Speakers
A comedian for hire can get people from different teams laughing together at the holiday party. Planners should check the act’s style and past corporate work first.
Key Takeaways
- Booking a comedian for hire with office party experience helps different teams relax together.
- People who laughed at the same joke have something to say to each other later.
- Teasing one person can backfire badly at a work event.
- A full video of an office party set is worth asking for.
- Family members at the party mean the jokes need to stay clean.
Holiday party planning usually falls to someone in HR, and that person can spend a whole afternoon on the seating chart trying to keep the interns away from the directors’ table. It never quite works. Bringing in a comedian for hire sidesteps a lot of that worry, since everyone is facing the same stage for a while.
A company party is a strange crowd for any performer. Some guests love sarcasm, while others would rather not laugh too loudly in front of their manager. A comedian for hire with years of corporate holiday shows behind them can pick material most of that room will enjoy, and leave out anything risky.
The C-Suite and the Mailroom at the Same Party
- Getting Departments to Actually Talk: Somewhere around the second drink, people drift back to the coworkers they already know. That is normal enough, but it defeats the purpose of throwing one big party instead of six small ones. A short comedy set in the middle of the evening gives people from different floors an easy opener, since they all just heard the same bit.
- Bosses and New Hires Laughing at the Same Thing: Nobody wants to be the only one laughing when the regional director is sitting right there. So junior staff hang back, and senior staff, who mostly want everyone to have a nice time, can feel just as stuck. Jokes about the parking lot or the reply-all email everyone got last spring take care of that pretty quickly.
What Twenty Minutes of Good Comedy Does to a Tired Room
- Letting People Unwind before Year-End: A lot of staff walk in still thinking about the inventory count or the budget that is due next week. They are polite, and a little stiff. That changes after a funny set at dinner. Most of them put their phones down, and the table gets a lot louder than it was before the comedian started.
- Helping Coworkers Find Something to Say: After the show, people have an easy topic. Two coworkers who never spoke before can talk about a joke they both liked, and that sometimes turns into a longer chat about holiday plans or the broken coffee machine on the third floor. Comics used to holiday parties finish while people are still laughing so the DJ can take over.
Jokes That Leave Nobody Feeling like the Punchline
- Keeping the Material Clean and Relatable: Some of the funniest club comics would be a bad fit here, and that has nothing to do with talent. Their best material leans on topics that can embarrass someone at work or upset someone’s spouse at the next table. An experienced comedian for hire sticks to things almost everyone knows, like flight delays or chatty relatives.
- Asking First before Calling Anyone Up: Club comics pick people from the crowd all the time. That does not always go well at a work party, where the person on stage has to sit with their manager afterward. Performers with corporate experience usually check with the planner first about who would enjoy it. Then again, plenty of the best holiday sets skip audience participation altogether.
Checking Out an Act before Anyone Signs Anything
- Looking past the Highlight Clip: Promo videos are usually filmed at a club on a good night, with a crowd that came for comedy. That tells a planner very little about a hotel ballroom full of coworkers. A full set from an earlier company party is far more useful, and so is a five-minute phone call with someone who booked the act before.
- Details Worth Getting in Writing: Small misunderstandings cause most of the trouble at these events, like a set that runs long and pushes the gift raffle past ten o’clock. Planners who work with a booking agency usually get these points sorted early, and anyone booking directly should ask about them before the deposit goes out.
- Exact length of the set, in minutes.
- Any subject the company would rather skip, like the recent reorganization.
- Whether kids and spouses are coming, since that changes the material.
- Microphone and stage setup the act expects.
A Party People Still Quote in January
Planners know a holiday party went well when people from different departments are still repeating the comedian’s jokes in January. To get there, it helps to call an experienced booking advisor early in the fall, since the most popular comedians fill their December calendars fast and do not keep many dates open.