Arguably the best 21 minutes of comedy in the last two decades is the Rick James episode of Chappelle’s Show. I’m not going to quote it here because this is a PG-13 blog, but it’s a masterpiece. If you haven’t watched it in a while, go and watch it again because it holds up well after all these years.
In all the craziness of Dave Chapelle’s Rick James impersonation, it’s easy to overlook what I feel the secret sauce of this episode is: Charlie Murphy’s delivery of the story. First, because it’s his story. He was there and he recalls the story with such vivid detail. The absurdity of the situation is sealed by the bad wigs, the primitive sets – which are a reference to a Family Ties episode – and the reactions from James himself. My favorite books are ones with unreliable narrators, and in this sketch James is an unreliable primary source.
I always loose it when James denies messing up Eddie Murphy’s couch. To quote James, “Just all of a sudden just jump up and grind my feet on somebody’s couch, like it’s, like it’s you know something to do. Come on, I got a little more sense than that.”
He pauses.
“Yeah I remember grinding my feet on Eddie’s couch.”
Hilarious. Watch it here.
But let’s get back to Murphy. It’s his story, but it’s how he delivers it, that makes it great. According to this article on the A.V. Club, every scene with Murphy was refilmed. He was originally seated, but they found that when he stood and told the story, it had more energy to it.
Why am I talking about a bit of comedy from almost two decades ago? As a solution engineer who’s been working from home for almost a year, and one who has a sit/stand desk, I’ve thought a lot about how I deliver demos and most of the time, I think about Charlie Murphy in this episode.
In a way, I approach most of my demos like Charlie Murphy. No, I don’t stomp on my customer’s legs after they mess up my couch. Customer meetings, especially demos, give me a lot of energy; I stand up, shuffle around a little bit, and talk with my hands. By standing, I am able to channel all of this energy into my customer presentations and make it as engaging as a Hollywood anecdote.
I feel this is especially important in 2021. If you’re on video conference calls most or all of the day, do you want to listen to someone talk about how software can transform your business in a calm, but monotone way, or do you want to be captivated and have a engaged presenter? I’m not Charlie Murphy, but I know I tell lead great persona-based demos, just like he knew how to tell great True Hollywood Stories.
What does this mean when the pandemic is over? I believe working from home has spoiled me as an SE because from my office I can stand and channel my whole body into delivering great and compelling demos. When we’re able to return to in-person meetings, I may have to break free from being stuck behind a table delivering a demo, and move as necessary. I’m talking about modest movement here, not some sort of frenetic dancing, or Rick James karate chops. But I do believe that for most of my demos that are remote, I will continue to work from home on those days because I have a great space at home and I’m very comfortable delivering engaging demos from the confines of my house.
Regardless of how much I can move around in a physical setting with customers, if you learn anything from the Rick James episode of Chapelle’s Show other than a catchphrase, it’s that a story can go from good to great based on the delivery alone.