Charlie Sheen and his stage

I caught the Charlie Sheen Violent Torpedo of Truth show last night in Boston. I was eager to check him out live because I have been fascinated with how he has used social media. I wrote about his amazing use of content (videos & Twitter) and how he has mainstream media talking about him: Why Charlie Sheen matters

I watched his show as a professional speaker. I'm someone who knows what it's like to be given a stage for an hour or more. I know the feeling of walking out in front of more than 1,000 people.

It is an incredible gift to be given a stage. People take time out of their day to hear what you have to say (and sometimes pay money too). The gift of an audience should never be taken lightly.

Once you're given a stage, you need to deliver. It is not easy.

I see a lot of bad presentations on the speaking circuit. Bestselling authors who think they deserve the stage and do not craft a speech. CEOs who talk incessantly about their company’s stupid products. An Olympian who thinks showing a few video clips from the race is enough.

What would Charlie Sheen do with his stage?

Sheen could have gone the standup comedy route but he did not.

Sheen could have gone the professional speaker route and delivered a well-crafted speech with a story arc while providing his audience with motivation to act. But he did not.

Sheen sort of hosted a variety show. It sort of worked in places. In others it fell flat.

It worked best when Charlie Sheen was being Charlie Sheen.

He led off by coming out from the back of the room boxer style, with security around him. The entire audience was on its feet. This was a good opener.

He delivered his now famous one-liners often, throwing "Winning" "Tiger Blood" and "Trolls" around a lot. This was good because it got the audience on his side. Give 'em what they want.

Early on, he turned his TelePrompTer around so we could see it. (It displayed "How do you like Boston?") He then went on a mini-rant about how "These TelePrompTers are the electronic tools of trolls." I thought that was hysterical.

"How do you guys feel to be on the drug called Charlie Sheen – Now you know what I feel like! I'm like this all the time!" This line got a cheer.

He lost much of the audience when he spent about 20 minutes hosting a "contest" to find "the third goddess" to add to his harem. A dozen women were invited up on stage (I think at least three were plants). Each had a short moment with the man himself as he asked why she should be goddess number 3. The audience voted by cheering who was the best.

The intermission was fascinating. His YouTube video Charlie Sheen: The Unedited Version played on the big screen. It was kinda cool actually – the virtual Charlie Sheen in the form of his own YouTube video serving as entertainment during the intermission to his live show. Fortunately the video and the intermission were short.

The second half dragged because Sheen took a series of inane questions from the audience. As any professional speaker knows, when you open it up for questions, people can say anything.

Rather than "dealing with the question" as a politician would and just riffing in any way he wants, he actually tried to answer the dumb questions.

I did like how he took a photo of the audience and had a helper tweet it out live. Nice.

Bottom Line:

As a standup artist, Charlie Sheen stinks.

As a motivational speaker, Charlie Sheen stinks even more.

As the host of a variety show, Charlie sheen is terrible.

But Charlie Sheen is damned good at being Charlie Sheen and that's what I paid for so I was satisfied. I’m glad I went.

I'm convinced that Sheen is enjoying himself immensely during this process. He has the media hanging on his every word and millions of supporters. So who is #Winning?

Comments

[Bradley H. Smith]

Well done David.

[SullTV]

Complete fan review of Charlie Sheen's show in Boston with videos: http://sull.tv/2011/charliesheenboston/

[Sandy Adam]

Very nice review.. I especially liked "Charlie Sheen is damned good at being Charlie Sheen and that's what I paid for so I was satisfied. I’m glad I went."

He has captured the eyes and ears of the world.

[Bernie Borges]

David,
I agree with your main point. I believe you and I are aligned when I wrote that there is a valuable lesson in personal branding from the Charlie Sheen act.

This is my post on this: http://www.bernieborges.com/personal-branding-training-center/personal-branding-lessons-from-charlie-sheen.

Thanks for sharing your live experience.
Cheers,
Bernie Borges

[Traci Hayner Vanover]

David:
This is BY FAR one of the best, and most thoughtful reviews of Sheen that I've read. And I've read damn near all of them -- exploring the PR lessons that are to be found in watching this all play out.

Thanks for sharing your insights. There's a book in this story, David, and I think you are just the guy to write it.

My Best,
Traci

[Tanner]

It's amazing that someone like Charlie Sheen can turn (almost) an entire nation's head his way.

You make the point clear though, David: now that Charlie has our attention he has to watch his step. Luckily for him, he has our attention because... well... he's Charlie Sheen.

#winning

[David Meerman Scott]

Thanks for all these comments.

Traci, I especially want to thank you for your kind words. I too have been studying this from the start. In fact, I am doing a Webinar on the topic in a few weeks. Not sure about a book though!

[Anne Sorensen]

Thanks David for a great analysis and some poignant reminders of good presentations! Great you got to attend after following the story and to provide these insights which are a refreshing change to the mainstream media focus of his activities. Looking forward to the webinar (and maybe an e-book? :) )

[David Meerman Scott]

Thanks Anne... who knows where this riff will lead?

[Mary Mancera]

Hi David. Love your stuff. Love the posts. And loosely agree with the critique with how the guy has manipulated the media. But to anyone who has lived with an addict -- it's hard to find anything about his antics admirable or entertaining. The guy just doesn't deserve the stage he has. Period.

[Markivey]

Interesting post, as usual, David. But for the life of me, I can't see any value Charlie Sheen might add on any level- except as a weird form of entertainment distraction (on the level of cable tv's Most Shocking Videos) and example of how easy it is to manipulate the media. I do understand the media and public's fascination with celebrities,and companies need to loosen up and get more creative, but taking "lessons" from this act to help people/companies/biz leaders build brands or energize weak presentations seems a bit of stretch ("John Chambers Unplugged" night?). I'm glad Charlie is "enjoying himself" but is that really important in the overall scheme of things?

[aluminium kozijnen]

I agree this.. Thanks for sharing this links.. Very useful one.. Though this blog i have understood about media..

[najem skipperja]

It is sad what is happening to Charlie sheen this days.

[avtodoma]

Charlie Sheen is hilarious! However I agree with your thougths and do not understand the media.

[matt ryan]

Hi David,
I have read your books and went looking to create and give away content, (Video content) as a new way to market our site. www.agiftofheritage.com. The Charlie Sheen is good content.
We found out that your presidents ancestors helped in the irish famine relive in the 1850. We were promised by an irish-american site (irishcentral.com) that they were looking for good content, (apperantly content is King!) but they don't want it now.
So we have great content we created (see here www.firstlook.ie/moneygall ) that nobody wants.
Maybe Brack OBamas PR would like it.
I ,am going to re-read your book and try again.
Any comments on my work would be appreciated by any viewers.
(BTW that me presenting)
Regards
Matt Ryan.

[Scott Kindred]

David,

A nice read and something that puts a useful and uncommonly serious spin on all the spinning-about Charlie Sheen has been doing. Thank you.

"Irresistible" is the feeling I had as I found myself writing a quick post that I thought might incorporate some of the Sheen momentum... anybody else out there guilty of this? I actually got the idea from a colleague who had just written a good post about marketing and purposefully used Lady Gaga in the post's title; her hits on that post skyrocketed and she got elevated to a new level of online publishing/syndication.

I tried the same thing through using a Sheenism, Sheen-less Tips For Search Engine Submission Winners, here: http://safehouseweb.com/2011/03/sheen-less-tips-for-search-engine-submission-winners/ but didn't have nearly the same success as my colleague! Ah, the unjustness of it all...

[christi masi]

Do you think that Donald Trump is using Charlie Sheen's technique in his efforts lately? No one believes he is really going to run for president, but he sure has been successful in shining the media light on himself.