Every skill is perfected only by practice!
It is unlikely that you don’t know Chris Rock.
He was the one at the receiving end in that infamous Oscar slap involving him and Will Smith.
He was a cast member of the Saturday Night Live from 1990 till 1993.
For all of you who do not know what “Saturday Night Live” is, it is an American late night Comedy show, that cast actors, comedians and artists.
Chris Rock started off as the next “Eddie Murphy” in the making. But was soon dumped from the show. He was a failure at comedy.
Chris would have quit stand-up comedy after that failure. But he had confidence in his skill as a stand-up comedian.
At the same time, he knew that he needs to practice the art before he can do another show.
So he spent the next 2 years practicing stand up comedy at small comedy clubs.
He had a goal in mind and he was working towards it.
He was preparing for his first HBO-special.
He knew that if he succeeded at that performance, it would be career changing for him.
And when Chris went on to do his first HBO special “Bring the Pain” in 1996, the show went onto become an instant hit.
A 12-minute controversial segment in the special became a huge talking point. Though Chris never performed that segment after that, this segment and the HBO special gave Chris the recognition he deserved.
He went onto become the biggest stand up comedian of during 1990 – 2000.
But there is a hidden part to this story which a lot of people aren’t aware.
Before Chris went onto do the special, he had a unique demand that, he will pick his audience.
Yes. That’s true!
Chris wanted to pick his own audience.
His requirement was that his audience had to be all Black.
His audience included a list of prominent personalities like Barack Obama, Oprah Winfrey etc.
Know the reason why he was so specific?
Because he knew that the show that he was going to do was controversial and was something only Blacks could relate to.
He knew his content and the audience who would help get the mileage it deserved. He knew that the conversation that he was going to do that evening was something that was already going on in the heads of his audience.
All he had to do was to shout it loud.
Hence he chose his audience.
And the rest is history.
As content creators, there are some important lessons from this story of Chris Rock –
- Practice is what will help you succeed. And it has no other alternative.
- Choose your audience if you want your message to resonate.
- You are who knows your content well and who would be able to relate to it. Hence send it across to the right audience.
On Twitter
Podcasting has helped me achieve something that I had always dreamt off but never really thought possible.
If done right, you can achieve a lot from podcasting.
Here are 5 ways that podcasting has helped me and can help you as well.
Follow me on Twitter for more of my threads
News that will Interest You:
- This week, the news of Podcasters buying listens and downloads, rocked the podcasting industry. While that is a clear cut case of gaming the numbers, IAB came out with a statement that this was in line with the guidelines and hence cannot be questioned, which was a little strange for me.
- The discussion on what is the ideal length of an episode is never-ending. But a study by rephonic now shows that longer episodes are becoming less common and that around 38 minutes is the sweet spot. Sweet! Isn’t it?
From the Podcasting University Podcast
Podcast hosting is a critical element in Podcasting. And hence picking the right podcast hosting becomes extremely important.
I released 2 episodes in the last 2 weeks on Podcast hosting –
Episode -74 : 7 Things to consider when picking a good podcast hosting
Episode -75: The Top 10 Best Premium Podcast Hosting platforms.
I hope you will find value in these episodes.
Articles of Interest
- This article on the Libsyn blog about the importance of niching down for podcast monetization is an interesting read.
- What is Podcasting 2.0? This article by Daniel J Lewis about Podcasting 2.0 is filled with everything you need to knwo about it.
Reader’s Questions
I did not get any questions that I found relevant enough to be answered. If you have any questions, please feel free to write to me and I will include it in my next edition.
“Content marketing is really like a first date. If all you do is talk about yourself, there won’t be a second date.” – David Beebe
Recommended Reading
Here are 2 book recommendations for this week:
- Personality Plus – Every wondered why some people squeeze a tooth-paste tube from the middle? I too did. This book by Florence Littauer is one of the best books to understand personalities and learn the art of dealing with differing personalities.
- Don’t say Yes when You want to say No – I always struggled to say “No” to people. But this book by Herbert Fensterheim and Jean Baer taught me the art of saying “No”, without really saying “No”.
That’s it for this week,
See ya again in the next edition,
Dilip K
P.S. If you would like to connect with me or, read more of my writings in the form of blog posts, then you can visit my blog about Podcasting Tips.
P.P.S. If you loved this newsletter, then why not recommend it to somebody you think it will be helpful for.
P.P.P.S. I am finally moving this newsletter from Substack to my self-hosted platform. You will get an email with the details in a week from now. Looking forward to see you on the new platform!
