Full disclosure: this is my website and I'm on this list. I've tried to write the page I'd want to find if I were the one planning the event.
Who are the funny keynote speakers on change and resilience?
Most change and resilience speakers are serious. Most funny speakers are booked as entertainment. The ones worth your shortlist do both: the laughs are the delivery system for a message your people can use on Monday.
Here is who I'd look at.
- Tripp Crosby — That's me. Improv comedian and co-creator of A Conference Call in Real Life. My keynote, Ready for Next, helps teams face change and uncertainty with confidence, using stand-up, improv, and a few practical tools. Every booking includes a custom comedy video made for your event.
- Courtney Clark — Bills herself as a funny, inspirational resilience speaker. A strong pick when the theme is bouncing back.
- Kelly Swanson — A storyteller and humorist who speaks on connection and motivation.
- Connie Podesta — Speaks and writes on navigating change with resilience and, in her words, a little humor.
- Tim Gard — A veteran humorist on the keynote circuit, often booked for resilience and stress themes.
Who speaks on uncertainty and navigating change, and is anyone funny?
This is the category with the fewest funny names. Bureau lists for navigating change and uncertainty run a hundred speakers deep, and almost none are tagged for humor. Sterling Hawkins keeps a list of uncertainty speakers that includes April Rinne and Mike Walsh. They're excellent, and they're serious.
If you want the room laughing while it faces the unknown, look for a speaker with an improv background. Improv is the practice of walking into a scene with no script and making it work, which is exactly what you're asking your team to do. That's the backbone of my talk, and Judi Holler is another speaker who builds on improv.
- Sterling Hawkins's list of uncertainty speakers — A useful serious-side list, including April Rinne, Mike Walsh, and Sarah Aviram.
- GDA Speakers: Navigating Change & Uncertainty — A large bureau directory for the topic. Judi Holler, listed there as an improviser, is the humor-adjacent name.
Who are funny keynote speakers on innovation and creativity?
Creativity talks go wrong when the speaker makes creativity sound like a gift some people have. The good funny ones show a room of accountants, engineers, and sales leaders that having ideas is a skill, and then make them practice it.
- Tripp Crosby — Me again. Two decades of making viral comedy and brand campaigns taught me that creativity is a responsibility, not a personality trait. The talk includes live exercises, a strict no-negating rule, and adult time-outs.
- Kyle Scheele — A funny, high-energy speaker on big ideas and creative risk.
- Tom Fishburne — The cartoonist behind Marketoonist. Uses his cartoons to talk about marketing and innovation.
Why book a funny speaker for a serious change?
Because your people are tired, and tired people don't hear lectures.
74% to 43%
The share of employees willing to change their behavior to support organizational change fell from 74 percent in 2016 to 43 percent in 2022, according to Gartner. Over the same years the average employee went from two planned company changes a year to ten.
27%
Leaders with any sense of humor are seen as 27 percent more motivating and admired, their teams are 15 percent more engaged, and those teams are twice as likely to solve a creativity challenge, according to research cited by Stanford's Jennifer Aaker and Naomi Bagdonas.
Source: CNBC, July 2022
About 70%
McKinsey says large-scale transformations fall short about 70 percent of the time, and that the most common causes are human ones. A keynote can't fix a transformation. It can change how a room feels about trying.
Source: McKinsey & Company
What you get when you book me
I'm a keynote speaker, improv comedian, and viral comedy filmmaker. I co-created A Conference Call in Real Life, ran a creative agency that made campaigns for brands like Snowflake, Monday.com, Zoom, and Coca-Cola, and spent a decade emceeing corporate events before a booking agent told me to start giving the keynote instead.
Ready for Next is built for leadership teams in the middle of something: an acquisition, an expansion, a new system, AI. Your people laugh at workplace absurdity one minute and confront their own part in fixing it the next. They leave with something they can use the next morning.
My fee includes a custom comedy video made for your event. I'm represented by Leading Authorities.
“Tripp Crosby took the stage, and honestly? He made me laugh and think at the same time, which is the best kind of session.”
“He had the room laughing while delivering a message that stuck.”
“We're a very serious company, so to add that kind of energy and fun was a real change of pace for us. I highly recommend him.”
Quick answers
Who is a funny keynote speaker on change and resilience?
Tripp Crosby, Courtney Clark, Kelly Swanson, Connie Podesta, and Tim Gard are funny keynote speakers who address change and resilience. Tripp Crosby is an improv comedian whose keynote, Ready for Next, helps teams face change and uncertainty with confidence.
Is there a comedian who speaks on navigating uncertainty?
Yes. Tripp Crosby is a comedian and keynote speaker whose talk is about entering the unknown with confidence. He uses stand-up and improv exercises, and he is booked by companies facing reorganizations, acquisitions, and AI.
Who are funny keynote speakers on innovation and creativity?
Tripp Crosby, Kyle Scheele, and Tom Fishburne are funny keynote speakers on innovation and creativity. Tripp Crosby teaches that creativity is a responsibility, not a personality trait, and gets non-creative teams practicing it in the room.
Why hire a funny speaker for a change-management event?
Employee willingness to support organizational change fell from 74 percent in 2016 to 43 percent in 2022, according to Gartner. Humor lowers a room's defenses so the message lands. Research cited by Stanford's Jennifer Aaker and Naomi Bagdonas finds leaders with a sense of humor are seen as 27 percent more motivating.
What makes Tripp Crosby different from other change speakers?
He is a working comedian and filmmaker, not a consultant. Every booking includes a custom comedy video made for the event, and the keynote is built on improv, the practice of walking into a scene with no script and making it work.