Laughter and Leadership: A Conversation with Adam Christing
Wed Jan 21 2026
I recently had the pleasure of sitting down with Adam Christing, a humorist, keynote speaker, and author, to talk about the power of laughter, connection, and storytelling.
Adam has spent four decades performing more than 4,000 humor presentations for CEOs, Fortune 500 companies, major nonprofits, and high-stakes audiences around the world. He is a member of Hollywood's iconic Magic Castle, has worked with David Copperfield, authored The Laugh Factor: The 5 Humor Tactics to Link, Lift, and Lead, and is the CEO of Clean Comediansยฎ, a business that uses humor to bring people together rather than driving them apart.
Adam is more than just a gifted public speaker and performer. He is a student of human nature. In our conversation, he explains how comedy works psychologically, why humor diffuses conflict, how it disarms resistance, and how it allows leaders to deliver truth without putting people on the defensive.ย
Adam also offers a brilliant blueprint for anyone who speaks publicly. Executives, trial lawyers, entrepreneurs, military leaders, and educators, can all benefit from Adam's crash course in how to grab an audience's attention and keep it. We break down how great presenters prepare, how to deal with nerves, why silence is so powerful, how to tailor your message to the room, and how storytelling can transform information into impact.ย
Along the way, Adam tells stories about joining the Magic Castle as a teenager, bombing on stage, learning from masters like Johnny Carson and Winston Churchill, and discovering that audiences do not want perfection - they want presence. He also explains why the boundaries of "clean comedy" actually make comedy more creative, why leaders should practice humor like a skill, and why audiences always root for the person at the microphone.
This episode is about leadership, persuasion, communication, and how to connect through humour. It is also full of laughs.
I invite you to listen to the full conversation and learn how humor can help you become a better leader, speaker, and storyteller.
And now I give you, Adam Christing.
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I recently had the pleasure of sitting down with Adam Christing, a humorist, keynote speaker, and author, to talk about the power of laughter, connection, and storytelling. Adam has spent four decades performing more than 4,000 humor presentations for CEOs, Fortune 500 companies, major nonprofits, and high-stakes audiences around the world. He is a member of Hollywood's iconic Magic Castle, has worked with David Copperfield, authored The Laugh Factor: The 5 Humor Tactics to Link, Lift, and Lead, and is the CEO of Clean Comediansยฎ, a business that uses humor to bring people together rather than driving them apart. Adam is more than just a gifted public speaker and performer. He is a student of human nature. In our conversation, he explains how comedy works psychologically, why humor diffuses conflict, how it disarms resistance, and how it allows leaders to deliver truth without putting people on the defensive.ย Adam also offers a brilliant blueprint for anyone who speaks publicly. Executives, trial lawyers, entrepreneurs, military leaders, and educators, can all benefit from Adam's crash course in how to grab an audience's attention and keep it. We break down how great presenters prepare, how to deal with nerves, why silence is so powerful, how to tailor your message to the room, and how storytelling can transform information into impact.ย Along the way, Adam tells stories about joining the Magic Castle as a teenager, bombing on stage, learning from masters like Johnny Carson and Winston Churchill, and discovering that audiences do not want perfection - they want presence. He also explains why the boundaries of "clean comedy" actually make comedy more creative, why leaders should practice humor like a skill, and why audiences always root for the person at the microphone. This episode is about leadership, persuasion, communication, and how to connect through humour. It is also full of laughs. I invite you to listen to the full conversation and learn how humor can help you become a better leader, speaker, and storyteller. And now I give you, Adam Christing.