11 Tips for being a great MC
Please put your hands together and go wild and crazy for this article!
Hosting a show is a difficult job, I’m actually not that good at it myself. As soon as I see the fear in someone’s eyes, I start to reflect it back to them, and I feel the need to apologise for having bothered them. So why am I giving you these tips? I co-produced a successful open-mic for 10 years with one of the best MCs in town, Paul Salamone.
Yes that’s me at the back. Forever watchful, forever judging. Here are my tips for being a better host based on Paul’s (amazing) hosting.
One of the things that made Paul an amazing host, is he was obsessed with making the show as good as it could be for the audience, he didn’t make the show about him. He always wrote new games and material especially for the show which means we had a large amount of returning customers. This was great for a couple of Gen-Xers who couldn’t be bothered to do any marketing outside of a Facebook event.
A happy audience means happy comedians - and that’s what makes an excellent host.
Be interested in your audience
Be genuinely interested in what your audience has to say. Don’t ask them loaded questions that just lead in to your own material. The best type of hosts build stories and connections between audience members.Ask unusual questions that make people think
Instead of just asking where people are from and what their job is, have a catalogue of unusual questions that make people think. Even if they can’t think of an answer you can be all “I see you are keeping tight-lipped on that one!”. Questions such as “What skills would you provide in a post-apocalyptic scenario ?” “If you had to live in any department in Ikea, which one would it be and why ?” etc.Remember the audience members and refer back to them
Everyone likes to feel seen. Do call-backs to audience members, and groups of audience members later in the night, they’ll love it! Nicknames work well too “Hey the IT crowd over here would love that!”.Aim to do crowdwork instead of your set
If you want to do a set, then go perform at a comedy show. Don’t do your set when you are hosting - this is not why you are there. If your crowdwork isn’t going that well then I get you’ll want to do some tried and tested but just keep it to a few zingers, don’t do a huge block of material.
(Paul) I think it’s OK to do SOME material, especially having some kind of structured / funny routine in the beginning, or a strong joke to follow someone who really bombs. You can’t just rely ONLY on crowdwork.Really care about your job
Being an MC is separate from being a stand-up, don’t just phone it in. Make a note of which things work and which don’t. You are 100% responsible for the success of the show so be the best damn MC you can be! Try and have a new crowdwork idea for each show. You want people to come back to the show, so don’t do the same thing every time.Never blame the audience, but also don’t melt down
If the audience are quiet that is literally your fault. Never turn on them, you’re only going to make them feel worse. But also don’t be all self-pitying, this will also create a stench. Just focus on what is working and do more of that. If you have to do some tried and tested material then so be it.Less is more when bringing a comedian on stage
You don’t even necessarily want to say where people are from, as you might be stepping on some of their material. Just keep it simple, say their name, say they are great - the comedian will speak for themselves.Practice pronouncing unfamiliar names
Repeat a comedians unfamilar sounding name back to them and ask them if you are saying it correctly, they’ll appreciate the effort.If you’re going to do audience games, make them unique
Nobody like to feel like they’re at a corporate team-building event. Please don’t do these noise meters “we’ll start the clapping at a 4…”, stadium waves, when I say this - you say that style games. People will do them, but I can assure you nost people don’t like doing stuff like that. You are not improving your MC skills unless you want to MC the next WeWork fuck-face of the year event. This isn’t to say you can’t do games, but make them very personal to the show, and funny in themselves. Paul used to do some fucking weird games on stage that took longer to describe than do. Nobody wanted to play them then he’d have a melt-down and end up angrily doing the game himself that he’d hand-painted little cards for. Now that’s entertainment! In fairness to Paul many of his games worked very well, it was just more fun for me when they didn’t :’DIf you run a donation show, just talk about money at the end
Oh your “Best show in town” isn’t actually “free” ? Best to keep in in your pants AOL. Are you worried people will leave half-way without paying? That’s a risk you have to take by running a donation show. Don’t drill people for money all the time, it’s very gauche. People come to comedy shows to forget about things like capitalism. I know you have a really funny bit about folding it, or you didn’t have to pay to get in, but you have to pay to get out!Don’t start your own show just to get better at hosting
Offer to do hosting spots at other peoples shows so you can focus on the craft not the admin.
#11 is so true. I was so stressed from getting the room set up at my gig that I was a lousy MC most nights. Didn't help that the pub stank of piss too.