Todd Lynn, comedian and writer for BET’s Iron Ring
A good emcee just needs to have a funny and clean 15 minutes of material and be energetic enough to keep the crowd going in between the acts. Funny, funny, funny is always the key. A emcee’s job is to get the crowd into a good mood for the feature act and the closing act. Funny, engaging and clean should be your focus.
Jane Condon, comedian and audience choice winner on Last Comic Standing (Season 5)
A good emcee makes the show a party; he or she sets the tone. This is the first voice an audience hears, so it’s a very important, although an often underrated job. If I were running the world, emcees would be paid the same as features. A good emcee puts the show first and his own act second. He will fall on his sword for the good of the show.
A good emcee comes to the show early to do a tech check. Is everything in place and working? Do the comedians have a working microphone, light and elevation? You can tell the headliners who have emcee experience. They make the best headliners. If the audience is not yet sufficiently warmed up, they can do it for themselves.
Emceeing is a necessary step in becoming a great comedian. (Not a good idea to skip steps.) Emceeing is really its own art form. And great practice for TV hosting. The best way to learn is to get on stage again and again. I usually open with a joke, so the audience knows I’m funny. (Then they can relax.) Then I do something local. Something about them.
It’s all about being in the room and in the moment. Really being there. Connect with them. (Look at them, talk with them.) Jerry Seinfeld once said, “Good comedy is not a monologue. It’s a dialogue.” Remember, these are your new friends in your living room. This is your way of inviting them to go on your ride.
Lamont Ferguson, comedian and winner of the 26th annual Seattle International Comedy Competition
I’m glad that you made the trek up the mountain to ask. It’s been awhile since someone came all the way up here to ask about anything. Ok well here we go….
You only need to be one thing to be a good emcee: likeable. That’s it. Everything else is an added bonus. Let’s view the entire event as a party: The club is a house, the audience is the guests. The emcee’s job is to welcome those guests. Inform them about the marvelous event that’s in store for them. Make them feel comfortable, at ease. Let them know that no matter what happens, they’re in good hands.
Take them on a journey. The emcee is taking them on a trip. The audience doesn’t know where they are going, but they do know that they need to trust that driver. In that short amount of time (the hellos and welcome) trust is established by being likeable. That no matter what happens on that stage when the driver returns, the audience can collectively think, If it was bad, “Thanks goodness it’s ok, the driver’s back.” If it was good, “Thanks driver, that was fun.”
Being an emcee is viewed as being a task nowadays. I’ve been to many a shows where they’ve done away with emcees altogether. Mainly because of the egos of young comics that want everything right now, right away. They don’t want to “bite the bullet,” or “have their material wasted.” It’s a shame because now having a quality emcee has gone the way of the dinosaur in this business. As soon as a comic has 10 minutes of material, they want to move up to middle.
Contrary to popular belief, it isn’t the hardest spot on the show, but you can only learn that by going backwards. Being a good emcee is akin to being a good referee in a sporting event. If you didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary, then it was a job well done. If you’re complimented (alone — not because you were standing with the feature and headliner — in the old…”You were funny too.” fashion) then you’ve done a great job. Being funny as an emcee is the icing on the cake. Likeable and funny. You’ve just hit the lotto.
Another problem that comics fall into is the competitiveness of this business. “I have to be funnier than the rest to move up.” A quality emcee needs to view it as a whole. The entire show not just their set. A good emcee doesn’t even judge their own performance until the headliner is onstage. That’s when your job is essentially over. You have to put the ego aside to be a great emcee.
Here’s an emcee tip from the old man on top of the mountain: First of all, I love emceeing. As a 26-year comic that came up when the earth was cooling, to be able to not have the pressure of headlining a show can only be described as a delightful rare treat.
It’s the most fun. I can play, have a great time and all the pressure is not on me. Just be likeable, warm and welcoming. I treat every emceed show as if it is my own show and the comics are my guests. Everyone is even introduced as my guest: “my first guest, my next guest,” and then the rightful respect to the headliner as being introduced as the headliner. Letterman, Leno, O’Brien, and the rest don’t judge the show immediately after each segment. They know the show is a collection of parts and the overall product is what is being judged.
Being a good emcee is a lost art in today’s “make me a star now mentality.” It used to be a process that we all had to go through, but times change.