Karaoke Forums

I was talking to a friend of mine who happens to be my mentor as a KJ. She is the one that got me into this whole hosting thing. Love her to pieces too. We were talking about something the other night and it got me thinking. She said something to this effect. "A boring performer is a dead performer". Meaning, even if the performer is very talented and has a very "nice" personality, if they aren't being a little "controversial", they will never make it big as a performer. Now while I agree with this to a point, would that also mean the same thing about karaoke hosts?

Do any of you have a different stage persona than who you really are in normal everyday life? Are you "outrageous"? are you silly? do you make them wonder what you are going to do next perhaps? Is that what it takes to make the crowd return week after week?

Or are you the same person on stage and off? Do you act like the ultimate professional? Just what does it take to make the crowds return to your show?

This is really not meant to cause any controversy, so please be mindful of others personality types, and be courteous . Just asking here.

As a KJ host I would be considered "laid back" But you have to play and feed off your crowd. If they are older and laid back and just want to sing or if they are ROWDY and upbeat ..then thats the type of host I can be

Your "controversy" comment is something I have been thinking about because the hosts that we know that get the most complaints about the major things people gripe about on here have the longest running, best attended shows. So I wondered if getting all revved up and bitching is part of the entertainment for some people.

As for us, a little of both, venue/talent dependent. For the local dive with a fairly static crowd that could become monotonous, we are silly with props and trying to get people revved up and dancing. We make them laugh and wonder what we will do next. At a new place we are trying, the singing is all decent to excellent and there is no need to infringe on the spotlight because the singers and the antics of their friends can carry the show. But we may mix it up once we get to know each other or if it starts to be the same old thing every week.

"Let's give them something to talk about."

I agree with the essence of what your friend is saying. Not the controversy part BUT if you don't make yourself stand out, you become a commodity. Just another plain vanilla KJ in the big pool and the cheapest price wins.

As a former radio morning show host & stand up comic, to me my gigs are a SHOW that I both manage and am a part of. I have a show intro/fanfare to start the night. I crack jokes. I give the regulars nicknames. I rib the bar staff throughout the night with silly lines ("Buy one of Lisa's special shooters tonight, and she''l give you a free smack on the (@$%&#!)!", etc) and occasionally write/perform a parody song about the bar or the regulars or something in the news. (I did a parody called "I'm dreaming of a White Mistress" about Tiger Woods during the holiday season.)

The market is saturated with "name callers". I have intentionally set myself apart from the "same-ole same-ole" with both personality & equipment and as a result have other local KJ's...essentially my competition coming to sing at MY show when they want to relax and let their hair down.

Every few weeks someone comes in and offers the bar to takeover my gig for HALF my price. The manager tells them to get lost...they aren't me!

I think that for a singer, a little controversy will get them attention which leads to more free advertising, i.e. word of mouth, news articles, etc. "Any publicity is good publicity" type thing.

I don't believe that actual controvercy would be good for a host. Let's say you get political and bash a party or candidate. Unless you have the talent to bash both, like say Jay Leno, and be funny about it, you risk losing some of your audience.

Then again, if you are in a place that is 99% for one side, you could probably get away with it. I try to stay neutral in the political sense.

My pic (which I have been trying to change but it won't change) of dancing Obama was not a political statement but just having light-hearted fun.

I am generally quieter and more reserved than when I am hosting.

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Kevin

While I agree a "boring performer" will most likely not make it big or have a long career as a performer, to say a talented performer with a "very nice" personality will never make it big as a performer if they aren't a little controversial is, well, just wrong! Maybe it might be a little more accurate to say those who have to rely on being a little controversial in order to make it big, are just lacking a little in talent and personality.

When my sister used to co-host we would have banter with each other over the mic's.
She called me (@$%&#!) and I called her Pig iron.
We gave each other stick but not nastily.
The customers loved it.
Sadly a few dropped off when sis. quit.
Now, she would like to return but wont.
She has decided everyone hates her.
I tell her no. I am the only one that hates her.
She can sing and host so much better than I can.

I (and my husband) would rather be around someone that plays. Not too much so that it interrupts with the singing.
The one place that we now go to on Fridays the host is ok but he needs to learn how to work his eqipment, alot. We only keep going cause the bartenders are fun. He touts that his "library" is very large at almost 2k in songs. My husband has more than twice that in his personal collection which keeps growing.
The place that he sometimes go back to on Saturdays my husband had started to run for someone else (they have stage 4 cancer) it was supposed to be only when they could not run it on Fridays or Saturdays and turned into running EVERY Friday and Saturday. Don't ask about pay, you don't want to know. I will tell you if he ever decided to go back and run there again it would be for alot more. That person that runs it now (her daughter) will put in a disc and go sit at the bar and talk to whomever is there. Alot of times run to hit the stop button when the song is over and when we do go in will bypass my other half. We know this is done on purpose. The bar was making money hand over fist when he was running and all the people want him back but the bar owner will not fire his friend even if his bar fails.
We did try out one place in another town. That place advertised KJ/DJ. When the list for karaoke singers waiting to sing was about 7 she continued to play just music for the next 8 songs. We mentioned something to the bartender about this and she said that there may not be anyone with any songs up there waiting to sing and when we pointed out that there were she was very upset but since she did nothing about it we have not been back there.
Personality of the KJ host has made us stay even thou the sound was not any good but then the non personality has made us leave after one drink.

I can't tell you the number of karaoke shows I've been to where the host has all the personality of someone calling out departing trains. Others are friendly, but very generic.

I've branded my show "Dangerous Karaoke" because I also believe that the KJ sets the tone for the whole show and is a key part of its overall entertainment. I'm also a former radio morning guy, so being extemporaneous with wiseass remarks comes easy to me. However I never ever do that at the expense of denigrating one of the singers. To me, that's a cheap shot.

There is most definitely a difference between "Dan" and "Daniel". On stage I am a performer who conveys a lot of energy and a wild time. After the show, I'm a pretty reserved guy. Who can be "on" all the time?

That being said, there are some venues which want to keep things more vanilla. But even vanilla has a flavor. Flavorless shows I can do without.

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[font=Lucida Console]DangerousKaraoke.com[/font]
[font=Lucida Console]"Sing for the day, sing for the moment, sing for the time of your life!"[/font]

I'm me all the time. Unless you catch me after I just woke up - Then I think that is someone else.

I like to have fun with the crowd and I've been known to do some pretty silly things. I feed off the crowd which I'm sure a lot of you do. If I'm being bombed with paper airplanes and coasters I'll join in and throw them back. Woops wait I may have started that.

I think it is a matter of knowing your crowd. I'm more reserved when I need be, but it's all about having fun for most people - especially in a bar situation. If I've got a room full of regulars I can be more myself and let loose. The main attention is the singers. It should be all about them and not me, but if they want to horse around and want me a part of it, I'm in. I'm a kid at heart and I think most people want to be also if given the opportunity.

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[shadow=pink][glow=deepskyblue]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
[updown]~*~ MONKEY BUSINESS KARAOKE~*~ [/shadow][/updown][/glow]

ditto. Babs, you make it so easy for me here....I think we're "kwins" (karaoke twins)

CUTE! Ever seen kriplets?

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KingBing Entertainment C'mon Up! I have a song for you!!! [font=MS Sans Serif][/font]

Diafel, are you in?

Hahaha! I was just thinking that! I feel exactly the same way!
Kriplets we are!
Sure would be great to be able to do a meet up one day... you never know.....

I am proud to be a Kriplet. I except this special honor even though it sounds like we take the short bus.

We are the Karaoke KJ Kriplets armed with paper airplanes, water guns, and able to fend off drunks with our magic karaoke microphones. Not to mention we can leap tall microphone cables in a single bound. (I trained for that)

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[shadow=pink][glow=deepskyblue]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
[updown]~*~ MONKEY BUSINESS KARAOKE~*~ [/shadow][/updown][/glow]

I think a fun,pleasant,upbeat (or laid back depending on the crowd) personality and running a technically good show(rotation,not much wait between songs,etc) is enough. Controvercy could work for or against a host.If it's part of who you are to be outgoing and joke arround,cool, but if not, it could come across as cheesy and fake and might put some people off.

As far as performers, Leona Lewis,anyone? She has talent and a good voice,has been described as a 'nice' but boring performer by many, and has been very successful .

Sitting here struggling to get through a day of nasty work and find this - thanks for the chuckles You have NOOOOOOOOOO idea how much I needed it!

Kriplets? I'm sure there is an ointment or a shot you can get that'll clear that up.

But I don't wanna be cured!!!!

ME EITHER! Boys are jealous! Boys are jealous!