The Smothers Brothers, consisting of the brothers Tom and Dick Smothers.
“The more air we can put in there, the better.”
Comedian Tom Smothers made this statement to TV critic David Bianculli in a 1997 interview for Fresh Air. “I believe that timing [is] the most important - silence is probably the most important part of music. And silence or tension is one of the most important things in comedy.”
The late Tom Smothers, along with brother Dick, were comedians whose gentle irreverence – and later outright comedic irreverence on their 1960s television show — changed the face of television comedy.
Pace Yourself
Tom’s discussion of “air" – as in a metaphorical space to breathe — gets to the heart of effective communications, so it is helpful to dissect. Let's take each of the elements one by one.
Space. Let the message resonate. Think of a five-year-old coming home from the zoo bursting with excitement, telling you all about the lions, elephants, and ice cream treats. Their words tumble forth in a stream of consciousness. It is a word cloud rather than a story.
By contrast, listen to a masterful speech, Martin Luther King's oration at the Lincoln Memorial for the March on Washington. After beginning his prepared remarks, King, reading the audience, launches into his “I Have a Dream” oratory. He utters sentences with the resonance of the pastor. He was coupled with the artful pause to give each line its due, letting the audience absorb it.
Timing. A classic moment in radio comedy was a live sketch Jack Benny performed. In the skit, the robber says, “Your money or your life?” Pause, and the audience giggles. The robber interrupts, "Your money or your life?" To which Benny, whose persona was that of a tightwad, replies, “I am thinking it over.” The audience roars.
Tension. Pauses in music, the highs and lows, create a harmonic tension that adds the elements of either drama or lightness in the measures that make the melody worth listening to. Think of the rising tension in Mahler’s Second Symphony, “The Resurrection," which rises in crescendo, reaching a climax where the entire orchestra is engaged and released.
The same effect occurs at the end of the "Day in the Life" by the Beatles, where the symphonic sound rises only to be punctuated at the climax by the famous E major chord that caps the moment and releases the tension as the sound dissipates slowly.
Tension in communication comes when the speaker speaks slowly and deliberately, altering the tone and volume of his voice as a musician does. And with an artful use of pauses, the speaker drives home the message so the listeners hear and absorb it.
Putting it all together
Freddie Ravel, a Grammy-nominated pianist, composer and keynote speaker, puts all these elements in a text and video commentary he posted on LinkedIn. “In our day-to-day conversations, few people ever consider the power of the S P A C E between the words they say. As in great music where there is a melody and lyric that moves the listener, there too is the use of S P A C E, RHYTHM, and PACING that can make or break whether or not the message is successfully received by your clients, colleagues, or the public in general."
Ensuring the message is "successfully received" requires practice, so here's an exercise. Read your presentation (or something you have written) aloud as slowly as possible. Enunciate each word. Pause after every sentence. Vary your pitch. Record yourself and listen to the playback. It will help you determine where the variances in pitch and pauses work best. Remember, this is not actual presentation, it is an exercise designed to help you learn to give the words the air and the space they need to drive home your message.
Note: For more insight into the Smothers Brothers, see David Bianculli’s book, Dangerously Funny: The Uncensored Story of “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.”
