Before we all break for the July 4th holiday I thought I would share a July 4th Comedy Playlist. Great idea, right? Well maybe not…
Background: for the last month or so I have been making weekly comedy playlists (via Spotify) because I miss working on the comedy channels I built at SiriusXM as VP Comedy & Entertainment. So the playlist gives me a creative outlet and maybe someone will notice me on the intertubes and give me a chance to do programming at their company.
Yesterday, I was talking Programming Philosophy with some folks and I mentioned the dangers of “handing in homework” and how it can ruin your brand’s cool factor. I’ll explain.
Over my 22 years at various places I have found the best work was always when we were doing whatever made the staff laugh. We were our demo, and we had a feel for what the audience liked.
When we were at our worst is when we handed in homework. By homework I mean some boss decided we should do something because that’s what everyone else does and it’s expected. I won’t get into specifics but a hypothetical example might be “we need July 4th Comedy.” So for my blog I took on the hypothetical challenge of “July 4th Comedy” and made this….
Dave Attell on fireworks is a good start. Christian Finnegan is funny, ok. Breuer yep…um I guess Eddie Murphy BBQ is 4th of July-ish even though it’s 30 years old….um yeah two presidential rap battles are kinds July 4th and I think Bob Newhart has something….
That’s a bad playlist.
It’s bad and it didn’t come easy. Maybe if I worked three hours on it I could pull something together but that’s a bad playlist.
What’s bad about it? After the first three bits there is no theme. Stylistically it’s all over the place (Newhart and rap battles). There’s no reason for it to exist.
Sure I could hand it in, get someone off my case, run the promo, put out the press release and enjoy the long weekend, because who is really listening anyway, right (sarcasm). Why get everyone mad at you? Just hand in the homework.
Nope, that playlist sucks.
Thus, a good confident programmer tells the boss/staff/powers that be that it’s not good, we shouldn’t do it. Bosses like Jay Clark and Jeremy Coleman get it. No need to hand in homework with those guys.
If I had a station I would not hand this in.
Nobody is driving around thinking “man I could go for some July 4th themed comedy.” If you can make it good, sure, do it. If you’re doing it just to keep someone off your back then you’re off your game. Gold stars do nothing for the guy at the listening end. Do what’s right for that person and you’ll be golden.