The #1 Rule of Business & Stand-Up Comedy

Recycling A Rule From Marcus Lemonis (Comedy Mindhacks #17)

I’ve always been somewhat intrigued by Marcus Lemonis and his knack for turning dusty corner stores and failing businesses into cash cows. He did it for years on his show “The Profit,” and now I’ve discovered “The Fixer,” where he does pretty much the same thing but with a few changes. Cards on the table: I’m a sucker for reality TV shows and, it doesn’t hurt when they give free business advice.

In the very first episode of his new gig, “The Fixer,” Lemnois confronts a husband whose mouth is so outta control it almost single-handedly sabotages every deal. So, in the midst of one of his encounters, Marcus lays down the golden rule of business, what he calls Rule #1: “Once someone says yes to a deal, don’t say anything to make them change their mind.” He then pared down that point with a catchphrase: “Don’t talk past the deal!”

As soon as he said it, I thought, That business rule maps onto stand-up comedy in two perfect ways! First, when you’re a comedian and you get booked for a show, don’t say or do anything that makes the club owner second-guess inviting you. Resist the urge to DM them at 2a.m. with a rant about your political views. Second, when you’re up on stage performing and you’ve just triggered a wave of laughter, do not talk through it! Let the audience laugh, breathe, and maybe even snort if they must. Don’t step on the laugh!

So many comedians step on laughs out of nerves or inexperience reading the room. Others might do it because they feel the pressure of the clock. A simple solution: build extra laugh time into your set. Here’s an easy rule of thumb: aim for 10 to 20 seconds of laughter per minute, which roughly works out to 2 to 4 seconds per laugh if you’re banking on 6 laughs per minute (LPM). Obviously, the more seasoned you are, the LPMs should be higher while, the less seasoned you are, they’ll probably range lower. In practice it means you pause, count to 2 or 3 in your head, and if the audience has stopped laughing, only then do you move on.

This two-fer comedy mindhack of “don’t talk past the deal” and “don’t talk past the joke” might help save you from needless regrets. I think it’s very useful. It’s the same principle whether you’re closing a deal on a show or riding a wave of laughter: know when to zip it!