I just watched a comedy special by a guy named Bill Burr.
He’s apparently one of the biggest comics in the world for the past 10 years, but since I’m like a hermit, I hadn’t heard of him until a few days ago.
Anyways, during the special, Bill dances on the razor’s edge for just over an hour.
He gets so close to incredibly divisive, controversial, and dangerous topics that it took my breath away.
“Black people never got the memo that you have to register your weapons.”
“Goldgigging whores are bringing down great men.”
“I’m not saying anybody should ever hit a woman, but you can’t deny there are good reasons. I can think of 17 of them right now.”
(By the way, I’m paraphrasing all of these bits, but that was the basic gist.)
I bring this up because comedy and copywriting have so much in common. And after listening and reading about copy and marketing for years, I now find I often get better ideas by watching comics, and listening to them analyze their work, than by listening to yet another copywriting seminar.
Now, there’s decades worth of work that goes into producing and polishing a comedy special like Bill Burr put out.
But some of the fundamentals are obvious.
And that’s what I want to point out today, for your benefit as well as my own.
Point 1: Think about where you stand. Bill Burr isn’t just saying things because they are shocking and provocative. He’s saying them because he genuinely believes them, at least in my impression. The thing is, even though he’s saying napalm-level-incendiary stuff, he’s thought through his point well enough, and he’s got enough good arguments (presented in a funny way), that you at least have to hear him out. And he definitely has your attention.
Point 2: Don’t back down. Once he says something crazy and provocative, there’s no weakness in Bill Burr. He has this grin on his face all the time, and even when he says, “I can think of 17 good reasons to hit a woman,” the grin doesn’t change. And neither does his delivery. Or the words he uses. Or his arguments. And that means that people who don’t agree with him don’t get an automatic chance to shut him down.
I think both of these points, though they are high-level, can be useful for marketers and copywriters as well.
Particularly if you’re putting out long-term marketing, such as daily emails, that go out to people who know you, rather than cold prospects.
But that’s not for everybody. If you don’t like playing that game, and you’d prefer simply talking benefits, and convincing cold prospects to buy from you, there’s good money to be made there. And in case you want some battle-tested ideas on how to write such copy, specifically in the form of advertorials, then check out the following: