WHAT IS NLP?
Long before I knew anything about NLP I was fortunate enough to attend the most rigorous Trainer's Training that I have ever seen since. As part of that course I did a modelling project where I modelled a couple of comedians specifically to look at how we could apply their particular comedy techniques to delivering training.
I'm not going to tell you which comedians I modelled but I have been told it is obvious in the way that I deliver training...so feel free to speculate. They are both British comedians that have an international presence, have stared in movies and have long well established careers (even in the late 90s when I did the project.
You can read lots of definitions of NLP both on my site and across the internet. So to cut that short and to oversimplify; NLP is about modelling. That is looking at what works and then applying that to yourself, to others or to other contexts where it might be useful.
Even before I knew the term I was already doing NLP and so were you. Try to tell me that as a seven year old you didn't play act and imagine being your favourite heroes. Modelling is an essential and rapid way of learning when you are young. And it can play a vital role in your development in adulthood.
HOW DOES NLP AND HYPNOSIS HELP WITH STAND UP COMEDY?
The most obvious answer based on what we have said before is to just find some good comedians and then just do what they do. You pay close attention to what they do, replicate it and test for the bits that actually work as opposed to the things they do that are idiosyncratic and finally use or develop the model.
One thing that makes models even more effective is to isolate specific elements that work and use them. So for sales for example you might take the way one sales person builds rapport with how another asks questions and another's version of how they present their product knowledge. You can mix and match the best of all worlds.
Broadly speaking there are three obvious areas where NLP and Hypnosis can really help comedians.
STATE MANAGEMENT - Having nervous anticipation before going on stage is natural and in many ways a good thing. Managing your emotions to the point where they motivate you to deliver the best performance, generate the most effective material or get the job done despite of the things around you is a great skill that is worth learning for any area of life.
GENERATING MATERIAL - Many people, not just comedians, have problems generating material for their presentations, talks and performances. And yet some people are prolific writers for their chosen subject. How fantastic would it be if you could isolate and develop the process of generating material so you had a constant source of material?
STAGECRAFT - I am sure you have seen comedians with brilliant material but their delivery left your cold. It isn't just about timing. There are a whole load of skills performers use to bring an audience together and get them to enjoy themselves. Some of the best comedians can reduce an audience to hysterical laughter with no material at all.
Models and process that work in all three of these areas have been developed using NLP Tools.
PICK AND MIX NLP TECHNIQUES
When I was doing my modelling project for my trainer qualifications I had barely heard of NLP so my thoughts about modelling were perhaps a little less well developed than they are now.
That said even then I had stumbled on to a fundamental part of NLP. Using the methodology of modelling you get the opportunity to take the processes, tools and techniques that you develop and apply them to radically different things.
I was modelling two comedians for specific reasons. They both had a way of leading their audiences. The first opens stories seamlessly that lead from one direction to another then another and eventually an hour and several stories later he would call back to that first story and everything would snap together like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.
I wanted to learn that strategy to be able to use it to keep people involved and engaged in my training until the very end of the session where all the learning would fall in to place and you would leave the class feeling like you have learnt something special.
The second comedian has a brilliant way of taking an audience from what seems to be a normal situation to some very bizarre and surreal places. I wanted to learn the skill of being able to lead an audience from where they are to a position where they have taken the learning from the session regardless of the start or finish positions.
In both cases I discovered a huge amount that I applied to my training. I passed my trainer's training with flying colours largely on the results of my modelling project. One of my roles when I entered the organisation as a fully-fledged trainer was to develop courses for other trainers in using the models that I discovered.
HOW TO DEVELOP YOUR COMEDY SKILLS
Blane Savage has recently had published a book on Using NLP and Hypnosis for Stand-Up Comedy. In it he develops those three areas:
* State Management
* Developing Material
* Stagecraft
I am proud to say I encouraged him to write the book because he has written something quite unique. Not only is it a great resource for comedians of all levels but it is also a great example of the models you can develop using NLP. But for me the best thing about the book is that whilst it is tightly focused on comedy like all good models you can apply this material to so much more.
You can find out more about the book and see my review on:
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