By Ben Rosenfeld

Multiple pro comics I know say that nobody wants to Emcee anymore but that Emceeing skills train you to become very funny very fast and give you the ability to headline quicker. With that in mind, I asked one of the pros I talk to for his tips on how to be a great MC, here is the advice I took away.

1. Come in with super high energy. You want to get the audience’s energy as high as possible
2. Get a couple of rounds of cheap applause (“Clap it up for yourselves”, “Who’s happy it’s a Friday night?)
3. Next go straight into crowd work, asking the standard questions like “Where are you from?”, “What do you do for work”, etc. Try to make jokes about their answers, or joke about the fact that their answers are boring
4. Don’t ask more than 3 tables in a row, or people will hate you
5. Get some more cheap applause
6. Do a couple of your jokes
7. Repeat step 3 through 6 as needed, establish the pattern.
8. Get a final round of applause (“Who’s ready to get this show started?) then bring out the first comic
9. When you come on stage between each comic, make sure to maintain a super high level of energy to keep the audience in their seats and excited about the next comic
10. Most important, the emcee has to be a person. You can’t talk at people, you have to talk to them. (This applies to regular stand up spots as well, but especially if you’re the host.)

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