Corporate testimonials of Brian Longwell:
“We were amazed that you could find humor in fiber optic systems. Very funny.” – Lucent Technologies
“We were rolling on the floor with laughter!” Franklin Medical Center
“You killed! What a fantastic presentation, …HUGE points, Brian. Thank you, again, so much”. Rockingham Community Action
“Your Dollars for Scholars idea for a spoof presentation was not only brilliant, it was absolutely hilarious.” Canfield Systems
“Thanks so much for your hilarious presentation last week at the Harvard Club. As you could tell, the crowd enjoyed it very much. I got lots of good feedback. It was a great ending to a long day.” ING Investments
“Thanks for your excellent presentation in San Francisco. After successfully selling the group the serious-motivational-speaker persona, you then slayed them.” RGA Technology Partners
“In 5 years, you were the first speaker that everyone raved about. Great job. Very funny.” New York State Engineering Technology Association
Click here to listen to BBC Radio review
In 2004, I gave the people of the UK a “presentation” explaining the US political system.
Here’s a BBC Radio review of the show*
* I don’t make politics part of my corporate humor unless specifically requested
Besides doing my “faux presentation” as a corporate humorist across the USA, I have taken corporate and political topics to the UK for the amazing Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The folks in the UK took a liking as the following reviews reveal:
Reviews from Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2005
With very funny overhead projector illustrations, this is a sophisticated, thoroughly enjoyable, irony-filled, tongue-in-cheek antidote to all those American motivational speakers… See the show. Chortle UK Comedy Guide
“This show is definitely for anyone who has ever worked in a very corporate setting. Brian is very dry and sarcastic, but he is very funny. His visual aids will stun you with it’s humorous simplicity.” Edfringe.com Reviews
“What the world needs more of are non-motivational speakers. Blokes in suits who tell you how to do it wrong every time, or how to cock up properly. Brian Longwell’s your chap with his primitive, hand drawn transparencies, and one-man brainstorming sessions.” The List
“I particularly enjoyed Brain Longwell, very dry, cynical and well, American. Three Weeks
Using an amazing graphics system (hand-drawn stick people and a projector) he explains the various areas of America, the voting system, his life history moving around … Look out for this man – he deserves a bigger stage from which to share his opinions with the world.” Three Weeks
Reviews from the 2004 Edinburgh Fringe Festival:
THIS is a sweet, smart show, by a sweet, smart man who cleverly uses reductio ad absurdum as his art form. The show is, he tells us – in the part of the show that he insists is not part of the show, “just me talking about the show” – is “an explanation of the American political process”. But it is a great deal more entertaining than that sounds. Longwell is cleverly, amiably, calculatedly amateur. He uses, to irresistible comic effect, an old-fashioned projector and a sheaf of wonderfully awful illustrative transparencies – lists, graphs, pie charts and little cartoons, drawn after the style of Purple Ronnie. He deconstructs America, the people and the politics. He makes marvellous sweeping generalisations, is given to surreal analogy and his Biggie Drill solution is giggle-makingly childlike. Longwell has an impressive line in self-deconstruction, which is both fresh and funny. Kate Copstick – The Scotsman
The most hilarious review of American politics and society I have ever seen.
Longwell faces his audience with only his overhead projector and a few handmade slides to aid him, but manages to win the audience over immediately with his charisma and dry comedic style.
The show was not the shadow of Fahrenheit 9/11 that I expected, but rather a fresh and light-hearted look at the political landscape of the USA that leaves the audience feeling amused rather than horrified and disempowered. Longwell gets his point across with style and humour and does not rely on over-done Dubya-bashing. The show is universally funny but it was clear from the response of the audience that there were extra layers of humour for the Americans watching the show. Matthew Straw -Hairline Festival Review
Every year I slip in a few shows that are different. This was certainly one of them. American Brian Longwell delivers a lecture where he explains US foreign policy, with the help of deliberately badly drawn overhead projector slides. Definitely unusual, definitely funny, and definitely good. Scotsgay
In a festival seemingly swimming with shows lining up to take pot shots at the president everyone loves to hate, Longwell does well to stand out from the crowd in this show. He uses an old-school overhead projector to great effect as he attempts to “turn the tide of hatred against America”. A big job for one comic, but he does his best. Rebecca Thorpe – Comedy Fest
Other American performers seemed to be directly keying on a sense of disappointment with the Bush administration’s foreign policy; the Boston-area comedian Brian Longwell scored points with critics for his low-tech, mild-mannered satire which likened American democracy to a pizza shop where voters leave messages on “an answering machine that no one ever listens to.” NY Times
Using an amazing graphics system (hand-drawn stick people and a projector) he explains the various areas of America, the voting system, his life history moving around … Look out for this man – he deserves a bigger stage from which to share his opinions with the world.” Three Weeks
“Loved him to bits” BBC Radio
“Festival Top 10” London Times