humility empathy and money my name is
cliff prang I’m an actor I’m a comedian
they say that an actor should not expect
to book more than five percent than
everything that they auditioned for so
if you’re going out for let’s say 100
auditions that means you’re booking
about half similarly a comedian should
not expect his audience to laugh at more
crushing those numbers right now I
remember lamenting failure at a local
small business networking meeting and I
was talking to a Carlson car salesperson
and she was like I’m rejected every day
and then another woman piped up and
she’s like I’m a telemarketer she’s
winning at losing so in a world where
failure is guaranteed what do we do to
protect ourselves from yielding to the
crippling self-doubt the crippling fear
that keeps us from engaging my
proposition is that we shift our focus
that we don’t focus on what we have to
lose rather we focus on what we have to
give focus first on others I used to
have a real job I used to serve as a
community development coordinator at a
local food bank and I felt sheepish
walking into a business a church or
school because they knew and I knew that
all I wanted was their money but until I
made it about them I figured out that I
could prioritize their needs you see
they were looking for tangible
connections to the community and I had
those to offer they were looking for
team-building opportunities and I could
facilitate those they needed purpose for
their profits and their efforts and
that’s exactly what I was a
– when I was able to prioritize their
needs ahead of my own it was then that
we were able to forge true partnerships
and impact our community together and
it’s not about manipulating the results
it’s not about using people people are
not commodities but when I focus first
on serving others that’s when I got over
myself when I focused first and serving
others that’s when I was able to find
fulfillment as much as I loved that job
though it eventually had to come to an
end and it all started with an injury at
football injury f is for football okay
I’m standing on the line quarterback set
hut I pushed off at my Achilles tendon
Paul ruptured
I was on the ground as they yeah the guy
who was covering me heard it blow and
was like awesome my wife offered me
empathy she was like oh and then I
showed her my bloody stitches after the
operation she’s like ah you can
communicate a lot of emotion with those
two letters a and W just like the burger
you get it in your hand you’re like oh
you put in your mouth you’re like oh and
then half an hour you’re on the toilet
going ah ah I was off of work for about
three and a half months recovering and
when I went back I struggled to reengage
my wheels were spinning so I went to my
boss mr. Dave Murray I’m like Dave you
got to tell me what to do
you got to make sure I do it or it’s not
going to get done is it cliff what do
you want to do and I’m like I don’t know
he’s like yeah you do but you’re too
chicken to do it and I cried
not because he spoke harshly with me but
because he because he he called me out
he knew me I was on the couch dreaming
about a life of performing and he knew
that about me he seen me perform he knew
that’s what my passion was but he needed
a community development coordinator and
yet he chose to serve me first he
released me to pursue my job my passion
I should say but then he promised me a
job should I need to come back he served
me first and that was awesome it’s funny
though when my kids realize that I no
longer worked at the food bank they were
confused they’re like dad you don’t you
don’t help people anymore I was like
come here guys
so in the same way that I needed to
figure out how to serve others when
working at the food bank ironically I
also had to make acting in comedy not
about me
comedian Leland Clawson says that the
moment an audience senses that you
expect something from them that’s when
you begin to lose them in other words
the audience’s do not exist for my exist
for their entertainment I’ve chosen to
apply this by adding the values of
celebration and inclusion stay positive
I punch up instead of punch down which
means I lean into self-deprecation I
lean away from mockery it’s impossible
to please everyone but you can certainly
try to serve them you can try to include
them and one of the major ways that I’ve
done this in my career is by excluding
the f-bomb from my act I don’t think I’m
better than anybody else the joke is
funny it’s funny but my aim is to
include as many people in the process I
want to reach as many audience as
possible and those audiences that I that
I do reach I want them to feel free
released to enjoy and to laugh and in
acting Jeb Beach teaches his acting
students that for the actor it is not
about them the actor’s job is to serve
the process is what he said you prepare
thoroughly you perform your best so that
the casting agents have an option to
present to their clients it’s a
multi-million dollar industry with many
moving parts and the actor has the least
at stake or as my father George Clooney
he said the actor goes in with nothing
and worst case scenario he leaves with
nothing so if I give everything and
expect nothing in return
that’s when I can find the deepest
fulfillment because if it’s about me if
it’s about getting the gig the glory the
money the fame if that’s what I’m in it
for then I risk the chance of losing 95%
of the time but if my focus is to serve
others first or cause bigger than myself
first then I’m actually taking a chance
at potentially winning 100% of the time
that’s the goal and that the interesting
thing is like that’s that’s my biggest
fear
my biggest fear has always been my
biggest fear has always been that I
would be selfish see it’s a much Noble
or purpose to say hey how can I help you
as opposed to saying hey look at me but
here’s the thing about fear the thing
about fear is that it’s selfish like not
the feeling of fear we all feel the
feeling of fear but the action of fear
the moment that we allow
self-preservation to manifest we rob the
world around us from the opportunity to
experience our passions and our ideas we
steal from them and we also rob
ourselves the opportunity to feel
fulfillment and to live a fulfilling
life we rob ourselves and we rob the
world around us I remember going in for
an audition one time and the action was
it was a backyard barbeque birthday
party and the action was to walk in I
was a dad walk in with your plate of
burgers she trip
you dropped the burgers and then it
specifically stated not looking for a
goofy dad so I walk in I’ve got to play
the burgers I trip I fall I dropped the
burgers end of audition
now my favorite part of the process is
after driving 75 to 90 minutes from
Chilliwack to Vancouver for my 75 to 90
second audition I then get to drive 75
to 90 minutes back to think about
everything I did or did not do in said
audition so let’s recap I walked in I
tripped
I fell I dropped the burgers wait did it
say fall in the original action did it
say fall
it didn’t say fall I fell no it’s a trip
I didn’t say fall I fell I I fell and I
look goofy by falling I’m a goofy dad
I’m a goofy dad I failed
now even though I’ve chosen to exclude
the f-bomb from my stage performance I
have not excluded the f-bomb from my
drive home to to Chilliwack and this is
why I’m implementing these strategies
the goal is to get myself out of my head
and to get my head out of myself
it’s about mental health I don’t
but I was beating myself up I beat
myself up that whole way home I beat
myself up for days after that until I
got a call from my agent that I had a
call back they liked what they saw they
wanted to see more I went into the
audition room and now the director was
there representatives from the from the
ad agency was their clients were there
and also what was there a crash mat they
didn’t want me to fall they wanted me to
fly here’s what I have learned about
sacrificing yourself for the sake of
serving the process when you give
everything
it really hurts I didn’t know it was
gonna hurt I didn’t know it was gonna
hurt but when my head hit the table and
my table hit the ground and my bell was
rung they said okay let’s do it again we
did it another dozen times different
angles up close why this time with more
jokes but I had to keep going why
because I was there to surf and I hadn’t
my son’s gonna need braces here’s the
payoff for me though this was the payoff
when I finally saw the commercial it was
narrated by Morgan Freeman yeah yeah
right cool
and that’s the goal isn’t it to be free
freedom from fear freedom from regret
that’s the goal you want to be free you
have to surf I had the opportunity to
serve at the TED global event in
Vancouver
Oh sounds pretty fancy but I was moving
signs and fetching coffee that was my
job as an event assistant and we were
prepping for this one event it was like
a speed-dating ask networking event and
we’re expecting about a hundred people
to show up and about nine people showed
up
that’s only I’m not good with numbers I
don’t know if you’ve experienced that
here today but about nine people showed
up so my my supervisor stressed out she
was freaking out she didn’t know what to
do so I volunteered to address the group
gathered everybody in a circle we’re
just gonna go around everyone say their
names and then we could break up and
mingle and talk to whoever we wanted to
talk to no big deal
so I started I’m like hi I’m Clifford I
live here in beautiful British Columbia
and I’m an actor professional actor and
then I said well I should qualify I’m
making a living doing auditions because
at that point I didn’t booked anything
yet so I said that everyone laughed I
broke the ice and my gift to them was
that after hearing my testimony they
would all feel like stars and they were
stars they were we had inventors Disney
Imagineers but the guy that I want to
highlight for you right now goes by the
name of Benedictus Venegas
he’s a rally car driver from Lithuania
and the moment that we had finished
wrapping up this introduction circle he
made a beeline right for me and he’s
like cliff you speak down to yourself
you should not speak down to yourself
you communicate you talk it’s a big
skill keep your chin up and that’s a
and I explained this like you know I
just you know as make it a joke
self-deprecating break the ice explain
that and then I asked him about his arm
he had a he had a cast in his arm and he
had just finished the dakar rally which
is a 13 day off-road cross-country race
in some of the world’s toughest terrain
the whole thing started in South Africa
now it’s in South America it’s a
grueling race and in the first leg he
lost power steering and the torque and
the tension was so strong in his arms
that when he his tire hit a rut the
force snapped a bone in his wrist and he
got to a checkpoint and the and they did
an x-ray and the doctor confirmed yeah
there is indeed a broken bone it wasn’t
just one broken bone he had three broken
bones in his wrist and two severely
damaged tendons and the doctor said you
got to stop and he’s like but I’ve come
too far and he was laughing as he was
explaining the story to me he’s laughing
is like now it’s funny but then I was
like ah it was very funny but he
followed through you want to experience
freedom you got to follow through and
the thing is he wasn’t just following
through for himself he had his own
personal goals but he was racing for his
team his sponsors he was racing for his
family his fans he was representing his
country he followed through because his
purpose was bigger than his pain not
only did he follow through but he
finished and not only did he finish he
finished first he finished first in the
private to your category which is
awesome but you know what it doesn’t
matter to me whether you won or lost the
next year he didn’t even complete the
race but that doesn’t matter to me
either because what I will never forget
is that he took the time to walk across
the circle and encouraged me because
putting yourself out there again and
again and again it hurts but you got to
know why you’re doing it if your purpose
is bigger than your pain you can follow
through absolutely and it doesn’t matter
who you are
you can have a severe impact on the
people around you we exist to make the
world around us better we exist for
impact we’re all gonna experience pain
we’re all gonna fail we’re all gonna be
rejected whether in sports relationship
creativity career in every aspect of our
lives we are going to experience pain
but I believe instead of shrinking back
allowing fear to cripple us hiding
stopping retreating we need to engage
wholeheartedly sincerely for the sake of
others focus first on others and you can
overcome the fear of failure focus first
on others and you can experience
fulfillment and freedom you know what or
don’t don’t do it I don’t care be
selfish reject my ideas reject me I’ll
be fine f is for fine thank you so much
[Applause]
you [Applause]