Well, there is an endless number of ways to structure your comedy podcast episode. Though the segments mainly depend on your own preferences and the preferences of your audience.
What many or rather all the podcasters use is intros, outros, segments and many more. The end goal is to get your audience to listen to you.
Here I am going to take up Segments, which will help you leverage your show. But keep in mind that you should be very clear with its functioning else that could deteriorate your results.
What do I mean by Podcast Segments? Segments are rather easy to understand. They refer to the part of your show that helps you break up the content that prevents you from losing the attention of your listeners.
Segments are a temporary deviation from your podcast topic. It can be used for sharing some information or could even be for fun. The purpose is just to keep the audience engaged.
Why Podcast Segments Are Important
Podcast segments have become an essential part of today’s podcasts to break up long episodes. The reason why they are important is that People simply love these. Some other benefits of it are:-
1. It adds variety in the show
2. Leverage creativity
3. Keeps the audience bound
4. Gives the comedy episode a structure
Podcast segments have become an essential part of today’s podcasts to break up long episodes.
In general, a podcast lasts for nearly 1 hour. Listening to something continuously for an hour or so is a tough task so what people used to do is that they left the podcast mid-way and continue that the next day.
Now the podcasters had to come up with a solution to this. So they thought of breaking the episode and incorporate short segments.
A question that many have asked me is “when should we add segments?”
See, a podcast has three portions: introduction, main content, and conclusion.
I have observed that most comedy podcasters tend to lose their audience in the main content portion (most funny portion), where they throw away most of their content. This has been a hurdle for many.
In my view, you should come up with segments in the portion where you give away your main content. Try this out and you’ll observe the change.
To continue, I’ll give you some comedy podcast segment ideas:
#1 Beneficial Products
You can talk about some helpful applications, magazines or a physical product that relates to comedy and would in some way help your audience. Make sure that whatever you speak should be genuine, it shouldn’t look artificial. You can share a product like a funny jokes ebook or anything like that.
#2 Question and Answer
This works really well. Encourage your audience to put forward some questions. Try to satisfy them by giving an appropriate answer. This idea has shown remarkable results. You will be able to keep the audience involved and this is one of the best ways to learn new things.
Another fun fact is that this sometimes may help you get the topic for your next podcast episode.
#3 Tips
Try giving the audience some free tips. You should tell them something that is not commonly heard. This is a great audience builder method. Also, this creates trust among the audience for what you say. As a comedy podcaster, you can give some tips to prevent Corona Virus as it is now at its peak point.
#4 Quotes
Throw away short excerpts from a tremendous book that you just read or maybe a quote from someone who inspires you. The excerpt or quote could be funny, inspirational, or lays down some power. Keep in mind that whatever you give to your audience should add some value.
#5 Current Affairs
You should be a master in your field of study. Be aware of all the latest happenings in the field about which you talk in your show. The audience should consider you to be a very knowledgeable and motivated person. You can ask a question at the end of your podcast and then answer the question in the next podcast giving a shoutout to people who gave the right answer.
#6 Games
This is the most interesting and engaging idea. You could play with your audience. Get them to talk to you. You could possibly ask them a few questions and let them give their opinions. Create a very friendly conversation with your audience. You can also indulge your audience into small games that could freshen them up.
#7 Listener Voicemails
Introduce short audio clips from your audience from your past episode, This maybe a short story. Your audience should be able to relate to what you are trying to showcase. This is something that I highly recommend you to do.
#8 Podcast Plug
You can have a very informative talk with your audience telling them about why the podcast that you are plugging is worth it. Let your audience know what you have got to tell them. You can say something like ”Your mood is bad? If Yes, I am going to help you out by making your cry, lol!”
Don’t copy that create your own a little podcast plug jokes.
#9 Flashback
You could feature some audio clips from your last episode. This helps you re-emphasize the important points that you shared in your previous episode. This makes it easier to relate to what you have been talking off late.
#10 Share Listener Feedback
Social media turns out to be a very powerful platform for gaining an audience. Encourage your audience to share your content over the internet. Use hashtags on your posts.
#11 Give Challenges
Give your audience challenges to complete which could be based on the topic that you talk about in your show. Let them think and remember what you spoke about in your show. This is generally done at the end of your show.
#12 Book/Music Reviews
You can even go a bit off the beat. Talk about some magnificent books or music that you have come across. This may interest the audience. Talk like “the new song by Taylor Swift, the man is really amazing”, but make sure you add some comedy twist to it like,” the new song by Taylor Swift is really amazing but not for men, lol!”, but also add things like ”I am just kidding” so that the singer’s fans don’t get mad and abuse on you.
These were some of the most important podcasting tips that are essential for your comedy podcast. Keeping your audience engaged is a critical thing. Many fail to do so and fail to live up to the expectations of the audience. Segmenting provides your episode good structure and provides the necessary rhythm required for your show.
Over time we built up The Clean Comedy Podcast from zero downloads to an average of three thousand downloads a month with one episode a week. Persistence and direction are the biggest keys not only to podcasting but to comedy and life in general. Never give up and find unique ways to share your message.
