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7 Storytelling Tricks to Steal From Late-Night Talk Show Convos
Start with a tease, and other ways to captivate an audience of 1 or 1,000
For me, the late-night talk show has always represented a shameless form of star worship. How could a serious consumer of culture enjoy it? The fake laughter. The manufactured drama. The over-the-top host. It all screams phony!
But recently I’ve reconsidered. Talk shows are one of the few remaining forms of oral storytelling consumed on a wide scale. Sure, they may be canned and corny, but they offer actionable lessons on how to create character, build anticipation, and empathize with an audience. These are techniques anyone who writes for a living, or just wants to improve their ability to tell a story, can benefit from.
I’ve compiled seven annoying-but-effective talk show tips for telling a story. These tips work across storytelling mediums — oral, writing, filmmaking. Below, I’ve listed each technique, provided a video of a celebrity using it, and broken down how you can put the technique into practice.
