The Colbert Bump, Off of Letterman

I was scheduled to play the presidential debate moderator in a sketch with David Letterman tonight.  But the show ran over the scheduled 46 minutes thanks to an extended funny segment by Stephen Colbert who was promoting his new book “America Again” (tune into his interview with Fresh Air’s Terry Gross on NPR) , so the sketch was bumped.  The good news is that I picked up a few fashion tips for the Cirque guys, and plan to update more of my after-six wardrobe with sequins.   I had a blast at the Ed Sullivan Theater getting to work with the team.  Everyone I’ve met there is incredibly friendly.   I rode the elevator with Paul Shaffer and had the chance to congratulate him on the 30 year anniversary of the hit he co-wrote, “It’s Raining Men,” which the show was celebrating that evening.

Comedy at the B2B Forum

Edgar Rolando Diaz Emes was the first to reply when I was looking for help to film a telecom exec in Latin America. He works for Telefonica Moviles in Guatemala, so I figured he’d have some tips. He responded even faster than my former college roommate, maybe because I don’t owe him for a semester’s worth of cable bills.

Edgar helped me as if we were longtime buddies, although I had only talked with him briefly at a MarketingProfs event. But that’s the kind of immediate camaraderie you fall into with this group. Possibly because it’s helmed by Ann Handley, known in the industry as the “Brad Pitt of B2B Social Media.” She and her crew share a contagious spirit of fun and encouragement, along with a profound knowledge of social business.

The presentations are some of the most practical and useful I’ve seen at any conference. Think of it as SXSW without the tacos. It’s clear from the speakers that their intent is to authentically share “here’s what worked, here’s what failed, and here’s what we’ll try next time.” As part of a case study panel,  Elbert Lin discussed Boeing’s Design Your Own Dreamliner app,  Michael Brenner gave the backstory on SAP’s Business Innovation blog,  I talked about how we produced a B2B documentary on a shoestring budget; and offered a few ideas on how to find a storyline and produce it inexpensively. And then we had a little more fun in the closing session. [see video]

If your life involves creating content or storytelling in B2B or even B2C, you should join us in Boston, Oct 3-5, for the B2B Forum. It will be a fun and inspirational time — the opening keynote is Baratunde Thurston, former director of digital at The Onion. You’ll leave with a list of brilliant yet simple ideas you can start to implement the following week, and a dozen new friends who will support your social marketing projects and reply to you faster than your jaded college roommate.

Television Premier of “The Network Effect” Documentary

The documentary we produced premiers tonight on ShortsHD. The Network Effect is a collection of stories of the history behind some of the technology pioneers and service providers who created the infrastructure, and how the network vastly improves the lives of many, especially in developing countries.

One of my favorite stories that our host Steve Shepard tells is about undertaker Almon Strowger, who in 1888, invented the step-by-step switch which helped to democratize the network.

The program will run throughout the month of July as part of the Summer of Docs series. Check your schedule on DirecTV channel 568 and AT&T U-verse channel 1789.

Mythbusters: The World’s Most Rugged Router

We headed to San Jose, CA to test one of the oldest myths in the corporate world:  If you throw an expensive piece of equipment off of the HQ balcony, you’ll be fired.

How Many Stephen Colberts Are There?

The New York Times Magazine article suggests there are three Stephen Colberts.  I’d submit that there are four, considering the hip-hop Colbert who performed Empire State of Mind with Alicia Keys. (thanks Matt McMahon!)

A few years back Tom Purcell, executive producer of The Colbert Report (pictured next to Dr. Colbert ) taught a writing class at the P.I.T.  He spent six Saturday afternoons with us reviewing how the staff approaches writing The Word and the other classic bits, and generously offered to extend the class a few more weeks to help us develop our writer’s packet.  I managed to write a few pieces I was happy with, including one for the Threat Down segment, but struggled with insecurity to finish a strong packet.

I’ll accept David Meerman Scott’s challenge to make 2012 the year of courage.

3 Simple Steps: A New Comedy Video Series

A quote from storyteller Ira Glass, host of public radio’s This American Life, inspired me to finally launch a new web series.

“Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.”

Then, the circumstance. A few weeks ago, I watched in awe as a guy climbed 60 feet up in our tree to cut down a huge branch damaged by the snow storm. I grabbed my video camera and began to tape. It was fascinating. The idea for a web comedy series hit me — “Three Simple Steps.” It would be some interesting footage I could film myself with a few jokes along the way yielding roughly a solid minute of nonsense. Something I could do for little to no budget, and put myself on a deadline to finish a comedy story each week.

My buddy Garth Beams helped me out with the animation and rewriting the script for episode one, about cutting down a different tree.  Check out the pilot episode.

Onion Sports Network: GOOMF

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zveFhcqj_SA

A-Rod Past Prime, Unable To Match Asinine Public Embarrassments Of Years Past

I played Senior Baseball Analyst Jim Ridgeway on the Onion Sports Network’s new series Get Out Of My Face — such a blast to work with this team.  I had the chance to work with one of the SportsDome anchors on a Super Bowl commercial for Dunkin Donuts.

Comedy @ WSJ CMO Event

I shared a few comedy videos at the Wall Street Journal Digital Download event Wednesday.  My buddy John Havens discussed his recent Mashable article on Accountability Based Influence.  Then, the traditional celebration after a corporate comedy performance — a cheeseburger.

There are a few burgers so luxurious that they require you to wear cufflinks.  DB Bistro Modenrne’s sirloin burger stuffed with braised short ribs, foie gras and black truffle demands such reverence.  Its price is $32, and that doesn’t include cheese.   But since it’s served on a Parmesan bun, and certainly the most decadent burger I’ll savor in my lifetime, I’ll count this experience for the cheeseburger blog.

After the show, I went with the WSJ gang to indulge and laugh too loudly for a swanky restaurant.  A sentimental time for me as it was the same crew I was with when I launched the Cheeseburger & Comedy blog series at the New York Comedy Festival in 2009, sans Ricky Gervais.  Sometimes I feel like adults shouldn’t have this much fun.  But that feeling soon passes.  Thanks Melissa for setting this up!  (Pics below are from our first soirée)

Ricky Gervais and Nancy McDonald, backstage at Carnegie Hall

NY Comedy Festival After-Party

Pershing Square Cafe

One of my first post-college roommates Bruse Loyd texted asking if I wanted to meet for lunch while he was in NYC this week. After some internal debate, I accepted hoping to finally get reimbursed for the October 1994 cable bill. No such luck, but at least I enjoyed the visit with Nick and Reese, who took me to Pershing Square Cafe located directly across 42nd St from Grand Central Station.

My first job out of college was in sales with Xerox Corporation.  I’m pretty sure having that much fun on a job is not allowed anymore.  The job introduced me to corporate comedy as I used to write sketches and emcee the sales conferences.   Sales is an outstanding place to start a career as it forces you to learn the art of communication and negotiation quickly.

After each copier sale, we were required to spend two hours training the customer on how to use the equipment.  Here’s a clip of my buddy Bruse :

And approximately 80% of our sales leads came from this commercial:

About the Cheeseburger & Comedy blog series.

FastCompany Interview: Corporate Comedy Video

After speaking at NYU’s B2B social communications leadership conference, I had the chance to visit with FastCompany’s Drew Neisser about how corporations can help use  humor to build online audiences.    Check out the article here, and an extended discussion on Drew’s blog.