“You’ve got to know when to hold ’em
Know when to fold ’em
Know when to walk away
And know when to run
You never count your money
When you’re sittin’ at the table
There’ll be time enough for countin’
When the dealin’s done”
-Kenny Rogers, The Gambler.
I wish that I could snap my fingers and make everything better. But I’m not a hero, and this isn’t a movie. We’ve built our business on the premise that people need entertainment at events, and that teams can be made stronger through training. But how does that business survive “social distancing” where gatherings of people are forbidden?
How can we adapt? Can we adapt? Or is the dealing done, and it’s time to fold the cards and walk away?
So much has changed recently that it feels like we inhabit a different world than the one we lived in a week ago. That’s the unpredictable nature of life I suppose. I’ve been doing a great deal of listening recently. It’s hard not to listen when we’re being bombarded by information that updates by the minute.
There are distilleries that used to make alcohol, who adapted their business to make hand sanitizer. That’s a good example of adapting to change in the face of adversity. There’s talk of automobile manufacturers beginning to make ventilators for hospitals which are in desperate need of medical equipment. That’s a good example of adapting to change with innovative solutions. The My Pillow guy adjusted his business from making pillows to making masks. But what happens to the comedian? How does the joke teller adapt to our brave new world?
By combining comedy with a recession-proof business my hope is to create an innovative solution to the needs of the world. Here are some of my ideas:
Comedy cakes: a bakery that serves baked goods with jokes inside of them, or you know how sometimes a stripper will pop out of a cake? Could do a similar thing but with a comedian.
A comedy laundry service: where people bring their laundry to a laundromat and can listen to comedy while they wait for their clothes to be cleaned. Maybe the jokes would get progressively cleaner throughout the show, just like your laundry.
A comedy security service: the demand for security is always high, but not very many security guards are funny, so I think there is room for innovation here. A joke is a great way to disarm someone emotionally, and when they drop their guard then they can be disarmed physically.
Comedy for animals: think of how happy your pet will be after spending an hour listening to jokes crafted just for them. Animals are the second largest audience after humans, so there’s lots of good potential here.
Comedy contraceptive services: want to make sure that you don’t have a kid? I will tell jokes that ruin the mood and ensure no sex will happen, preventing you from conceiving an unplanned child.
Comedy funerals: you could hire a priest to handle your funeral, and listen to a bunch of boring material that they read from a book, or, I can tell jokes that will have (almost) everyone there laughing.
My point is that the one who adapts quickest is best suited to survive. Everyone will go through a period of adjustment, but how quickly you adjust, and how you adapt is up to you.