Larry King's Humorous Speech - Insights From a Motivational Speaker

I heard this Larry King story on a podcast.

There are great lessons for motivational speakers to be learned here.

It went like this...

District attorneys and police chiefs conventions happening at the same time. They have a combined final gala dinner.

They have scheduled the worlds most boring speaker

As a favour, can you follow him

He’ll speak about crime, you follow and I’ll give you a big introduction

Its a packed house…DAs and police chiefs…some of them in uniform

Frank Sullivan gets up to speak. He’s the worst! crime is yada   graphs and charts

first person to go to sleep was mrs Sullivan

the audience is squirming

as soon as he finishes I can tell they are going to get up

they’re going to run for the elevators

His friend who’s going to give Larry the big introduction gets up and and says ‘before you leave my friend Larry King’

nobody knows me

half the audience is standing up to go to the elevators

Larry King runs to the mic and says hold it! stay where you are. I’m a broadcaster and in broadcasting we have an equal time amendment, we have a fairness code.

we have just heard frank Sullivan speak against crime, I’me here to speak on behalf of crime

well he had them.They all sat down. Silence over the room.

anyone here in the room from Butte Montana?

would anyone like to visit Butte Montana? no hand went up

see no one wants to go to Butte Montana the lowest crime rate city in America

no locks on doors  the police department number is unlisted   crime free Butte Montana but no one wants to got there

but the top 5 crime cities in America are NY Chicago los Angeles Los Vegas and Miami

The top five tourist cities are NY Chicago los Angeles Los Vegas and Miami

Crime is a major tourist attraction

You have crime in your community they’ll flock to your city

you gotta build extra runways at the airport

local bookmakers, local hookers

AND If we listen to Frank Sullivan, if we listen to everything he said about combatting crime, if we wipe out crime in America then everyone in this room is out of work

the police chief of Louisville Kentucky jumped up and said ‘what can we do to help’

Summary:

At a combined gala dinner for district attorneys and police chiefs, Larry King was asked to follow a notoriously dull speaker, Frank Sullivan, who bored the audience with dry statistics about crime. As the crowd began to leave, King saved the moment by injecting humor. He jokingly proposed speaking on behalf of crime, noting how high-crime cities are also top tourist destinations like New York, Chicago, and Miami. He humorously suggested that without crime, the police chiefs and DAs would be out of jobs, drawing laughs and reigniting engagement from the audience.

Lessons Learned:

• Know your audience: Understanding the room's energy allowed King to pivot and engage the crowd effectively.
• Humor is a powerful tool: Even in formal settings, humor can bridge gaps and hold attention.
• Timing matters: Stepping in after a poor performance can be a challenge, but it also presents an opportunity to shine.
• Creativity in messaging: King flipped the topic on its head, offering an unexpected angle that made his message memorable.
• Engage directly: By calling out the audience and involving them in his speech, King drew them back into the conversation.