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Jeff Justice, Humor resources director, Corporate Comedy
Job: Humor resources director, Corporate Comedy
What I do: Did you hear the one about the guy who walked into a meeting and left them laughing? That's Jeff Justice's shtick: teaching people how to relax in front of a crowd and get them to laugh.
"I take normal -- and abnormal -- people and put them through a six-week course, teaching them the basics of stand-up comedy," he said. The graduation ceremony is a gig in front of a full house at the Punchline comedy club in Sandy Springs. "I create the illusion these are professional comedians," Justice said.
Some students want to be stand-up comics; others want to learn how to be at ease in front of crowds. Justice teaches them how to write (and rewrite) jokes and put them together into a routine. He also teaches microphone techniques and what students should do with their hands when they're on stage.
"I point out what works and what doesn't. I help rewrite jokes and make them funnier," he said. Sometimes that just involves timing -- perhaps a pause just long enough before delivering the punch line. Only 10 percent of humor is in the writing, he said. The rest is delivery.
The students' material comes from their own lives -- family, weight issues, jobs. For many, it's a way to deal with stress, examine their inner turmoil or just find validation that they've always been funny. And they have to keep it clean, Justice insists. No cursing, politics or put-downs.
Justice, 54, also takes his show on the road. He delivers humorous keynote addresses for meetings, teaches seminars on humor in the workplace or workshops on team-building and helps executives improve their public-speaking skills.
What got me interested in this: "I always was the smart aleck in class," Justice said. He started in show business doing comedy magic. "I went on stage, heard the laughter and got hooked." Soon, he was giving tips to less-skilled performers and decided to teach his craft to others.
Because he kept his act clean, he said, he was hired to appear at corporate events. At those events, he noticed that his humor had a relaxing effect on his audiences, and he studied the connection between stress and humor. That led to teaching stress-reducing techniques at the workplace seminars he now leads.
Best part of my job: "Seeing people live out their fantasies, seeing their faces as they come off the stage -- they're electrified," Justice said.
Most challenging part: "There are some people that want to fight you," Justice said, but he insists that they can be funny without cursing. "If you can go on stage and be clean, you can do anything," he said. "Be dirty, and that's all you'll do."
What people don't know about my job: "People feel [that] normal people don't take this class, but a vast majority don't want to be stand-up comics," he said.
What keeps me going: "The joy I get," Justice said. "I get to laugh with people every week." He also sees friendships and bonds form among participants in his classes.
Preparation needed for this job: "Show up." Justice has been teaching his classes and seminars for 16 years and has written a training manual on using humor in the workplace. After earning a bachelor's degree in communications from Florida State University as "a solid C+ student," he worked in radio and tended bar in Atlanta.
Magic was a hobby that led to comedy. He was a stand-up comedian for 14 years, including stints on the road and in Atlanta and New York. His television credits include appearances on "Thicke of the Night" and comedy specials on the A&E network.
- By Karl Ritzler, for ajcjobs. Got an interesting job that you love? E-mail your story to jobseditor@ajc.com.
