Yes the comedian’s intro is NOT funny business or about grabbing the CEO and handing them a couple of sentences on a piece of paper. You can set-up the comedian for failure or success by the way you introduce them. Here’s some tips:
Find someone who can speak in public or who at least WANTS to do the comedian’s introduction. Some of the worst introductions I’ve had came from the CEO or other big shot who was forced to do it as one of his duties. . . and didn’t have a clue how nor the interest in doing it.
Once you’ve found the right person, here are some tips you can hand them to make sure the comedy show is off to a great start.
Make sure you give them the comedian’s introduction. If you don’t see the words “introduction” on it, then it might be their biography or worse. I’ve had people read my bio. . .which is much longer than my intro, and has a lot of interesting stuff that my mom likes to hear about. But she’s probably the only one. And worse than my bio, people find other things to read. I once had a woman read the email I sent her to GET the gig. Yeah, that was awkward. I’ve also had people read my jokes. . . which takes away from when I say them. Sure THEY are getting a lot of laughs. . .but then it’s hard to get them to laugh when I say them. So make sure you get and use the actual comedian’s introduction.
Don’t try to be funny . . . sure you can do a few jokes, if you are comfortable with it, don’t feel you have to be. The comedian will take care of the jokes nicely. . .following someone who is reading the introduction correctly is easier than following someone who told bad jokes and got the crowd thinking that this is the level of comedy they’re about to hear. I was once introduced as a comedian who . . .
