The Water Coolers
March 18th, 2008 Posted in ComedyA brutal 110 degree heat scorched the beautiful Green Valley Ranch & Resort as I made my way through the conference center to join an elite group of entertainment professionals already immersed in the opening number of The Water Coolers. Jovial laughter seeped through the oaken doors, and I kicked myself for my tardiness. Fortunately, I did see the lion’s share of a showcase that would turn out to be one of the most talked about and
well-received acts of IACEP’s 2007 conference.
A one of a kind experience awaits any of those who choose to see The Water Coolers in action. The name says it all. This is the show everyone will be gathered around talking about the next day.
It’s a musical comedy show (a comedy group that sings, to be precise-think “Seinfeld” set to music) with grade-A writers, Broadway actors, and even the creator of the show has specific past experience with corporate meeting planning. It’s a perfect storm for making your next event a smash.
Sally Allen, Executive Producer and senior management consultant for The Water Coolers is a former meeting planner herself, and when she envisioned the project some 8 years ago, it was with the specific needs of her fellow peers in mind. “I think what matters most is what brings people together. This is true with a theatrical audience or a corporate audience. The very best result you can get out of an entertainment event is to have everyone there feel more part of a unified group. All of our accomplished writing staff, actors and management all work toward that end. So, to me, what defines The Water Coolers is what we talk, sing and joke about. When people go to the water cooler, they talk about life and work, about their commute, how much their daycare provider charges when they are five minutes late and the latest sports game. This is where people go to connect in the office and that is where we pick up our material.” Whether they sing about the frustrations of a Blackberry or the ego of the ‘office hottie’, all the material is specifically directed to relate to corporate audiences.
Any comedy performance pokes fun at something, otherwise there would be nothing to laugh at. The difference between a comic performance that could offend part of your group and one that is perfectly suited for those types of audiences is key. “We always laugh at things in a funny way that doesn’t degrade work at all. We don’t want people to come in and be reminded of the things that potentially just frustrate or polarize them, we want to focus in on the things that say ‘We’re all in this together.’”
Sally’s unique experience in corporate meeting planning has given her an edge with The Water Coolers. Sally is able to see more than one side of an event, based on experience. “I was an association meeting planner for a small association, but we actually resided within the National Restaurant Association. That gave me the perspective of working with and planning for both large and small associations and their unique needs.” Sally has seen dreams come true for a company’s event, and she has also been a part of what could only be considered a horrible nightmare. “I once planned a meeting where the comic came in and made fun of how heavy our president was. I just wanted to die. Happily for me, my boss had hired him, but it was one of those moments where you are just standing in the back of the room with your stomach in your feet, which are about to fall off because you have been on them for three days straight.
“Having been in that situation and really having an incredible amount of heart for what it requires to do a truly great meeting, I feel like we approach this with such a respect for 
both what the business or association is trying to accomplish, and what the meeting planner goes through. To me, all of those things are a part of the mix and we talk about it with everyone involved with The Water Coolers.”
From company managers, writers and directors down to the actors themselves, everyone is drilled and imprinted with the philosophy of making it the best and easiest experience it can be for their clients. “These people are trying to achieve something that is not easy. They have been working pretty darn hard and our goal is to make their lives easier in any way possible. I always say that an act like ours, with five singers, a pianist and a technician should be no harder to hire than a speaker.”
Now, Sally recognizes that obviously there is cost associated with bringing in more people and better production, but she says once again they always practice due diligence for their clients. “We are extremely thoughtful and disciplined about things like airline tickets and shipping. But, what we do even further to provide the best value to the client is assure that our professional stage managers and company managers are handling every aspect of the production that the client would like us to. In some cases, the client wants to handle it and we certainly respect that, but we have a staff of professional managers that are there at the client’s disposal. If there are special show requirements for example, and a client needs to rent equipment, they work directly with the tech vendors; we will bid and negotiate on behalf of the client to get them the best deal possible. Sometimes a planner doesn’t really know how much something should cost, so we are able to leverage our expertise for them.”
Another great aspect of working with Sally and The Water Coolers is a completely open line of communication. Whereas some acts may get the booking, show up to perform, get their check and bolt, the Water Coolers are prepared to give and get detailed information between themselves and the client every step of the way. “We are super-communicative. Having been a planner, I know that these people are managing a phenomenal number of details. That is why we have a number of very thoughtful and detailed reports that we send our clients on logistical and technical needs to wrap everything up as we go.”
Those of you independent planners out there who may not be members of an organization like IACEP, which is rife with corporate entertainment producers, may not be familiar with the benefits of using one of these professionals to facilitate in the production of you event. Sally touts some of the advantages: “I have to say I love it when there is an entertainment producer on the booking. Their knowledge of all the little things is what makes their services so invaluable. Take a comedy act; you want the seating to be close in. Comedy is intimate and its close. That is the reason all of the comedy clubs are small. The temptation for the average planner holding an event in a hotel grand ballroom is to spread everything out and use all of the space their company is paying for, but comedy laughs roll through a room like a wave and if there is too much space there, the wave just rolls on the floor. Entertainment producers know that. An entertainment producer has something like that handled before I am even involved. I have to admit that producers in general have a special expertise that we enjoy working with. Now, we understand that there is obviously a cost increase factored in here and not all of our clients can afford one. Se even, without a producer, we try hard to give our clients all of the help they will need to give a great show and I think we do a tremendous job, honestly.”
Now, we mentioned grade-A writing, so perhaps that statement should be qualified. The Water Cooler’s writing team features a unique combination of NY comedy writers and business people from around the country who work together to create a funny, smart, authentic take on work and life. Actor / Writer Thomas Michael Allen co-created “Tony and Tina’s Wedding” (the record-smashing, longest running comedy in New York theater history), voices the role of Peanut on the acclaimed animated comedy series “Harvey Birdman: Attorney At Law” and has appeared in hundreds of commercials. Matt Heimer is a Smart Money Magazine editor and columnist; E. Andrew Sensenig is a former CEO and investment banker from Dallas and is also a life-long composer. Joe Allen is a successful sales manager from Northern Virginia and Marya Grandy is an actor and comedy writer who has sung with Paul Simon and The Manhattan Transfer. In addition, David Nehls, composer of Off-Broadway’s “The Great American Trailer Park Musical” rounds out the staff of writers. “There are two things that we really rise and fall on in any
room; the quality and relevance of our writing and the quality of our performers.”
Sally says the idea for The Water Coolers was initially born when she and her husband (who is a comedy actor and writer) wanted to figure out a way for their separate professional passions to stop preventing them from seeing each other enough. They now work together on the project combining their skills in an obviously beneficial way. “When we came up with this idea in the beginning, our number one priority was to ensure that this project didn’t become a bunch of New York comedy writers talking about work. It’s only authentic if people from the real world are in it, so we built a writing team that includes people from all walks of life. Our first team had a sales rep, an IT VP, an off-Broadway writer, a music composer and a comedy writer.” If that isn’t the most perfectly eclectic bunch to write just the number for a corporate audience, then there’s no such thing. “Over time, that has evolved, but we always keep the strong comedy component balanced out with real world working professionals. I think that is why our material is so successful. It doesn’t comment on life and work, it is authentic to it.”
The most important factor of any performance. “People have a button in their heads, and they know when something is fake. Our business audiences are so smart and so sophisticated, really, that we have found that you can’t talk down to them and you can’t be too schtiky. They are smart and they have a very low tolerance for anything that isn’t authentic, accurate and insults their intelligence. We come at this with a lot of respect for our audience and bearing that in mind has always garnered us positive feedback.”
If you aren’t yet convinced that The Water Coolers will be a delightfully entertaining event for your audience, consider this. It may not be surprising that they are a hit with corporate clients, since the group was specifically engineered for that particular function, but would it surprise you to know that the show was and is so entertaining that they were approached about taking their show to the public with an off-Broadway performance? “We started on this project in New York and were getting some great responses when we were quite literally approached by someone who worked with Richard Frankel Productions, who is quite a major producer in New York. They were interested in us producing an off-Broadway version of the show in New York, which we did. We got some great reviews there, we had a great time, and we learned a ton from the people we worked with. It was an exceptional break for us. It gave us a lot of visibility and really helped us. It was a great experience as well to know that this project we had put together for such a specific audience was also translating very well to the average public viewer. That really reinforced the notion of how universal the act truly is.”
The Water Coolers are a sure thing. With talent to spare and a great mindset, they are perfect for your event. But, what if you want a show just for you? Not to worry, because The Water Coolers are prepared to give you complete customizable control. Whether you want to praise the audience, rib the boss, or send up the competition, The Water Coolers can write, compose and produce a one of a kind song or set for your group. They are even so prepared to make sure everything is perfect for you that they will record a demo of your proposed new song and send it to you as an MP3 to ensure you’re happy with it. There is obviously some expense for this process, but many clients find it worth their while, if for some reason you would like to modify the great turn-key shows that TWC offers. Check out their website at www.seethewatercoolers.com to see what they can do for you.
Always funny, never offensive, The Water Coolers combine great music and vocal talents with wit and a sense that we are all in this together. Unite your audience at once with an amazing performance form this one-of-a-kind group.
BOOK IT!
Sally Allen
The Water Coolers
1-877-266-5375