Meet Pep
I’m Pep Rosenfeld. As the co-founder of Boom Chicago, the author of Work/Laugh Balance, and an Emmy nominated writer for Saturday Night Live, I’ve spent my career proving my philosophy that humor makes business better.
Now I create and perform bespoke, interactive keynotes that inspire teams while improving their skillset. I host high profile internal and external business events and make them more successful. And I create and run workshops for groups from 15 to 1500 that help leaders and teams collaborate better, tell their stories more effectively and enjoy their work more. My methodology for finding what's funny in the workplace and using those observations to boost productivity and morale can help you and your team be more successful—and have more fun while you're at it.
In short, I use humor to help leaders and teams boost their impact while having fun together.
Who have I worked with? The better question is who haven't I worked with. Here's a small sample of some companies with whom I've collaborated:
Pep on Late Night with Seth Meyers
Interactive Keynotes
Inspiring. Interactive. Actionable.
Inspire your team with Interactive Keynote
Pep co-founded Boom Chicago, the comedy institution that launched the careers of some of America's biggest comedians and creators.
Now he has harnessed the lessons from Boom Chicago's 30+ year history along with his 20+ years of experience working with global organizations to create a series of engaging and unique interactive keynotes to inspire your team while boosting their effectiveness.
Pep's Interactive Keynotes
Pep prepares by researching your company and event. Not only does he make sure his messages match the day's themes, he writes new, tailored material for and about the organization, event—even the people in the audience. So each keynote begins with a one-of-a-kind comedy routine about the audience.
"Tell me and I forget. Show me and I may remember. Involve me and I learn."
-Benjamin Franklin. Or, more likely, Confucian philosopher Xun Kuang.
Pep's keynotes include engaging, improvisation based activities that participants do right in their seat in pairs or trio's. These activities not only underscore Pep's points, they'll have your people laughing out loud while they practice valuable skills like active listening, mental flexibility and engaged presentation.
One of Pep's talks, "Lead Like a Person—With Humor"
His Book
Work /Laugh Balance
How and why humor will make you and your team more successful.
Humor is a magic power, a secret weapon that can make you more effective in life and at work. In Work/Laugh Balance, Pep tells you how and why. You'll explore how you can master humor to transform your workplace culture. How a well-timed laugh boosts creativity, strengthens teams, and turns stress into a superpower. Packed with real-world examples, data-driven insights, and methods to help you write jokes that (probably) won't bomb.
“This book won’t make your boring boss funny. But it will make you laugh—and help you bring more humor into your job. Pep Rosenfeld is one of the funniest people in business, and any workplace can benefit from his levity.”
- Adam Grant, #1 New York Times bestselling author of HIDDEN POTENTIAL and THINK AGAIN, and host of the podcast Re:Thinking
Will the book help you become a professional comedian? Probably not. Well actually... no, definitely not. But the book will teach you Pep's methodology for finding what's funny in the workplace and using those observations to boost productivity and morale to help you and your team be more successful—and have more fun while you're at it.
Pep's book will:
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Demonstrate why laughing and humor are not just valuable, but transformative for the office.
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Help you become funnier by teaching you seven specific skills to find what’s funny in a given situation—and offer you challenges to put those skills to the test.
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Teach methods to use humor at work and in your leadership.
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Show you how to use humor to improve your work environment.
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Illustrate how comedy is like the Force—and how you can recognize and avoid the Dark Side.
Event Hosting
Enthusiastic Energy. Humor that Communicates Your Point.
For Pep, hosting your high-stakes event isn’t just about announcing the next speaker; it’s about creating unforgettable moments that make the event better than you thought it could be.
Pep Rosenfeld: World Class Event Host
Pep hosts high profile events like Brand Minds, the Accenture Innovation Awards, The Next Web, TEDx, and The Nordic Business Forum where he got a solid laugh from Barack Obama. And he hosts high stakes business events for international companies like Johnson & Johnson, Ahold, KPMG, ING, IBM, Software AG, Netflix, Google, Adyen, Novartis... we could do this all day.
His interviews with thought leaders like Simon Sinek, Brené Brown and Malcolm Gladwell get rave reviews. Seriously, at events he hosts, Pep regularly gets better audience ratings than many of the speakers.
As the host of your event, Pep can:
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Open the day with energy and humor
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Write comedy about the team, the company, the marketplace and the themes of the event.
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Iron out any technical wrinkles or hiccups that appear during the day in a fun, stress-free way.
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Run interactive activities that help the team better achieve the goals of the event.
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Introduce speakers and keynotes with energy and enthusiasm, adding a level of professionalism and energy to the event.
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Run or moderate interviews, Q&A sessions and awards ceremonies, keeping the energy up and making sure everyone looks good.
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Run energizers to get people's blood pumping during post break or post meal dips. These energizers can even have actionable takeaways.
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End the event with a high energy comedy wrap-up written during the event.
From corporate summits to international business events, Pep brings humor, adaptability, and energy to every stage. Let’s make your next event as seamless and successful as it is engaging and entertaining. As he sometimes tells event organizers, "You might have problems come up during your event today. But I won't be one of them. In fact, I'll help you solve those problems—and I'll have fun doing it."
Masterclass Workshops
Work Hard. Laugh Harder.
Achieve More.
A Masterclass Workshop will arm your team with new skills forged over 30 years Boom Chicago, the Amsterdam comedy institution that launched the careers of successful comedian's like Seth Meyers, Jordan Peele, Amber Ruffin, Kay Cannon and the creators and stars of Ted Lasso, Jason Sudeikis, Brendan Hunt and Joe Kelly. These Skills will help them collaborate better, communicate more effectively and tell stories that captivate and convince.
Choose your Masterclass Workshop
When Pep leads your team in a workshop, it's not like other workshops your team has been part of. The team will be on their feet, laughing and having fun together while they take in and walk away with actionable takeaways:
Storytelling that Sells: How to write and deliver an engaging, successful story
Participants will walk through the process of writing, honing and delivering their presentations. Whether or not they need to focus on a specific pitch they're delivering the following week they will walk away having learned and practiced:
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Story structure and the differences between Storytelling and Storyselling
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How to write their story in a way that grabs the audience and keeps their attention
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The skills of engaged storytelling: stressing words, body language, energy level and most important, connecting your emotion to your words
Zen and the Art of Collaboration: How to work together most effectively, even with (gulp) other departments
Your team will focus on the skills that will give them a leg up next time they collaborate within their team or between departments. The will walk away with actionable takeaways about:
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Developing a yes-and mentality and embracing the idea that "your goal is my goal"
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Active listening
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Mental flexibility and keeping an open mind
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Taking risks together
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Supporting each other's ideas to get the best out of each other
Get Creative; Think Like a Comedian: Use the comedian's toolkit to increase your team's creativity and productivity
While Pep (probably) won't turn your teammates into professional comedian's, he will teach them:
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Why humor at work is good for them and their team.
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His "Seven Skills" methodology for finding and communicating what's funny
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Making creative connections that will help them even with oh-so-unfunny tasks
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Avoid negative humor
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Bring creativity with them to work and wherever they go
Review from Client:
Let's show some love to our highest-rated speaker - the amazing, the legendary, the hostiest of hosts - Pep Rosenfeld! 🔥
With a whopping rating of 5.55/6 in the hashtag #nbforum2024 feedback survey, Pep was the audience favorite on our Main Stage. Now, he's taking us backstage to show that a day as the beloved host of Nordic Business Forum isn't as strange as you'd think 💡
Thank you for your work on the stage and behind it Pep ❤️ Oh, and we think you dropped this 👑
#goat #mvp
Nordic Business Forum