Karaoke Forums

Hey Guys,

I was wanting to try some new ideas for drawing timid singers into the mix while dj ing. Some venues that I do have been slow times and at these times when everybody is just siting and watching.. What do you do? What are some phrases you use to entertain and provide comedy..Let me know what you do.

Spur of the moment for me most times.


One thing I do is to remind them that it is the weekend. We live for the weekend and then sit on our hands. Usually livens it up.

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

Same here. Just impromptu as situation dictates. Say something appropriate or something funny, make a joke or two but not at other people’s expense. This will hurt their feelings to the point of annoyance they’ll think you’re obnoxious. Massage their ego a bit (not a shoulder massage – that could have the opposite effect).

I echo Ripman’s advice. “Weekend is here, you guys! It’s party time”. DJs - spin one of your tunes guaranteed to pack the dancefloor. KJs – ask your regulars if they can change their songs to an upbeat tempo (but don’t make a determined demand). Hot upbeat music should keep the party atmosphere alive. They’ll all be at ease & ready to party in no time!

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To be fortunate enough to derive an income from a source as fulfilling as karaoke music has got to be as close to heaven as we can get here on earth!

I have a lot of luck doing it simply by going table to table and chatting people up. I ask them "Are you going to sing?" and get the gamut of usual responses. Most people say "You don't want to hear me sing", but occasionally people will 1) ask for a book 2) ask "do the words come up on the screen" or 3) say something that cause me to encourage them. I have gotten a lot of people to come up that way.

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[color=#ffff55]Mickey J.[/color]
Alas for those who never sing, but die with all their music in them.
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

I've done that too and also listened to what people are saying to each other as far as "you should try..." or "I wonder if they have that one song" or sometimes you will even hear them goofing off and singing at their table. Then I just put up that song and hand them a mic. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't or sometimes they decline right then but the seed has been planted and they come up later.

People who work in venues with multiple TVs have mentioned they will play demo versions in the beginning with the words showing and sometimes that gets people singing along and breaks the ice.

Impromptu on phrases too, but some actions can work. For example:

1) I look for a couple, and if the woman looks happy and friendly ( this is kind of a gut feeling for me) and can usually get her to sing some easy duet with me- "I Got You Babe" or something like that. Then I go to the other half and whisper that if she was brave enough to try, he should too- and also bring up how much she would like it if he did. Works more than half the time...

2) Put up a song that's one that most people know, and either I put up a singer (previously arranged) that starts to crash it ( or I crash it myself) and ask for some "backup" singer help.

3) I get groups up using songs like Love Shack, Man- I Like A Woman, It's Raining Men, etc.., played with "training wheels" - Multi-plex vocals. Huge success rate with this move.

Your mileage may vary....

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"No Contests, No Divas, Just A Good Time!"

" Disc based and loving it..."

I'm a no bull host. I get the singers up in a timely manner without wasting time on chatter. That was one of my peeves when I was just a singer, the host trying to be the comedian and/or entertainer.

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LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

Well I don't do a stand up comedy routine but a comment here or there or a sound bite, I want a little bit of personality in my show. When the rotation builds, my goal is to get thru the rotation in a timely manner but keep things lighthearted.

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

I have personality by dancing around while a singer is singing, giving them the encouraging looks and smiles - occasional sing in their ear to get them back on track. Sometimes playing with them on stage (to give them a chuckle or crack up - usually done to regs only and not often), but in between songs - it's ask for applause, make a bar announcement and get the next singer going. I might make a lighthearted comment here & there, but that is not what i'm referring to when I say the kj trys to be the comedian or entertainer.

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LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

Well it sounds like we will just have to disagree to disagree!

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

Before I start - let me say my sympathies to anybody trying to build up a new show in a dead bar that doesn't have any karaoke singers to build from. I've been fortunate in a bar that used to be dead so far thanks to a lot of friends I've made along the way who have helped me out.

It seems like this is a long post about very little (and yet in a way I think it's so very much) so I apologize if it's too boring or just common sense or whatever, but when you don't have singers that's just a symptom.

If you don't have singers, the real problem is you don't have a following that comes out every week for you yet. This is what I THINK I know about what has seemed to work for me thus far when it comes to getting a regular crowd of singers to come out.

I don't think it's about "phrases" or "entertaining" but about showing people YOU CARE about them, that YOU'RE GLAD TO SEE THEM and that YOU APPRECIATE THEM COMING OUT THAT NIGHT and conveying that to them with genuine enthusiasm and warmth.

"Sound", "selection", "fair rotation" are things we all talk about being key here all the time and all of us are constantly striving to improve those things, but I've come to believe that how you treat people runs circles around everything else.

1) SOCIALIZING - BUT NO PRESSURE -- Before the show starts, I go out and chat up every single person in the room and sincerely thank them for being there. I invite them to sing, but I don't pressure anybody, because the key thing is they are there and they are drinking and that means the bar is making money and as long as that happens I feel like my gig is safe. If you have a karaoke show that the bar wants back every week, then regardless of how many singers you have, your show is a success. Take the pressure off yourself as well and look at it that way. The singers will come.

If people say "I only sing in the shower", I smile and say something like "That's ok, you're still supporting the show by being here and patronizing the bar. Thank you so much for coming out tonight! I really appreciate it. All I ask is that you relax, have a good time and clap for my singers." Sometimes I may even tease them and say "Oh that's no problem, we have a portable shower stall in the back that we can wheel out for you!" and then give them a grin before I get serious and tell them my usual answer.

2) MORE SOCIALIZING - When I go out to check my front of house sound, I make sure and stop by one of the tables and chat -- it's just another opportunity to make people feel at home and someone who is too shy too approach you may let on that they might just like to try to sing one later on after a few more drinks.

If your bar is just plain dead like you describe, then don't worry about "entertaining" the whole crowd the whole time. Worry about going out and making friends one on one with the people who are there that night and let your filler do some of the entertaining while you're doing that. If you read Billboard and wedding DJ top 200 song lists and pay attention to the ages of your crowd your filler should be able to carry the load for a song or two while you chat with people. If you can sing a few appropriate songs off those same lists in between chats so much the better.

3) NON-SINGERS ARE MAYBE EVEN MORE CRITICAL TO YOUR SUCCESS THAN SINGERS. When I go out to sing I love to have an audience. I ASS-u-me that most singers are like me in that regard and love to have an audience to sing for. If the non-singers keep coming back to listen, drink, socialize or dance to your filler the word will eventually get out to the singers in the area that your bar has a friendly, enthusiastic "Karaoke HOST", a big crowd to sing for and a small rotation -- or at least that's how it's worked out for me so far - and my rotations are now a pretty respectable 10-12 singers on an average night and only two of them were there for the whole last 6 months, the rest have slowly accumulated over time. (I've lost a few of my non-singers over that time due to their being less filler and I probably need to renew some of my focus on them - it's just a lot easier for me to learn the names of the singers since I have to enter them in the hosting program, etc. but really that's no excuse. I could be doing better.)


4) NO CRICKETS -- People who've never sung before will find the courage to try if they know they aren't going to hear those dreaded crickets when they finish. When someone does get up and sing - I always applaud them LOUDLY myself as soon as they have sang the last of their lyrics while the song is going into the outro. I do this BEFORE I ask for applause for the singer. No singer gets the silent treatment no matter how badly they may have tanked on the song. Since my name is "Jerry" I bill my show as the "Jerry Singer" show and offer "Jerry beads" to the people who have never sang before. You could probably come up with a gimmick of your own that fits your show name and personality or even just buy them a drink.

Even in a dead crowd when people see and hear you clap, at least a few people will take the hint and clap along with you before you even get to ask for applause and then when you actually do ask, usually a few more will join in and the thing just snowballs and grows and the energy in the room starts to really take off.

If it doesn't - I put my hands up over my head and clap even harder and tell the audience "I'm not going to stop clapping or play any more filler music till I hear some noise out there for the courage that "John" just showed getting up here" and usually that's enough to get the room going. Once they do clap I tell the crowd "That's more like it! You guys are going to be a great audience tonight!" And whenever they applaud good and loud I keep telling them how great an audience they are and reinforcing that behavior and after awhile they start getting as excited as I am and more people start signing up.

5) PATIENCE - With the process, with yourself and most importantly with your customers some of who will be drunk and obnoxious. But if you are patient and kind with them even when they are rude to you and treat them with love they will come around. I have a lady regular who the first time she came to my show and sang with me was screaming and calling me a "m*therf*r" and accusing me of changing the tempo on the song she was performing.

Was I mad when she did that? Of course! But I didn't let her see it. I just let her vent and when she calmed down a little bit, I told her that I understood that sometimes the karaoke versions of songs weren't quite like the original song and I understood how frustrating that can be when you work really hard to perform a song like the original artist, etc. I went on to suggest that if she pointed her finger up or down the next time she sang that I could match the song to whatever tempo she was indicating.

I'm guessing most hosts wouldn't do that for her, but now every time she sees me she comes up and hugs me. The important thing to her was that I showed her I cared about her as a person.

6) FILL AS MANY REQUESTS AS YOU CAN - Make a special effort to write down the filler or the karaoke songs that are requested that you don't have and do your best to get them by the next show. Just another way to show you care.

BigJer, I didn't even notice it was a long post, it was good reading! Telling it like it is! And I Like It!!!

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To be fortunate enough to derive an income from a source as fulfilling as karaoke music has got to be as close to heaven as we can get here on earth!

excellent post BigJer. sometimes it is good to go back and remember the basics after we go through so long it's good to remember.

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Paradigm Karaoke, The New Standard.......Shift Happens

Agree on all counts. Great post Jer! Nice refresher!

-Chris

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-Chris

Very nice Jer!

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