetti dinner and left the sauce all over my mouth and ran it through my hair?

How do kids get away with this stuff!?

And it made me laugh. And I wrote it down. And I’m still writing it down today.

The other day I was teaching a six-year-old girl a beginning piano lesson. In all her innocence, she started her own interesting conversation with me. "Mrs. Edwards. don’t you hate it when you’re on the monkey bars and you forget you have a skirt on, and your underpants show?" And I said quite matter-of-factly, "Yes. I do hate that. I hate that so much and I know just how you feel!"

Ten Funny Keynote Speakers Who Market Intelligently

Funny Keynote Speakers and Intelligent Marketing

This is a ten-part series highlighting funny keynote speakers and corporate comedians who use both their creativity and intellect to market successfully.  As president of The Humorous Speakers Bureau and a clean female comedian, I know the importance of effectively combining these two aspects of the public speaking business in order to establish a strong customer base with recurring appearances at events.  I am presenting these speakers daily, but in no particular order.  They are all No. 1 in my opinion.

David Michael


Corporate Speaker David Michael believes that Verbal communication is vital to success in business especially in today's atmosphere.  David Michael has concentrated his career on making people more effective speakers and presenters.  By combining his education (University of Pittsburgh degree in communications, BA) and his vast experience in the corporate and entertainment worlds, he has come up with a program called, "Secrets from the Greenroom" and written a very informative book by the same name.

"Secrets from the Greenroom"  - Buy Now

Keeping up with David Michael is easy because he maintains a current and informative blog:  http://www.davidmichaellive.blogspot.com.  

I encourage you to "follow!"

Three Secrets to Becoming a Clean Stand-up Comedian

Secrets to Becoming a Clean Stand-up Comedian

Many new comedians grace the stage with full intent of delivering a clean show. They take the showcase stage at comedy clubs like Zanies Comedy Club, The Laugh Factory, Up Comedy Club or The Improv and attempt to deliver clean comedy. By performing clean comedy, whether they be funny female comedians or male clean comedians they are then able to pursue the goal of someday performing solo as a clean corporate comedian.

1)  Performing clean comedy means there should be no use of swear words, no offensive set-ups and no offensive punchlines.  It is important not to embarrass or offend as a corporate comedian.  An offended audience leads to complaints to human resources. Repetitive complaints may develop into real problems for the company hosting the corporate event.  Violating the rules of "clean" will result in loss of trust, reputation and bookings.

2)  Be aware of your own interpretation of clean comedy.  "Clean" should not be a product of your own subjective interpretation. New talent today takes its direction from Comedy Central where there are no limits on topics and vocabulary. A new comic often believes if he simply "cleans up his act" by cleaning up his four letter words, the goal of clean comedy has been accomplished. I've seen club owners shaking their heads in dismay as they watch a new talent use every word but the "f" bomb and think they've achieved clean.

Subject matter that is truly "clean" is a topic that you could deliver one-on-one to your Aunt Clara in front of her bridge club. This is assuming your aunt was never a member of Hell's Angels or senior cook on a ship. Topics involving family, sports, children, husbands, wives and corporate life are all fair game. Any talk of sex must be approached with extreme caution. After all, would you feel comfortable talking about sex to your Aunt Clara?

3)  "Customized humor" is a good way to go if you want strong laughs that hit close to home for a corporate audience. Customizing humor involves researching the company's background and core interests prior to taking the stage. Although individuals can also be singled out as fodder, it is very effective to read from the company's handbook or muse over their graphs and charts. Where there has been pain, there is gain in the laugh department.

If you want to write clean, turn off the TV and think back to your childhood. What was right and what was wrong in dialogue with adults? These thoughts will be your guide. Writing clean material is a very difficult challenge when creating a new routine but taking the high road will lead to respect among your peers and admiration from you corporate audience.

At This Clean Comedy Event, I Sat Next to a Bishop! That is Clean Comedy Pressure!

Series: Ten Funny Keynote Speakers Who Market Intelligently - Number One

As a clean corporate comedian and president of the Humorous Speakers Bureau, I know that there is a long list of "must-haves" in a humorist or funny keynote speaker to make their career a success.  A creative mind is a genuine asset but it is also necessary to be an expert marketer in order to reach your potential customers. Ten keynote speakers who seem to have tapped into this professional market in a resourceful way are as follows:  I admire their energy and drive!  This is the first of a ten-part series.

David Schwensen:  Dave's inside knowledge of the entertainment industry was earned as Talent Coordinator for the television show "A&E's - An Evening at the Improv" and The Improv Comedy Clubs in Hollywood and New York.  He also acted as a consultant for many television shows including "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," "Late Night with David Letterman," "The Today Show", "Comedy Central", "HBO", "MTV" and "Disney."  Dave's comedy workshops are based on his book "How to Be a Working Comic" and he has designed and instructs courses for Cleveland State University and others on the value of humor and creativity as productive networking and team building tools.  He is a keynote speaker and a trainer, and the author of five books.

Now David Schwensen shares what he knows about the speaking industry in his seminars and keynotes which pinpoint the value of creativity and humor in communications. See: http://davepresents.com/

Keynote Speaker Dave Schwensen

Female Christian Comedians and Christian Television

I am thrilled that Christian television is now welcoming female Christian Comedians on their faith-based shows.  Yesterday I had the fantastic experience of appearing on "Voices in the Wilderness" - a Christian television show that invites guests whose lives have been changed as a result of their faith.  Having documented such a personal incident in my new book "Comedy Mom - My Funny Stand-up Life", I was asked to be a guest on the show because I bring my Christian comedy to women's groups.  My own story focuses on my early efforts to be a professional stand-up comedian who performs clean comedy.  During my years as a new clean comedian, I suffered terrible stage-fright. However, my life transformed on a Sunday morning in church the day I heard the words, "Go with the fear! If God gives you a gift, you are meant to share it."

This singular message gave me the strength to return to the comedy stage as a Christian woman comedian and conquer my stage-fright.  For years, it was a continuing constant challenge.  Eventually, my fears gave way to strength and I am now a very successful funny clean Christian Comedian and I have been performing clean comedy shows for over 20 years.  I urge everyone to listen to your inner voice and share your gifts even though it may be a struggle.

Many thanks to my gracious host, Maria Goldstein, for her own strength in helping others with her shared gift of a wonderful faith-based Christian television show.

Maria Goldstein and Funny Female Christian Comedian Sally Edwards

Female Christian Comedian - A Sampling of Clean Comedy

When performing as a Christian Comedian, it is important to keep comedy "squeaky" clean.  Christian comedy requires family-friendly premises and punchlines that do not offend regardless of age.  I have pursued Christian clean comedy because it is a challenge. It is important to me that jokes are funny based on their own merit of cleverness and creativeness.  Enjoy!