This session was presented by Annette King, CEO Ogilvy & Mather Group UK. This hilarious session turned me into a Jimmy Carr fan when I had honestly been rather neutral in the past. The speed and delivery of his wit had the audience in hysterics from the get go.
This session was a discussion debating the role of humour and comedy in advertising. Though David Ogilvy once said people don't buy from clowns, he did soften years later. Jimmy wondered if David Ogilvy was in McDonalds when he had that revelation.
Rory explained that Jimmy was briefly an advertising man but he decided to go into marketing as 'people were calling him up and asking him for shit like grand prix tickets etc.' He briefly worked for Shell in marketing which is easy as cars have petrol gauge. That's an easy sell!
Rory then discussed with Jimmy how comedy is disappearing from advertising because of right and left wing and political correctness. It should be ok to offend and be offended. Its bullshit to be upset on behalf of someone else. Jimmy's favourite quote is "a joke is the shortest distance between 2 people" so that's why a lot of men tell jokes rather than say "I really love you man". Comedy builds social cohesion and a group and that's the role of comedy in advertising. Being a comedian makes the world a friendly place and Jimmy is amazed advertising doesn't use it more. He then offered his services to the room which got more laughter but did raise a serious point why comedians are not writing more of the jokes in movies and ads.
Would you say that anything should be able to go in comedy?
Jimmy says you either believe in freedom speech or not. The Daily Mail makes a job out of being shocked. There is no universal comedy audience but rather smaller audiences for different types of humour. Best example is the cognitive dissonance of a very edgy joke… you get a reflex laughter first and then people put a hand to their mouth with a sharp intake of breath. The laugh is you at a very pure level. It's similar to sexuality but you don't choose what turns you on … Jimmy then told Rory he thinks he's a very attractive man (cue more laughs from the audience).
Comedy rewards linguistic skills, connects groups and notices things. Comedy creates tension and then provides release. The release is a laugh. All jokes work in the same way with a setup with a suddenly revealed fact which rewards us for noticing things.
Rory suggests that British humour is a competitive advantage. "Where would we be without a sense of humour? Germany" (roaring laughter). Not being able to take a joke is the worst thing you can say.
In a few places, including Jewish culture, there is a correlation between humour and intelligence. It's definitely an Anglo-Judaic phenomenon. Linguistically we are blessed with the English language using lots of words with double meaning and using words in different places. People really know they've learnt a language when they've understood a joke. (For me personally, when I arrived in The Netherlands from South Africa 20 years ago, my primary motivator to master Dutch was the awful feeling of people laughing and feeling left out of the joke).
Jimmy feels that advertising suffers from too much analysis. An audience member then clapped out loud to which Jimmy asked "Is that the planner who was recently fired?" (cue laughter).
Lenny Bruce said the audience is a genius. I don't know if it's a joke until the audience laughs. With advertising, it's such an achievement to get a funny ad out because of all the loops you have to jump through to get a funny joke approved. The audience decide what is and isn't funny. They are the best regulatory body by my definition.
How did Jimmy get started?
As comedians we are the lowest rung of the entertainment ladder. It's what dad's tell to entertain kids on long car journeys. When Jimmy was working at Shell he went out and did gigs. Comedy has boomed and with the change in media consumption, there is perhaps a greater desire for live experiences. Some people do a 45 minute show with a comedy arch but Jimmy describes his work as a Lego tower with lots of little jokes. His mother is the funniest person he knows.
Live stand-up is the aim not TV. "I look like this because my dad is Irish and my mum is Roger Federer". Rolling on the floor…
There is now more narrow-casting with advertising and media. With advertising and media the danger is producing advertising that is funny but someone doesn't remember the brand. Rory touches on how a lot of funny humour is also aggressive and nasty. Rory: if you tweet something controversial, you will get a lot of favourites but few retweets which is a form of cowardice.
Jimmy says that humour should be a big part of building brands with humour. John Cleese used to be in everything in the 90's.
Alas there wasn't much opportunity for questions however I did wonder the following. Since people spend so much time on social media and such a huge proportion of time is on video (and funny videos), surely comedians should be adapting their offering to connect with audiences in new ways beyond that of just a stand-up show? It seems the comedians are still lagging behind in this area. I personally follow South African comedian Trevor Noah on Facebook and discovered him through video clips which were shared on Facebook. I now have tickets to see him Live at the Apollo. I strongly feel a comedian needs to think about how to use their skill to connect with existing fans and find new fans in order to get more people to shows or perhaps find new channels for revenue. After all, a poor comedian is no laughing matter ….
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