Christian Comedians Need Business Sense Too

Christian Comedian Sally Edwards

Regardless of the type of speaking career that a Christian Comedian pursues, it is essential to develop business skills.  Being the most entertaining or funniest Christian Comedian will not necessarily propel you to a headline spot.  Effective marketing is equally (if not more) important that will make you shine and get you booked often and for increasingly good pay.

Event Planners seek clean comedians who entertain without offending.  That is what will keep the comedy trend in churches thriving.  To recognize this as a new speaker and Christian Comedian is invaluable.  Building a mailing list and a successful social media campaign will connect you to friends, family and fans.  If an event planner sees that you are motivated establish a solid career through online connections, your value has increased tenfold.

Because professional comedians are prone to creativity, they generally focus on writing funny stories. The reasoning is that "funny stories" brings rewards.  I have performed as a clean stand up comedian for over 20 years and I have seen some of the "funniest" never quite make it.  The brilliant comedians can fall by the wayside, appreciated for their genius only by other admiring comedians.  This occurs when business sense does not quite catch up to creative sense.

Last year, I booked an event and I experienced first-hand what event planners see as "value" in a Christian Comedian.  I initially made efforts to create the funniest show possible.  With a limited budget for advertising, I was reliant upon word of mouth and basic internet social media to get the word out in a very short amount of time.  Ironically, the "funniest" no longer had the same value to me when I was on the other side of the booking fence.

The comedians who were most valuable to me were the ones making an all-around effort.  They were contacting friends, making mentions on Facebook, Stumble Upon, Tumbler, Digg and Twitter and writing blogs.  My most valuable act of the year was a new comedian who did a great guest set and invited thirty friends.  He did his homework, created a buzz and got the laughs.  The event was successful and made me understand the true value of a working Christian Comedian.