LIFE IS BETTER WHEN YOU LAUGH

John Cleese’s (final?) solo tour comes  to Carre on April 18, with later stops in Enschede and Zwolle. Zwolle eh? Who knew! Tickets go on sale to the general public on Friday in what is humorously called the ‘Last Chance to See Me Before I Die Tour.’ He’s probably right. Don’t miss the opportunity to…

It is perhaps unfair to Aziz to start with his now-famous 2018 date gone wrong. He hasn’t spoken much about it publically, however, and most people in the audience want to hear his thoughts eighteen months later. Aziz handles that well, all things considered, and starts the show with a few personal minutes. He felt…

I was backstage at an event recently, and a speaker was about to go on. She was nervous, checking that her presentation was in order and that the technicians had her latest deck (as oppose to her second-to-latest deck, the one she emailed last night). While asking her the correct way to pronounce her name (my guess…

Last week I was at a meeting and asked what I should write about in this blog post. Someone suggested, “Are you planning to take it easy this summer? Not us!” And then I would mention all the stuff we’ve got going on at Boom Chicago over the summer. But I had to say to…

Happy Spring! If you’re like us, you spent the long Dutch Easter weekend relaxing after opening a new show, “The Future is Here… And it is Slightly Annoying.” In addition, I just finished a crazy six weeks of non-stop travel gigs. And being busy leads to stress. How do I handle busy periods? With improv of course. That flexibility to respond to unusual situations, also when I’m busy, is what keeps me going.   It started with a trip to London. Pro tip: Never, ever fly to Luton. Luton Airport is like if a parking lot and a construction site had sex, but instead of a condom, they used an ugly waiting room from the mid-80’s. If Brexit means I never have to fly there again, bring it on. Instead of getting mad at the airport, however, I just think ‘Yes…

Dear British, Scottish, Northern Irish and Welsh Companies, Employees, Managers and Teams, Brexit, huh? Yikes. It’s on, then it’s off, then it’s on, then it’s off. Is this a major decision involving the economic fate of a kingdom, a continent, and perhaps the world? Or is it my dog deciding whether or not it wants…

The Economist’s R-Word index looks at the number of times the word “recession” appears in print to gauge whether or not a real recession is on the way. (Not to be confused with their “Big Mac Index” which uses the price of a Big Mac to determine if a country’s currency is properly valued. The Economist: where wacky indexes tell…

Culture, Peter Drucker (allegedly) noted, eats strategy for breakfast. And every company wants to know the magic formula to get that super company culture that encourages hard work, long hours, ownership, risk-taking (but, you know, not too much risk taking), and a willingness to say, “Holiday bonus? No, just working here is all the bonus…

I was in Helsinki a month ago to host the Nordic Business Forum. It was an exciting challenge: a two day business event with 7,500 people physically present, another 20,000 watching a live stream, some fantastic, inspiring speakers, and the big finale: a dialogue with President Obama. (Yes, this was the day before he was in Amsterdam; he’s an efficient traveler!) I was excited and planned what I would say if I met him. You see, my theory is if you meet a person who meets people all day, you have to say something unique based on your knowledge of that person. When I got to meet Beastie Boys’ King AdRock, I said, “I was a fan back when you were getting booed off stage opening for Madonna.” When I didn’t get to meet President Clinton in Amsterdam – but stood next to him…