Hello, Divergent Dear Ones.
Are you an aspiring Creative? Or perhaps you already have an active creative platform, product, or service? It can be daunting to put ourselves and our content "out there" for public consumption in a crowded marketplace. Will people like our work? How will we market our work (when we hate marketing)? Will we get any (or lots of) likes/shares/comments/followers? If this is you, and these are concerns you've struggled with, read on for a rising comedian's fantastic take on the matter along with my twice-exceptional share/info dump about my reaction to his take on this common conundrum.
This morning, I watched comedian Josh Johnson giving The Big Interview on Wired with Senior Writer Jason Parham. Josh is my favorite comedian these days. I find his relaxed style and incredibly intelligent observations absolutely hilarious. I subscribe to his YouTube channel and watch him as often as I can, and he's not the only one. I'm a comedy NERD. Give me all the comedy!
I have been a comedy nerd since I first watched Robin Williams and George Carlin on TV in the 80s. Not only did they make me laugh so hard I cried, but they gifted me with an awareness of the intelligence, insight, and creative strategizing involved in comedy. Their observations of human behavior, eccentricities, and contradictions were incisive, bold, and so very validating. I didn't realize it then, but I was watching what I now believe to be two highly gifted and possibly twice exceptional people sharing their neurodivergent field observations of human behavior.
Everything they pointed out - the contradictions, the absurdities, the hypocrisies - validated the things I was seeing, hearing, feeling, and processing. I felt instantly connected to these truth-tellers who somehow made us laugh at ourselves. They often took divisive political issues, dissected them, and showed them to the audience in a way that connected people through laughter at their own absurdities. It was as if the audiences (and I) were saying, "Yes! Robin/George! You're right. We do these RIDICULOUS things and take ourselves WAY too seriously! (insert uproarious laughter and applause)." It was magic, and I couldn't get enough. Today, my comedy consumption consists of folks like Jimmy Fallon, Iliza Shlesinger, Drew Lynch, Angelah Johnson, Hannah Gadsby, and of course Josh, to name a few. Each offers their own style and take on observations about (their own and our shared) humanity.
What I really loved about the interview with Josh, were his insights on his motivation to provide this kind of quality experience for his audience, his views on the purpose of sharing on social platforms, and his take on goal setting. He writes and performs so that his audience has the best experience possible. He posts simply to share with those (like me) who either can't make it to a show or would go to a show if they became familiar with him and his material. He's not sharing to get the dopamine hit of likes. He's not sharing to amass millions of followers. While those things provide data on his posts via responses to his material, they are not the goal. Can he make someone laugh? Can he give them a singular experience? Yes. Those things are in his control. That is the goal - the highest quality experience for the audience. When asked about providing quality experiences in a crowded marketplace, Josh replied, "Quality isn't crowded." Ooof! That really resonates.
What relevant take-aways can we glean from Josh's lil' truth bomb? When we engage in a creative endeavor which we intend to share publicly:
we can strive to deliver a quality experience. Obviously, that's relative, but we do our best to show up authentically and deliver a unique experience/interaction/content.
we can share on socials not for the dopamine fix of likes or the number of followers, but to give others access to this experience/interaction/content.
we can set goals based on the quality of our work (what we can control - i.e. practicing, refining, improving, delivering), not on the behaviors of others (not in our control - i.e. numbers of likes, shares, comments, etc.).
we can look at the likes, shares, comments (or lack thereof) as feedback/data to inform our discernment in making future choices.
There are lots of folx with a million plus followers, and way more likes on their posts than you or I may get, but that's not the goal. The goal is to show up as the best, most genuine YOU, you can be and provide a quality product/experience. There's plenty of room for your quirky, weird, wonderful, high-quality s***!!!
Watch the interview with Josh at: https://youtu.be/tNsGjO0V2z0?si=Cp7PuEA4Md2xk9cp
Watch Josh's stand-up on YouTube - @JoshJohnsonComedy
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