Q: You go back to the same actors frequently?
A: I have to. It’s a tax thing.
— Christopher Guest on the Charlie Rose Show, 2003
In my opinion, Christopher Guest is one of the most talented entertainers in history.
You know who I’m talking about.
He acted, sang, and played guitar as Nigel Tufnel in This Is Spinal Tap (“This one goes to 11”). He also directed and wrote Best in Show and Waiting for Guffman. He even had a role in The Princess Bride, as the soft-spoken but sadistic Count Rugen.
In spite of all these achievements, Christopher Guest is even more impressive in real life.
For example, he was interviewed on Charlie Rose some 15 years ago.
He was subtle and funny in almost every second of the live interview.
That’s rare.
Because most comedians, even the ones I love the best, are a big disappointment when they have to improvise.
They don’t have the same delivery.
They don’t have good punchlines.
They are simply not very funny, especially when compared to their stage or movie persona.
And this is yet another connection between the world of comedy and the world of sales copywriting. Because one of the biggest and most sacred sales copy commandments is:
“Write like you talk!”
Sure, this is good advice for people who are terrified of writing.
Or for those who are used to writing in a nonsense, corporate tone (“Objective considerations of contemporary phenomena compel the conclusion…”)
But “write like you talk” is not something that top copywriters actually do themselves.
Don’t believe me?
Go on YouTube and find some video of Gary Halbert speaking.
See how slow and ponderous the man was. It’s nothing like the crisp, funny, energetic writing in his newsletter.
And that’s not a coincidence.
Top copywriters make their copy more than “just how they talk.”
I won’t give away the secrets of the trade here.
Suffice to say that most copywriters, just like most comedians, simply aren’t that persuasive or funny in real life.
We’re not all Christopher Guest, unfortunately.
Fortunately, there is a simple fix.
It’s called hard work and unrelenting toil.
In other words, if you’re not naturally an incredible storyteller or an irresistible salesman, you can still write top-level copy.
And all it will take are dozens of passes over what you’ve written the first time around, until you revise it into something that really pulls.
Of course, there are checklists and shortcuts that can make your job easier. And if that’s what you’re looking for, then you might like the following: