Run More Creative Experiments

I once heard Slim Moon say that musicians should act more like comedians. Moon is the musician who founded Kill Rock Stars, the legendary Seattle indie label that released records by Sleater-Kinney, Elliott Smith, and The Decembrists.

But when Moon said musicians should be more like comedians, he didn’t mean that musicians should try to be funnier.

Instead, Moon pointed out that musicians should learn from the process that comedians use to craft the perfect stand-up routine. Comedians workshop every joke, dozens of times in various ways, to see what lands the best in front of a live audience.

One night they change the set-up of the joke, to see if the punch line hits harder.

The next night they add six more horse jokes, to see which get the best laughs. They keep the best two and try out four more the next night.

Comedians develop their material through multiple variations, each an opportunity to refine and adjust based on audience reaction. All of these experiments might build up to a major performance like recording a special.

In the creative world, there is a difference between performing and experimenting.

A performance is the grand unveiling, the final show where everything is polished and presented as complete. It is the culmination of work, often perfected and rehearsed. It’s ready. Final.

An experiment on the other hand is an exploration, a formative process. This is where you probe and test new ideas.

For a musician, a performance is the big concert. The experiments are the mini-performances and rehearsals where you shape your phrases and try radical alternatives.

For a recording artist, the performance is recording an album of new tracks. The experiments are when you workshop each new song on tour, using audience reactions to adjust the song arrangements.

For an author, the performance is writing the book. The experiments are the tweets, blog posts, and low-stakes writing about an idea that tell you what works and what doesn’t.

The more creative experiments you do, the better your performance will be. And the reason has to do with the role of feedback.

In a performance, feedback is an afterthought. Once you’ve made the album, written the book, or finished the painting, all feedback comes too late. It can only be incorporated into the next project, the next performance.

The whole point of an experiment is to get feedback. To be curious about what will happen.

In an experiment feedback is everything.

For artists, the experimentation stage is crucial. It's where growth happens. In an experiment, feedback isn't just useful—it's essential, driving the creative process forward and shaping artistic development.

So before you step on stage for your high-stakes performance…

Run some experiments.

Be curious about the feedback.

Hone your artistic delivery.

In other words, be more like a comedian.