Today we’d like to introduce you to Marshall Chiles.
Marshall, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I started in stand-up coming in January 2000. Owned The Funny Farm Comedy Club in Roswell, GA from 2002-April 2009. I saw the writing on the wall that the entertainment complex where the Funny Farm was located was going out of business. I opened Laughing Skull Lounge in Midtown Atlanta February 2009 just before the Funny Farm pushed up daisies.
In 2011, I started trying to figure out how to combine my comedy knowledge and business knowledge to make more money. In 2013 I realized my skill of being able to make other people funny (er) could be applied to sales people and business presenters. I went to a few of my friends in sales and asked them to give me their presentation while I wrote ‘jokes’ for them to use in future presentations. They loved what I contributed and said their humor worked and helped them in selling.
“Humor increases persuasion’s effectiveness.” – Dr. Jim Lyttle
I then wrote and self-published a book called ‘Your Presentations is a Joke: Using Humor to Maximize Your Impact’ that has done well and sells all over the world with zero marketing. I published April 2016, just in time to be the keynote at Fortune Magazine’s Scaling Up Summit which was a big honor for me.
As a speaker, my ‘Your Presentation is a Joke’ presentation won an award from YPO (Young Presidents’ Organization) which is even a big honor for me.
I have worked with several presenters in making them funny (er) but my real passion these days is in what I call Internal Comedy Shows. These are stand-up comedy shows where the performers are people within the company. They have 6-7 people work with me one-on-one and I write the jokes with, and for, them. I then have professional comedy writers add even more, and funnier, jokes in order to make sure everyone has solid material.
The people who perform in this shows become office heroes. We make comedy show posters with their headshot on them that goes around the company’s offices that helps build the excitement. These shows are so amazing that I have seen people get a standing ovation going on and off the stage.
These shows are also very rewarding to me because everyone has a great time and people say that I gave them one of the best experiences of their lives. Knowing that these people got to experience somethings as magical as being on stage telling jokes making their peers laugh, and their co-workers in the audience cheering them on… that feeling has zero price tag. That feeling is earned and I take it as a great responsibility of what I bring to the world.
So after five years of searching on how to use my comedy knowledge mixed with my business knowledge, it all comes back down to… I know how to make people laugh.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
The Laughing Skull Lounge & Laughing Skull Comedy Festival (May 1-8, 2017) are doing very well… my main focus is building Humor Wins and these Internal Comedy Shows.
Several Pivots:
1) Google AdWords for other venues around the country
2) Comedy Based marketing – making funny videos for companies
3) Adding humor to presentations
4) Internal Comedy Shows
Different names:
Skull Marketing
Green Room, etc.
Humor Wins
So yea, several twists and turns.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
Very proud of Laughing Skull Lounge and The Laughing Skull Comedy Festival (May 1-8, 2017).
I am proud of my book, my presentation, my workshops, and the Internal Comedy Shows.
I have Blue Ocean with my book/presentation and the Internal Comedy Shows.
What were you like growing up?
Bad kid… class clown. Been working my whole life to satisfy a 5-year-old boy inside of me.
Pricing:
- Internal Comedy Shows are $10,000 and that does not include the venue nor food and beverage.
- Adding a media package to the internal comedy show is $3,500… that is for a 3 camera shoot of the show, a professional photographer with a step and repeat with red carpet.
Contact Info:
- Address: 878 Peachtree St Ne
Atlanta, GA 30309 - Website: www.HumorWins.com, www.LaughingSkullLounge.com, www.LaughingSkullComedyFestival.com
- Phone: 678.439.1004
- Email: marshall@humorwins.com
