Author name: Jon Torrens

Here’s Barack Obama last week on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. I’m always interested to hear Obama speak, because he has such great skill. After 1 minute 40 seconds, he gets down to the serious business of embassy closures and the security alert. Most of us probably won’t give a talk on such a […]

“The ability to talk to a lot of people is freakish”. Chris Rock utters these words when chatting to Jerry Seinfeld on Seinfeld’s web show ‘Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee‘. The whole thing’s good, but that particular bit is at 8:52. Watching Seinfeld and Rock (perfect casting for a ’48 Hours’ re-make right there) discussing courage

You want good communication skills? You need to know how to write. I can tell you how I do it, but it’s always good to learn from the masters. So here’s Jerry Seinfeld on How to Write a Joke. It’s a 5 minute masterclass, with lessons to be learnt for non-humorous writing. Note his use of

Occasionally I go for a quick run around the green in front of our house before breakfast, to keep fit, and to achieve a little clarity. Last week, probably inspired by the excitement of visiting the Anniversary Games, my son asked if he could go running with me, which was very unexpected. We’ve since gone

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe officially starts today, and is the biggest test for stand-up comics, where they have to deliver an hour or more of amazing material every night, in a sea of other people all trying to do exactly the same thing within a half-mile radius. So, no pressure.I predict this year that some