Judy Carter

A podium can’t contain the infinite energy of Judy Carter. One of America’s top motivational humorists, Carter connects with audiences through customized comedy, delivering big laughs with a big message.  

Wielding the “power of the punch line,” Carter gets results both nationally and internationally with a hilarious and empowering keynote, speaking to government groups, professional associations and Fortune 500 companies. She uplifts and entertains while sharing practical information that attendees can apply to their jobs as well as their daily lives.

A graduate of USC’s theater program, Carter was the first woman to play the Close-Up Gallery at Hollywood’s Magic Castle. Author of The Comedy Bible and Standup Comedy, she’s been featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show, taught comedy workshops for stand-up comics, coaches CEOs on their speeches, and has developed a popular series of instructional DVDs.

Honing her comedy skills on stages from Caesar’s Palace to the Los Angeles Improv, Carter was nominated for Atlantic City’s Entertainer of the Year. She brought her talent to the motivational circuit, believing that her techniques could benefit even those who would never even think of stepping on a stage.

Carter has brought her “don’t get mad, get funny” philosophy to Fortune 500 companies such as Boeing, Lucent Technologies, FedEx, Blue Cross and Pacific Bell. They have found her “tell-it-like-it-is” (only funnier) approach advantageous when tackling sensitive issues.  Bitten by the performing bug and realizing that she had a choice, to view life as a tragedy or as a comedy, Carter chose humour and continues to engage the rest of us.

• N. Getting Over the Fear of Speaking in Public

  Do you get nervous when speaking in front of others? Are you tongue-tied when you're put on the spot? Do your brilliant ideas sound stupid when you say them out loud? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you should attend this session! To be on a career fast track, you need to know how to make presentations. Judy Carter will provide an enthusiastic and interactive workshop to teach you how to get over stage-fright and turn your ideas into attention-getting sound-bites.

• M. Snappy Retorts to Stupid Things People Say

  Ever have someone say something stupid to you and you get too tongue-tied to respond? Or even worse, you lose your temper? This get-it-off-your-chest workshop shows how to keep your sense of humor and keep your clients. Great workshop for people in customer service positions.

• L. Conflict Resolution: Power Joking Your Way Out of Conflict

  Are your clients driving you crazy? Are you afraid to enter into confrontations? Do you feel that conflict is a negative experience? How do you "put the brakes" on conflict and keep your clients happy? In this fun one-hour inter-active workshop, Judy Carter will show you how to view conflict as a natural outgrowth of diversity, and address it in a win-win way. Learn innovative communication techniques that will defuse customer complaints, resolve conflicts, improve inter-office dynamics, and get the most from your workforce -- all by using your sense of humor.

• K. Leadership

  Are you a boss or a leader? Do you equate fear with respect and power with effectiveness? Do you bully people to get your desires met? Leadership is a lot more than getting other people to do what you want -- it's inspiring them to do their very best and take pride in their work. People will meet their boss's expectations, but they will surpass their leader's expectations -- and their own.

• J. Diversity Training

  Wish you could go back to the old days when everyone looked, thought and acted the same? Frustrated by a multi-ethnic workplace and a world of "new ideas" that challenge everything you've always believed? It's a lot easier to learn to live with diversity than to find a way to go back in time. It's also a whole lot more rewarding, for creativity has its essence in diversity. Give up the antiquated notion of "one right way" and learn how to listen to, and utilize, the new types of people and ideas in your life.

• I. How to Juggle Your Personal and Professional Lives

  Do your kids refer to you as "That person who sleeps here"? Do you get too many business calls at home, and too many personal ones at work? When you go to the bathroom at 3AM, do you check your work email on the way back to bed? You can have both a fast track career and a happy home life by clearly setting your boundaries and priorities and using simple but effective time management techniques.

• H. Turn Your Ideas into Action -- And Business!

  Do people ignore your ideas... or steal them? Do you see products on TV and think, 'I thought of that years ago!" Successful people are people who take action -- the right action. Learn how to start a successful business by finding your passion, testing your ideas, setting yourself apart from the competition, enlisting the support of others and setting realistic goals.

• G. More Effective Communication

  Do you feel invisible, powerless, or misunderstood? In our high speed, double latte, DSL culture, attention spans are short and effective communication is fast. In order to be heard you must learn the art of "Power-Talking"-- presenting your ideas in quick, compelling "sound bites" that grab your listener's attention and engage his or her imagination. Just as important is learning to "Power-Listen" -- active listening techniques that elicit people's deeper feelings and concerns. Power-Listening makes people feel heard, and can often resolve conflicts without any other action needed.

• F. Customer Service

  They can be arrogant, insulting, impatient and even dishonest -- but your business can't run without them. If your client relationships are always "Them vs. Us," they'll always be a source of conflict. How do you maintain your "customer is always right" attitude when you know that they're dead wrong? How do you quickly break the ice with a new client and forge a lasting relationship? Learn how to transform your clients into your partners.

• E. Workshops

  Using improv and humor, Judy Carter leads a wide variety of workshops that tackle the most common sources of stress and dissatisfaction in today's world.
  
  A sampling of them include:

• D. Healthcare Humor: Laughter - It Really Is the Best Medicine

  It is now a proven medical fact that laughter can improve both physical and mental health. It's free. You don't have to swallow it with water. It's not painful. So why hasn't someone harnessed it and sold it as a miracle cure? Judy Carter has. And that's why she's spoken to doctors' groups, nurses, hospital staffs, social workers, and healthcare conferences. From laughing your way out of stress to using humor to connect with your patients, Judy Carter will show you how to get your daily dose of laughter and how to pass it on.

• C. Women's Empowerment Keynotes: Finding Happiness When You're Fat, Broke and Surrounded by Idiots!

  Being a woman is stressful, and Judy shows women how to take power by putting a humor spin on issues -- "Don't Get Mad... Get Funny!" Judy shows how to deal with conflict, embrace change, and to have snappy retorts to stupid things people say -- without losing your job. So the next time, at the end of a rough day, when someone says, "Smile! You look so much prettier when you smile." You'll know exactly what to say!

• B. Embracing Change: Don't Get Mad... Get Funny!

  Your company might be reorganizing or focusing in a different direction. Your financial situation has probably changed -- seemingly for the worse (unless you're CEO of Enron and now living in the Bahamas on shareholder money). Judy shows companies how to embrace change creatively and with humor. She provides tools and strategies to face the many challenges of change, and to take those challenges and make them into opportunities. Judy talks about how change is a part of the cycle of life. We can ignore it, run from it, or embrace it as part of the adventure of life and have a good laugh.

• A. Stress Reduction: Laughing Your Way out of Stress

  Life and work are stressful - overwhelming deadlines, stacks of paperwork, and communication breakdowns. Judy illustrates the power of humor and teaches how to turn problems into punch lines, resolve conflict, and come up with snappy retorts that transform conflict into camaraderie so everyone will walk away with tools that they can use immediately. Her "Don't get mad, get funny" philosophy inspires people to deal with issues such as downsizing and layoffs -- not to mention that overflowing inbox -- with a sense of humor, rather than a sense of desperation.

• Judy Carter can show you how to make your sense of humor payoff.
  Oprah Winfrey
• Judy said that she could make me funny, even though everyone knows I'm not funny.
  Diane Sawyer
• No other speaker received a standing ovation. Kudos to you!
  Penn State, The Milton S. Hershey Medical Center
• The feedback received from over two hundred people in attendance was overwhelmingly positive.
  Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Connecticut
• You "brought the house down" with your blend of comic wit, words of inspiration and insight into the true meaning of home health care. And, lest I forget that snappy musical tune you penned just for our conference...
  California Association for Health Services at Home
• You have an amazing talent to bring levity and humor to some serious topic and would be an asset to any business function.
  Pfizer Health Solutions
• Not only are you extremely talented, you are a shining example for all humorous and speaking professions of what special care groups want.
  American Payroll Association
• You are certainly one of the best performers we've had over the last 10 years. Those 1100 women can be a tough crowd but you won them over with your wonderful mixture of humor and grace.
  St. Joseph's of Malcomb
• The customized material you created for the evening captured the humorous side of our business - dead on! You are amazing!
  Outdoor Ad Association

• 
  August 2001

  The Comedy Bible

  Using the hands-on workbook format that was so effective in her bestselling first book, Stand-Up Comedy: The Book, Carter offers a series of day-by-day exercises that draw on her many years as a successful stand-up comic and the head of a nationally known comedy school. She presents the pros and cons of the various comedy fields -- stand-up, script, speech and joke writing, one-person shows, humor essays -- and shows how to tailor your material for each. She teaches how to find your "authentic" voice -- the true source of comedy.

  
  
• 
  August 1989

  Stand-Up Comedy - The Book

  All the world loves a clown and whether you want to clown around at parties or make a living as a standup comic, comedian Judy Carter can show you how to 'do' comedy.