The joke lands. Then it changes.
The very first time I did standup, I neglected to read the room.
I forgive myself. I had to follow Eddie Murphy, who had dropped in and was killing for 45 minutes. It was the first and only time I didn’t want to watch Eddie perform.
Depending on the room, you can tell the same joke, word for word, and get completely different reactions.
Not because the joke changed.
Because what people heard changed.
Even though the audience reflects an assortment of personalities and dispositions (especially in New York), there is usually a mood in the room. Something shared.
Sometimes it’s resistance. Sometimes it’s momentum.
Some standups do their material the same way no matter who shows up.
Others calibrate in real time.
Pete Holmes once gave me advice I’ve never forgotten:
“If your name is on the marquee, don’t change a thing. They came to see you. If you’re just in the lineup and it’s not your show, do whatever you have to do to make them laugh.”
It was useful.
And humbling.
In business, messaging behaves similarly, with one critical difference.
Your audience is more specific.
They share a problem.
You provide the solution.
So in theory, it should land more consistently.
But it doesn’t.
You explain what you do.
They understand it.
They may even repeat it back to you.
And then it travels.
To a colleague. To a partner. To someone else involved in the decision.
And now it’s slightly different.
Still close.
Still recognizable.
But not exact.
That’s where things start to slip.
Not dramatically.
Just enough.
Enough to blur it.
Enough to slow it.
Enough that decisions don’t move the way they should.
Nothing breaks.
But nothing quite builds.
This isn’t about better messaging.
Or more visibility.
It’s about what happens in the space between what you mean…
…and what people carry forward.
When that shifts, even slightly, you lose control of how your work is understood.
And once that happens, the market starts filling in the gaps for you.
That’s the break point.
I’m going into this on Tuesday.
A short diagnostic on where that shift happens and how to correct it so your work actually holds.
April 7, 1pm ET, 30 minutes: