CNX Podcast
The Chiang Mai Community Podcast, where businesses, brands and interesting people get heard. Hosted by Ash Pemberton.
CNX Podcast
Brushstrokes and Banter: Adam Palmeter's Journey through Art and Comedy S01/E02
Today, Ash is joined by the brilliant Adam Palmeter as they navigate the intersections of art, comedy, and public speaking. This episode explores the fascinating journey of Adam's artistic pursuits, from painting New York skylines on vinyl to applying his vibrant brushstrokes not only to walls and canvases but also to unconventional canvases like Ash's car, an unmissable sight on the street of Chiang Mai.
Enjoy the humor and humanity interwoven throughout Adam's life as he shares his unique experiences – from navigating the stand-up comedy scene in New York, emceeing at the Dynamite Circle, a global network of location-independent entrepreneurs, to his coaching initiative, 'Let's talk to strangers,' where we learn about his insightful approach to stirring emotions and creating impactful positions in the realm of public speaking.
This engaging episode invites listeners on a cross-continental journey through the fields of creativity, business flair, and the art of storytelling. Tune in to unravel a world filled with laughter, artistry, and teachings from Adam Palmeter.
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Mr. Adam Palmeter. What a delight to have you here.
Adam:it is a pleasure to be
Ash:Ladies and gentlemen, big it up for Adam.
Adam:Oh, Thank you. Please put your shirt back on.
Ash:Adam, thank you for coming into the CNX podcast. when people see my car and they get really excited and they say, wow, did you do that? First of all, I take the credit myself. And then, honestly, I say, actually, it was from a New York graffiti artist. that's how I introduce you. But I know there's more to you than that. You are the resident MC and stand up comic at my favorite conference, DCBKK
Adam:Mine as well.
Ash:Jolly good. So obviously I know you from there too. You are a stand up comedian. You go and you gig, and you've done that a lot in Chiang Mai as well. You're an author of a children's book on entrepreneurship and financial literacy. You're a teacher on Skillshare but the thing probably that I would summarize you as, and the thing that I love to read on your bio just telling jokes and painting pictures.
Adam:yeah, there's not too much else.
Ash:That brings a lot of joy to a lot of people. Which one of those do you feel represents you?
Adam:Oh I guess haven't done graffiti in a long time. I think a lot of artists probably start there. But you know what? I've gotten handful of pictures from people over the year of your car. So people have taken photos and I'm like, is this, you, right? And I'm like, yeah, totally, so it's pretty cool to kind of like forget about certain art projects and suddenly get a photo every once in a while, but I have to say it was My first car and one of the coolest projects that I've ever done. and I want to say thank you for trusting to do that, because it's very hard to hurt the resale value of your car that much, I feel like couple other people after seeing that had reach out to me when you come back to New York, you can do my car and I was like, I don't know what you're getting. if you know what you're getting into, When it comes time to get, sell that someone might like, like a Banksy on their car
Ash:Just a bit of context for some of the listeners. I have a 10 year old white Kia, and it still can run. It's a good car, but I'd lost all passion and all love for it. And I was like, what do I do with it? And I said to would you consider doing your, very distinctive Brushstroke style that makes me think of the jungle. It's a little bit floral. It's truly unique that style and I wonder if he would consider doing it on my car and I was thinking that we would have just a bit, just like a graduation of these strokes and I still remember the first panel that you did and you just turned around and looked at me and you went We're going to have to do that a lot. do
Adam:Yeah, we got to go big or go home. It felt right at that point. When I just started seeing how the brush strokes were coming out. I'm very inspired by the jungle. I'm very inspired by palm trees as my namesake, palm eater. And when I try to describe it. it I tell people like, Yeah, I do a lot of lines. my style of artwork, I approach it more as wrapping paper. So I'm not always just looking at flat walls. because it fits and I can paint around anything. It's not, really no hard edges. something like a car. is actually a really good opportunity for me to explore my boundaries, a, final project like that looks like.. Oh boy. I started in bathrooms. When first moved to Asia, I lived in South Korea from 2010 to 2012. Then I went back to New York as a full time comedian slash artist and I would sell my artwork on the street and then do comedy at night. And that was a great way to go into debt. So I did that for almost three years. I hit a breaking point after having a really bad show. and getting out of a tough relationship. And then a cousin of mine who was living in Saigon, Ho Chi Minh City said, Yeah, you gotta sell all your stuff and just come out here. So I literally bought a ticket that night. Woke up with a hangover and I was just like, man, I had a weird dream that I bought a ticket. And I did, but I think I needed that kind of rip the band aid off, I think a lot of people who end up going out in the world. They get pushed, sometimes by themselves, sometimes by the world. It's not really a light decision to make. change everything about my life, Getting over to Saigon, I was exposed to a lot of people who happened to be in the D. C. A people who were doing their own thing on their own. terms. And then, after spending some time there I kind of really wanted to push into artwork. And not just canvases, I really wanted to do walls, and I needed to practice. So, I made an offer to all of the higher end cafes, bars, rooftop, clubs free artwork in your bathrooms. I wanted to do a whole installment of twenty something bathrooms. I ended up doing twenty five. It was called Adam Palmeter Installs and I literally just practiced color combinations brush stroke, started very rough. It was more just about smashing together colors and just making an interesting experience. also no one's, fighting. over bathroom space, In terms of artists, so I knew it was hard for people to say no but that gave me all, a lot of practice. It got a lot of eyes on. my work. And then Quite soon after that I quit my job as a teacher in Ho Chi Minh City and then jumped on the road started traveling because I wanted to do comedy, I wanted to painting. I had also just started Amazon dropshipping at that point and that was a really good mistake for me. I was surrounded by a lot of people who were doing things like this. You know, I absorb people's excitement and then all of a sudden I'm like, oh, I'm going to try that. And really, I had no good reason to jump into that. Except that I was like, oh, I want to put my artwork on ceramic mugs. Cause I used to hand paint them in New York. I would hand paint New York skylines. I thought this would be an easy way so I can just produce mugs. and sell them on Amazon. Everyone's going to want a mug. highly breakable item shipped. Through Amazon. I think I had a 40 percent return rate at one point. And it was, oh yeah, I was just hemorrhaging money. I had no idea what I was doing. And I just kind of like, well, I'm just gonna not open that website anymore for a while. I'm sure it'll pick up steam on its own, it'll work itself out. and it did not but, what it did, those big mistakes, realize wow, like I don't want to do that. So now I'm going to refocus on how do I sell artwork, And as I started getting more walls I've been able to do work that positions me in a way to bring more work. So a lot of that, for me, is giving away murals. as I travel around I usually make a post, on the expat pages offer free murals for a school, or for charities, just people doing the good work, any place. And donate a mural there. And what that does though, is it gets a lot of, eyeballs on my work. so everyone who's seeing me give away murals, I'm able to put up 10 different examples of what I do. And then people see that and think, Oh, maybe that can go in my office. Maybe that can go in my home on my car.
Ash:just a bit of context for people listening. Panyadin International School in Handong. You very kindly donated your artwork while you painted a mural. 25 meters long, I think.
Adam:It was a long one.
Ash:In the scorching midday sun.
Adam:That was two days actually, yeah.
Ash:just talking about arts and styles, for me, you have two very distinctive styles. did you create this distinctive style and go that's it. I wanted to have something uniquely mine that people will recognize. And how do you get two of them? how did that come about?
Adam:the designs I do for the DC t shirts that comes from when I was doing skylines in New York. I had my little chair and table set up next to the 7th Avenue stop in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. And I would paint vinyl records. So I would go to the vinyl shop sometimes and I go to the dollar bin section, and I would find singles of New York hip hop artists.
Ash:like Notorious
Adam:Jay Z, like Notorious B. I. G., Big Pun, and I would take those and I would paint the skyline around the center, And for that style I would use latex paint, like samples. Like a Benjamin Moore painting walls. And then uh, chumpstick chopstick never actually touches the vinyl or the canvas where I'm painting. It drips very slowly and I can pull and drag it and create these kind of abstract lines. Much in the vein of, a graffiti style. I did that for a long time, and I would do these images, like the ones you would see for the DC shirts, and then I would, take a photo with my phone, put them into Illustrator, vectorize them, and then play with the colors in Photoshop, and that turned into a completely different art style. One now that I have learned how to do on my iPad, and then develop that style, mimic the same thing I used to do with the chopsticks. line work that I do, just began in Ho Chi Minh City I would say
Ash:When you say the line work, you mean the brush stroke? Yes.
Adam:Abstract line work, or what I've been, referring to as abstract tropica.
Ash:Okay, sure. It's yours to name.
Adam:I just had a small feature in uppercase Magazine. It's a design magazine. And I had written down that my style was abstract, tropical, and maybe I forgot the l 'cause in the publication it says abstract tropical, and it just sounds a bit more refined It really does.
Ash:And that the vision That you would try to become a commercial artist, try to make as much money out of art as possible, or is it just you're doing it because you love it?
Adam:Oh, I absolutely love it. can think of nothing better than spending a day painting outdoors. You pulled up in the car You're blasting the Beatles. You know, I got my coffee. I got my brush. Beautiful weather. yeah, you really can't beat that.
Ash:Where have you painted in Chiang Mai? Where can people see your work? We know we have Panyaden in International School, and you have Ash's car. But where else have you done?
Adam:So, Urban Light the resource center, for uh, boys who are exploited in the sex traffic Panyaden Child's Dream Foundation. Which is a NGO here in Chiang Mai working to build schools all over Southeast Asia. It's quite a large organization doing a lot of good work. And, The Spot Dispensary over here in Niemann. Yeah.
Ash:I'll go take a look at that
Adam:yeah, a new spot there. They Do a little cannabis co working over there, which is a really cute idea. they just opened. up. They have a lot of white walls, and they've given me artistic freedom. Which I think is also, something very important to me I'm finding out. Whereas, a lot of times I offer free artwork for some places, just trying to make your walls a little bit prettier. I'm gonna be painting a Mayan gym, in Jed Yad the gym I go to they got a a big wall right behind the Muay Thai boxing bags. like painting in places where I go. I also enjoy talking to people. namely about business. And even businesses I know nothing about and just hearing about what their problems are because I think we can all, especially, founders and entrepreneurs learn a lot from people who aren't doing what
Ash:Awesome. So Adam on Facebook recently. I noticed a post that you put out which was offering coaching. And it was hashtagged, let's talk to strangers, so obviously that's something that you're very comfortable doing. And something that a lot of people aren't comfortable doing. From what I know about you and intro that we've said, I imagine that juice is comedy. Please just tell me a little bit about your offer, and why a presenter or a keynote speaker should add a bit of comedy into their performance or their presentation.
Adam:I think the, juice doesn't have to be comedy. juice is a combination of things that make up, I think, a person's swagger, for lack of a better word it's the confidence when you see someone on stage, comedian, speaker, and they just have it. They just know they're, they're, comfortable they know what they're talking, about. That kind of confidence is just so infectious to an audience, and it really changes how people feel about what they're listening to, how they're interpreting it. And I think a lot of times people can have a lot of value from stage, and they can have a lot of interesting and amazing things to say, and just delivery might not be there. And unfortunately, takes away a lot from their talks. You know, they talk about authority positioning in business, where you've done XYZ, this is why people should listen to you. there's a lot of authority that comes naturally to us, just as humans, just as animal, there's a reason why charisma draws people in. And when I started coming to these DC conferences and I started emceeing for these, I started working with a lot of these speakers, maybe not directly at the time, But I had a chance to see people going through all the things in their mind got to remember this I've got to remember that, what if they're looking at me? There's just, this checklist, I think, of anxiety that people go through if they're not used to being on stage, I really took notice of that because, in the D. C., there's a lot of talented business people. Not a lot of comedians, not a lot of people who spend a significant amount of time on stage. And as a comedian, I'm on stage with a purpose. I'm trying to get reactions every 15 seconds. a specific reaction. I'm not trying to make anyone cry. It's not like just give me something. It's something very specific. There is a goal there. And that's not the case with public speaking. People will sit in silence and watch you for an hour. And you might not have any idea. how it's going. because It's an engaged audience, but it's not an audience that is reacting to something, everyone will clap after your talk is done. That's voluntary. Laughter is not voluntary. Laughter just comes up, I think there's a real power in that. had made an offer the D. C. Just hey, I'm just testing this out. If you gotta talk coming up. If you want to do some jokes. And so a few people had reached out for that, I was able to help them, write a few jokes here, write a few jokes there. And then I started getting people say, hey, can you help me out with my talk coming up here? their big problem wasn't the content. Their problem wasn't the jokes. Their problem was, do I look at people? Am I too loud? What should I do with my hands? And you end up realizing that this is a very uncomfortable space for people, and there's a reason why one of the biggest fears in the world is public speaking. just terrifying. But, what I start seeing is that same fear, is really just like a deep rooted fear. That everyone shares, but for different reasons. It could be a fear of rejection. some kind of public trauma that you experienced as a young person. it's really quest for confidence in a way that people want to go on to get, come over. that fear. And, often times it's just coaching someone just to feel better about being. That space on stage. the jokes are secondary. at a point. Because Anyone can deliver a joke poorly, no matter how funny the joke is. if you don't hit the timing, the cadence, you just run through it and everyone's wait, what? was that supposed to be a joke? having actually a really interesting time talking with these people and figuring out instead of saying Hey, let's work on talking to strangers and let's write some jokes and you're going to be Mr. Funny because people come with the assumption thinking like, Oh, good. I'm going to be interpreted as a comedian on stage. And that's really not going to be the case because it'll take about 10 years or so is when you pass that mark where you have found your voice and you're comfortable in it. And it just doesn't leave you at that point.
Ash:I've seen the story of the rise and fall of comedians and I know that lot of stand up comedians become most famous TV celebrities, guest show hosts, stand up comedy gives them this backbone, gives them these foundations to go on and do other amazing jobs. Is that your ambition or you do it for the comedy?
Adam:comedy has been the greatest vehicle for me. comedy has gotten me work. in art, vice versa. Even going back to New York when I'm on the street painting live right there. And people come up and start chatting and I'm like, Hey, what are you doing tonight? Oh, I got a show in Williamsburg. Or if people come to a show and then I meet them that way like, oh, I'm actually an artist during the day. comedy has really brought me, I the DC event,
Ash:Just very quickly to people that are listening. When we talk about the DC we don't mean the comic series and we don't mean Washington district capital. We are talking about the dynamite circle. This is an entrepreneurs and remote business network. And every year they have a flagship event in Bangkok and probably about a hundred entrepreneurs come up to Chiang Mai. In November time, and spend a few weeks here. So that's our connection, that's how we know each other. So just to fill everyone else in. I
Adam:I thought I was going to meet Spider Man when I
Ash:be Spider Man, oh
Adam:So I, come to the Dynamite Circle, Bangkok and I came as a volunteer not really knowing what to expect but I did see an opportunity, I convinced the two founders, of the DC to let me do stand up comedy between the keynote speakers. Now they had never seen me. perform before. They were like we don't even really know you. Are you offensive or bad, or both, in the middle of this pitch a woman approached and said, excuse me, sorry, are you a comedian in Vietnam? goes, I saw you like last month, oh, you're really funny, of course, Dan and Ian, the founders are there. They're like, how much did you pay her to walk up And say that, that was too on the nose, but luckily they let me do it, did really well. And then they offered me the job as the returning MC. that alone puts me in front of, 400 people a year. including you, are my friends. so every year now, I do jokes on the main stage, and then between the workshops, I do a comedy show. It's usually over a 20 minute break where people are getting coffee. or, whatever little Thai treats they have there. instead of networking, people cram into a room. And I just rushed through a whole bunch of jokes and it's always a lot of fun. It's the middle of the afternoon, but it's a good break. Obviously working it with the speakers now I think it's really developed into a valuable skill for me and I have no delusions of grandeur about being famous for comedy a lot of work When I was in New York, I quickly realized my place, I was going to open mics of people who had done late night that week, And they're waiting in the same line. And to go over their jokes for other comedians who aren't listening because it is the most Brutally competitive city in the world for comedy and I just like is this what I want? No But I spent a lot of time meeting every comedian I wanted to meet. I ran some shows there it's almost like playing a video game in New York. It's like my character is a New York City struggling comedian. Or just like overall artist or whatever. But see what that lifestyle takes and what that job really entails after a long time. There's a reason Comedians talk about being depressed. They talk about drugs and drinking and there's a lot of commiseration. which is one of the beautiful things about, the art, is that you go to an open mic, and could be, you know, six, seven comics, maybe the same amount of people in the audience, one after another, comedians going up, and these aren't, wealthy people, they get up there, and talk about how shitty their life is, or how shitty this is, And just dying at it, we're all just laughing and commiserating, A lot of it is based on negative self talk. Things that aren't positive. No one wants to hear a comedian talk about How cool their yacht is. really is a beautiful scene, but I think it's very inviting and it's very dangerous. because the endgame unfortunately, you know, you see it play out with, depression, which, can lead to substance abuse, which can just lead to not very fulfilled life, it's sad. in a romantic way, there is something beautiful about it, but I think there is just this inherent sadness amongst comedians that we share. And, we share with the world, in different ways. But to be in such a competitive world, So few people get any kind of living out of this. If you're a road comic and you're on the road for 300 days a year, how can you really support family relationships you know, as I've heard someone say recently, no roots, no fruits. I Think people in our community and like the digital nomad space can resonate with that. But yeah, for me personally, Comedy is the greatest hobby. I write jokes every single day and I don't see it ever stopping.
Ash:Sure. So you mentioned earlier about if you do this for 10 years, then that is like your foundation, your grounding, and that's what makes you a really confident standup comedian. are you going to transpose your experience? How can you help presenters? people with public speaking engagement? How do you coach them? what does the process look like?
Adam:It is. an extraordinarily unique process for each person. I'm really finding out. like I said, a lot of that fear of public speaking means a whole lot of different biggest things comedy has to offer for speakers is stage presence. comedy is sales That's what I tell people I'm not asking you is this funny I'm telling you it's funny, you're right along with me people are smiling when I'm smiling it that's the essence of all businesses if you talk to anyone for your business, that's part of sales, if you sound like a jerk, no one's gonna wanna work with you we'll say no for a lot more reasons than we'll say yes. to things. I'm working with woman who works in the music industry, she was explaining that her job is to talk big brands into working with her to create bespoke music for their message. So if Coca Cola comes and says we need a Christmas song What's to stop them from going on one of these websites where you can just go. Oh this sounds, you know ambient holiday you click all these traits and there's just like Random songs musical tracks put together for you Her job is to talk them out of that and to say no One of the biggest parts of your message is the feeling you get So, with that, I start to process things what does that, really mean to me? And, you know, it's funny. it I remember having a break and I had a playlist, where I knew what every song was gonna make me feel, sometimes you just need to feel that way. And music will help you the same way. If you're going to the gym, you're not putting on your breakup playlist, you're putting on, your gym playlist, music stokes different feelings, and you can utilize that for simple reasons. when people come and they have certain challenges It mostly comes with this. no one being confident in their certain voice. didn't know how to bridge that. Didn't know how to convince them wholly because there was no story there. I'm sure probably heard a lot story based sales. People who write copy, they start with a really strong, piece of copy to get you in there, and people just want to read more of a story despite what it's about, you could have this really beautiful story, about love, and loss, and then you're like, oh, it's the new X five microwave from Samsung. People love the commercials for the commercials, not necessarily for the products. So, when someone's on stage, trying to give their talk, they're trying to sell themself Despite what the product or the service they're offering is, they want people to listen and to be engaged. Now, with comedy, you can tell that there's a metric, because people laugh. If people aren't doing that, you need to ensure that your talk, and what you're saying up there, and how you're saying it, is going to be received well enough where don't have to laugh, they don't have to clap, but you still got them. Your story is good enough, your content is good enough. And that looks, like I said, different For different people, but coming back to that swagger, I I've seen people give talks on stage and they stand right in the same place 40 minutes, and They could be giving away gold and no one would care, you start to notice that People are checking their phones. A lot of it is, can be physical, how you're using your hands. walking around the stage, all comes back to that confidence of knowing that you should be there. And that does come with experience. the interaction is what you need to be. practicing and that helps build up your confidence and your presence. So, when I work with people, one of the things I do is okay, we get on the screen, I'm like, go. back away from the camera. I want to see how you walk around. it makes people very uncomfortable, but the value there is doing it then and not when you get on stage. And then if you can get a lot of that difficult, challenging experience of having a stranger stare at you through a laptop and you're just walking around, your living room, giving a talk to nobody and going this route I've seen lot of benefits of people I've worked with. Luckily they said the same.
Ash:How much coaching with someone like me need? see results, say I've got a presentation coming up in four weeks time. It's a pretty dry topic I'm reasonably comfortable with being on stage what would you do for me? What would we actually do together? Would you write stuff for me?
Adam:it depends on do i want to get through this talk? Do I want to make it funnier or is it, the bigger picture is it an investment in me feeling more comfortable talking to strangers, forget about the stage, forget about your talk coming up. If you can improve how you feel just talking at a party, you can bring that level of confidence, then the stage is just another place. So usually with people, I'll say like, The big goal here, it might be the talk right here, but then can have a chance to get deeper and say, okay why are you afraid of this? what is the innate fear behind you wanting to get in front of people and talk? And sometimes people open up a little bit. Usually what happens is I break up and do a series of calls, And so it starts with, me doing fact finding figuring out, do you want your talk to be funny? Some people, it's a very serious, talk they're giving and that's not their goal. At that point then it's way more about, okay, how do we really fine tune your story I break up the talks into sections. I figure out first, what you want to say, what your goals are. And then I attack each one. Sometimes, I'm like, this does not need humor. Sometimes this is perfect on its own. Someone comes to you with a different set of tools and a different story and a different goal and it's my job to go in there and connect the dots.
Ash:But how do you provoke people's emotions and get the response that you want out of them?
Adam:100%. If you can relate to what's being said, then you're being sold. people want to Put themselves in your shoes. And If you can do that better than other people, then you have a way better chance of connecting with an audience or a customer or being able to sell to them or just really capture their attention. This is why I think politicians are so successful. Every politician you know has a story like, I met Jim, he was a coal miner and you know what, no you didn't. You didn't meet Jim. However, everybody pictures Jim. Everyone immediately has their own version of Jim in their head, and they connect with the
Ash:their head and Should we be intriguing and deliberately provocative with our language?
Adam:If you want to start dramatic evocative with their language? You need to stay in a certain range because it just becomes confusing know how many people get out there. Webster's. Dictionary defines mediocrity as starting a talk with a definition. I've seen so many people just lean on something like that. Because they saw a TED talk. honestly, I always tell people, if you want to feel inspiration, watch, five TED Talks. I don't care what they're on. Usually TEDx are really good at knowing exactly the brand of type of speaking they want. Inspirational, educational, inviting and engaging. And I think Those are Traits that people can pick up on terms of setting the tone for a talk.
Ash:Another thing that people have said to me is that, When I was presenting, I would just go through this process and not really engage with my audience. trying to make it picture perfect and pixel perfect and deliver every word perfectly, but it wasn't connecting So how do you engage the audience? How do you know what they're thinking? tell me some strategy behind
Adam:I would say than not, comedians have a stronger emotional intelligence than your average person. can mean being able to read a room and kind of forecasting if certain jokes or if certain interactions will work. Personally, that's how I feel when some people come to a comedy show and they just want to be near the action, they want to be a part of it, they're not hard to find. I'll start with someone who I know is very eager, ask them their name. At that point, everyone there. Is on notice that they could be next. Oh, I could be called on. all of a sudden all this attention of strangers could be on me I've met people who don't go to see live comedy because they can't watch someone struggle on stage. They Internalize. it, They feel like, Oh my God, this is so awkward for them, which means it's awkward for me. Thank God I don't feel that way. and like when you ask someone their name, And now they're like, Oh, Charlie, thank you so much for coming, Charlie. Whoa, when did you get here? Where are you from? And you start chatting with them. It doesn't have to be a performance, that's why I like the DC conferences. Usually If we had the main stage speakers, we're about to start, 1 p. m. sharp. I get on the mic 1250. As the room's half full, people are still talking. I just grabbed the mic and I just start talking to people. Hey, what'd you do last night? And I'm just having a conversation and I'm trying to be friendly, funny, inviting, and that sets the whole tone for the room yeah, this is going to be fun. that's one of the special parts about DCBKK. it feels like a big hangout sometimes,
Ash:that for you is a tough crowd or an easy crowd?
Adam:No, that's the best crowd for me
Ash:But that mean you don't get nervous?
Adam:Don't say I ever get nervous. I get anxious Nerves, I think, make you feel like you're going to fail. Anxious is more like, something's coming. Good or bad, something's about to happen. And I generally, have too much coffee, I'm bouncing around the room, walking through and I'm just saying, hi to all these people. who I know. Some who I don't, go up and introduce myself. Say, hey, what's up? for me, I almost feel like a camp counselor but I like to bring that energy there because it is based so much in just community, this conference is special, I think, because so many people live all over the world, and there's very few live events that are accessible to everybody, and this is one of the big ones where people save up all year, or they all their travel time, their vacation time, and they come out, to Bangkok, and it should be fun,
Ash:From what you discussed there, the big takeaway for me was when you said crowd work. you know that you've got to give a speech, you know you've got to be on that main stage, turn up a little bit early and start talking to the people as they come in the room.
Adam:to Unless we want to make a huge intro And then that's when you want to get the applause going. You welcome everyone. And you have your quote official start. crowd work is comedy, but it's more just conversation, and I think you're great at that. have you tried any crowd work before you go to these conferences?
Ash:I have, but not structured, not planned, it just fell in naturally with what I was doing. It was like announcements facilitating the conference and bringing people on.
Adam:you feel good about it?
Ash:Yeah, As soon as you start to feel confident, then it's a very enjoyable process. I remember the first time I worked on the stage, that's the beauty of being a host. You come on
Adam:and
Ash:ten times, and by number three, you own that
Adam:three, you know, you kind
Ash:that's a good analogy. I like that. So my first one was presenters succeed, which is the presentation industry conference. So the reason why I think I did so well there and why it all went so is that I actually was very knowledgeable about the industry and I understood everything that the speakers were talking about, So when it was Q and a time and when there was time for comments and wrapping up, I felt like I knew everything. And advice that I was given actually by a master of ceremonies, an MC in Chiang Mai was, it won't always be like that. You were very much in your industry. And I recommend that you stay in your industry at least at the start to build up your confidence and know who you are. if you were to just switch to somewhere completely strange, don't
Adam:expect it to go good advice. I know you personally, and I could, totally see the crowd work being actually a stronghold for
Ash:tell me some more. What should I be doing?
Adam:Oh, man. I don't think you have to change that much, because such a natural speaker. You're great at parties that's a really good trait, especially if you're hosting something, and just bringing your energy which is always positive. You always has the biggest grin, people want to be around you. And when you go up on stage and you bring that energy even just into conversation, it makes people feel like, can trust that whoever is up there is going to ensure that this is going to be a good time. because that's ash. That's ash up there. You know, Like good times. And, usually the humor comes naturally at that point When you're just talking, just being friendly, just asking questions. You can easily kind of put some of the heavy lifting on them. one of the skills I picked up as a host is that when you start talking to three or four people over the course of the night you keep on asking these questions, you start to find the humor parallels that match up from this guy's story for this woman's story, You can connect dots and also have jokes ready for is what makes a lot of comics are really good. I would encourage you Crowd work. That's for you. If you're going to be in front of a huge audience, and you want to actually practice and do that, yeah. go for it. I have a really hard time seeing you turn negative on someone or making anyone feel unwanted in an audience. just being friendly, if there's no humor there, there's no humor there. Great. Thanks for coming. Really appreciate you being here. What are you excited about let them talk and then move on to someone else like that. it shows that this isn't a cut and dried, very rigid performance. think it helps people relax. they feel like they're being taken. care of.
Ash:I probably do need some jokes in my back pocket, I've tried to write them before, and I didn't really enjoy delivering them at all. felt they were way too personal, and they were inappropriate.
Adam:Oh, okay, sure. emceeing conferences is not a comedy club.
Ash:been told. You're not a comedian. That's not your purpose. You are there to, know, facilitate, introduce, make everyone feel welcome. The thing that I love most about that job it's actually kind of like my role as well to invite the audience to the after drinks party and to make sure everyone gets super sociable. So that falls in very much into my comfort zone, but still think being able to make someone laugh. it can change everything. And I just wonder, sometimes when people are talking, are you thinking of a joke?
Adam:a joke?
Ash:life. You go out of your way to try and think of something funny
Adam:funny to say. consistent joke writing. doesn't really leave me And it's just kind of become my inner monologue I'd say if you want to work on jokes, you take all your jokes and you go to an open mic.
Ash:out. So, Come tomorrow, free burger. And
Adam:Come tomorrow. Freebird. I'm going to Freebird to work on some stuff. They have an open mic on Wednesdays. Yeah. Freebird Cafe right here in CNX. I tell everyone this, I say, I don't care what your job is, go to an open mic. try to write a joke and die. in front of people. teaches you so much. more about that physical experience of being on stage. And I think it just prepares you better. certainly can humble you to a point where you're like, okay, let's refocus. that didn't work. Let's figure out something that does work. And sometimes for, for MCs, it could just be being friendly, being inviting. When I'm on stage at the DC. I do my best not to swear. I do let a few go sometimes, because we're a cool. conference. But, professionally, it doesn't look great. You can always say more, but it's hard to say
Ash:I know that cursing, swearing, whichever you want to call it alienates some people, but other people when they do it, it just elevates their
Adam:elevates their Sure. And it comes back to what kind of conference is this? And also, Are you going to alienate more people than not, instead of Focusing on who's gonna elevated by this joke. It's who's not gonna be alienated if I don't tell it, It's really easy to sabotage yourself.
Ash:I know, I
Adam:know? Yeah. if I'm doing main stage jokes for the dynamite circle, they're going to be about everyone in that room. It's going to be about trying to run a business through COVID or ups and downs, things that are relatable that they know oh, this person's here speaking to me about, all of our businesses, This is about things that I know, again, I feel taken care of that this host has done the legwork to know about, why I'm here at this particular conference. When I do my comedy show in the other room, that's like a little comedy club. That's when I, traditionally do my racy stuff, I never like writing jokes where I think it's gonna purposely piss off people. You They always say in comedy, punch up. You never punch down. You never make, fun of people. at a, maybe lower station You hear people making jokes about, everything. And It's taking the form of a backlash to, the woke movement. I do not have a dog in this fight. It's overused words, overused conversations, but it's entered the comedy world in force over the last ten years. people are purposely Writing jokes not to offend anybody, or writing jokes about, people who offend people and then there's people who are writing jokes to offend people, don't think that's a great way to set up a comedy career or persona of just like, I'm the one brave enough to say it. It's very simple. trust your gut. If your gut tells you that this joke isn't very good, but it's part of what I've written, I feel like because I wrote it, I have to say it. 95 percent of what I write gets thrown out.
Ash:what I write gets thrown out. Oh I don't feel so bad now.
Adam:Oh, the ROI, is horrible.
Ash:terrible. But
Adam:Absolutely terrible. But that's why it's important to bounce those off of crowds at open mics. So, you tell your joke, halfway through, you're like, man, this is not working, and then it falls on its face, and you're like that one's done. And sometimes you have a new thing you're fleshing out, and you get some laughs, and you're like, oh, there is something there, and now you have something to explore tomorrow morning. so it could be an interesting process of, obviously, trial by fire but it's the fire that's important, It's getting up in front of people and seeing human reactions because your job is sales, human to human, even if it's just speaking. And there are several ways for that to go sideways and not being prepared for your particular audience. is great way for it to go sideways.
Ash:It's been an absolute pleasure, my man. Thank you for giving us all of that insight. If someone listening to this He could definitely help me with my presentation, or my performance, or my sales team, or my patter, or my confidence. What's your social media How can people get in touch with you? How can they find out more about what you
Adam:How can out more about what you do? My website, just adampalmeter. com. Has everything murals. I have a comedy album I recorded a little over a year ago in Playa del Carmen. My books, the opportunity book series, which is helping children learn about entrepreneurship and business at an early age as well as the let's talk to strangers comedy coaching. I'm pretty easy to find. Instagram is really just art, comedy, all things fun. Yeah, come check me out. Say what's up.
Ash:So it's adampalmerter. com, it's going to be your main website. And on Instagram, if people want to find you easily.
Adam:Just Adam Palmeter.
Ash:Dead easy. My man, thank you so much. It's been a pleasure. Sweet.
