I spend my working week in the worlds of innovation and comedy writing. Whilst they are both operating in a creative space, for many they are viewed as being simply worlds apart.

Most of the clients I work with (on the innovation side) are very interested in talking about the funnier side of my career, leaving me feeling the pressure to show I can be funny. At this point if all else fails I do a comedy fall. If nothing else it fills a void!

Speaking to one particular client recently I started to outline how brands and products which are looking to be more innovative, could do a lot worse than look at the behaviours modelled by stand up comics.

Most (sadly not all) innovation processes start with a piece of insight. For example, research may have shown that main shoppers are becoming more experimental in the kitchen, or that teenagers are moving away from Facebook because their parents have taken over. These insights are springy enough to feel that if we dig a little deeper we may discover an unmet need that could be met.

Comics do the same thing when developing a routine. Can you imagine a comic performing a routine about something that isn’t a universal truth? This would leave the audience cold. When Peter Kay performs a routine on the panic that occurs when your TV planner is getting full, the audience recognise and relate to it. When brands answer a need, the consumer flocks to them. Whether it’s helping consumers with sugar free options or a simpler way to navigate the choices in mobile phones.

The writing stage for any comedian (and comedy writer) will be a time when they force themselves to view a subject from numerous angels. Going further and further out, until they find an answer that fits. Louis CK routine about being fat, shifts from jeans not fitting, through to man boobs and what a middle aged man and a teenage girl have in common. Finally he focuses on having a strategy for eating food at parties and world food. He covers a lot of ground in a small space of time, keeping the audience laughing and wanting more. He later may take one of these areas and work a full routine around what is now a single line.

For a business looking to be the next Facebook (because the old folks have taken over), to simply copy the service and put a different face on it, will more likely than not fail. What happens though if we force ourselves to look at it from different angles? What do people love about Facebook now or what are the limitations of the service. What if Facebook had a time limit or it was just one on one rather than a community wall. This could push you in to more interesting territories. WhatsApp and Snap Chat found themselves in these spaces. Creating communications tools that operate in different ways to Facebook, yet are all part of the social media space.

In the book Little Bets by Peter Sims, he talks about Chris Rock and how he works on and shares new ideas. To be honest you can replace Chris Rock with numerous comedians (in fact most). Sims details how Chris Rock will share hundreds of ideas, hoping that amongst them he will find comedy gold. He listens to the audience feedback, and won’t simply ditch an idea because it didn’t bring the house down. He is on the look out for the germ of an idea, a spark that he can work on. Adding to it, polishing it and making it the best routine possible.

Rock’s gamble needs to happen in order to move towards the big payoff. Without it, comics would be spending large amounts of money promoting tours that people could hate. Time and time again brands don’t do their research, and end up launching and promoting products and services that fall flat on their faces.

If you want to innovate like a comic, be brave and don’t worry about ideas initially dying. Listen to feedback and make them better. Look at a thought from as many angles as possible, to help you land on original thinking and above all start with a lovely piece of insight. Hopefully people wont laugh at your ideas, and they certainly won’t laugh at your process.