How to brief a comedian for your company offsite
The five details that decide whether a corporate comedy set lands, and how to share them before you book.
A comedy set at an offsite is only as good as the brief behind it. The comedian is walking into a room they have never seen, in front of people who all know each other and share jokes they weren’t there for. A good brief closes that gap.
These are the five things we ask every corporate client before we shortlist an artist.
1. Who is in the room
Tell us the size of the audience, the rough age range and the mix of seniority. A room of 60 senior leaders needs a different comedian than 800 people from across the company on an annual day. If the CEO and new joiners are in the same room, say so. That changes what a comedian can safely joke about.
2. Language
Hindi, English or both. Most rooms we play in Delhi NCR are comfortable with a bilingual set, but a team spread across the country, or with international colleagues, may need English. This single detail rules out half of any shortlist, so share it early.
3. What is off limits
Every company has topics that aren’t funny this quarter: a restructure, a leadership change, a competitor in the news. Share them. Good corporate comedians want this list. It lets them write material that is sharp without being risky.
We also ask whether the set should be “clean”. For most corporate rooms the answer is yes, and the artists we recommend for these shows are comfortable working that way.
4. Where the set sits in the evening
A 30-minute set straight after dinner plays very differently from one that opens an awards night. Tell us what happens before and after, and how long you want the set to run. Forty-five minutes is a common length for a headline set. Shorter works well when comedy is one part of a longer programme.
5. The practical details
Stage or no stage, a working microphone and a lit performance area make a bigger difference than most people expect. So does seating: an audience sitting close together laughs more than one spread across a ballroom. We handle the artist’s rider, travel and technical needs, but the venue layout is usually decided on your side, so share a floor plan if you have one.
What happens next
Once we have the brief, we send a shortlist of artists matched to your audience, each with clips and fees. You choose, and we handle contracts, travel and production through to the show.
If you’re planning an offsite, tell us about it.