Talk Like Nobody's Listening: The Art of Podcasting Without a Script!

To feel more comfortable.

You started off your podcast by scripting out exactly what you'd say, and now you feel kind of stuck because you can't get away from the script.

And everybody says it sounds like you're reading this.

Welcome to your podcast consultant.

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Dave Jackson.

I have helped many podcasters over the years, and one of the things I see that people do, and this makes total sense, is they will write out a script for their podcast.

And if you're gonna do that, I always say, throw grammar out the window.

Throw all that stuff out, and write the way you talk.

Because we don't talk the way we write.

We don't write the way we talk.

So write the way you.

And it sounds more natural, but it's still a skill that takes a lot of work.

And I can kind of tell because sometimes people have a weird accent where it doesn't need one.

They'll kind of question up something when it's not a question, just all sorts of things.

And I'm like, oh, they're reading this.

And so I get it.

And what happens sometimes is you're like, okay, I have my audience saying, it sounds like you're reading this, or it's just not resonating.

Because when you're reading to somebody, it's not the same as talking.

Like, right there.

I just paused a second.

Why?

Because I'm not reading this.

I'm just talking to you.

And I have to give my brain a second to figure out what to say.

But if I wait too much time, and you'll notice I just said too much time.

That's actually not what I meant to say.

But if I wait too long, well, then you have these weird dramatic pauses.

So reading a script is kind of tricky.

And I found this clip of this guy, and he's.

You've seen him before.

He's in White Lotus.

He was in that movie with John Goodman.

It's not a movie.

It's a series on hbo.

His name is Walton Goggins, and if you see him, you'll be like, oh, it's that guy.

Yeah.

And he was talking about, this is a guy that's been acting since he was 9.

And he said he had an acting teacher.

And he said, like, what's.

How do I get away?

How do I make this sound natural when I'm you know, either A.

In their case, they're memorizing the script, which is sometimes not great, because then it sounds like it's just a recital.

And his acting teacher said, look, there are three people.

Anthony Hopkins, great actor.

Jessica Tandy, another great actor.

And Robert Duvall, holy cow.

Another great actor.

And he said their strategy was to read the script 250 times and then turn themselves over to an imaginary set of circumstances.

And so over the years, he got to work with all three of these people, and he'd be like, hey, this is what my acting teacher said you do?

And they all said, yeah, that's what we do.

We read the script 250 times, and we turn themselves over to imaginary set of circumstances.

Now, I don't think you need to read it 250 times.

I once was working with a client at the School of podcasting, and the first time he sent me his episode over, I was like, dude, you know, I love you, but you're really reading this.

And he's like, yeah, okay.

And I said, you know, add a little voice inflection and explain the whole, you know, write the way you talk, et cetera.

And the second version of this, I was like, I can't even tell your reading.

I can kind of tell a little bit, but if I was just a regular listener who wasn't listening for this, I don't think I'd notice.

And he's like, all right, hold on.

And I'm like, no, no, no.

You could put this out.

He's like, no, hold on.

Went back, recorded it again, and I said, I can't even tell you're reading this.

He's like, because I'm not.

He goes, I know the story now.

Then I'm just talking to the person across the desk.

Now.

That's another strategy.

You.

If you can read and make it sound like you're not reading, then do that.

But when you get to the point where you're like, I don't want to use a script anymore.

How do I do that?

And it is a matter of knowing the material again, I don't think you have to read it 250 times, as, I don't know if you can hear the plane going over my house, but it's really nice.

Now it's.

We're into summer.

I got the windows open, and, you know, it is what it is.

I'm not going to edit that out.

And it's hard sometimes because that script becomes kind of a crutch.

And so it's just a Matter of knowing the material and then remember that you can always edit and you can always do it more than once.

And I realize we all want to be like one take Jake and just, you know, pop it out and move on.

But that's not always realistic.

I have done stand up comedy once.

I did it for a friend.

He said, hey, we had somebody cancel.

You seem like a funny guy.

Can you do stand up?

And I've never done stand up, but I've never.

I like to be funny.

I like to make people laugh.

But to stand in a room and purposely try to get people to laugh was very nerve wracking.

And I went over that act.

I don't know if it was 250 times, but a lot because I was very nervous.

But in the end, there was only one way to figure out what it's like to do stand up comedy, and that was to do stand up comedy.

And once I got in there, it was really funny because these people want to laugh.

And I just was kind of walking up and I was like, hey, how many people here are going to die someday?

And I raised my hand.

That wasn't even the joke.

That was just me, you know, getting the mic and setting the stand and blah, blah, blah.

I hadn't even started yet, yet.

And they raised their hand and started laughing.

And I was like, well, this is going to be a heck of a lot easier than I thought.

And it put me at ease.

But the point was I rehearsed, I rehearsed, I rehearsed.

Because your podcast is a bit of a performance.

And what's weird, it's a performance that you don't want to sound like a performance where, hey, I'm talking on the radio now, so I have to talk like this.

So you want to be yourself, but you want to be organized.

You want to know what you're saying.

And so I use bullet points now.

That's my strategy.

Doesn't mean it has to be your strategy.

But I can't operate just off the top of my head because I will go all over the place.

My ADD or ADHD or kmlnop, whatever's in my brain doesn't do well without some sort of structure to keep me focused on what I'm trying to get across to you.

So those are some ways that you can try this.

A.

I always write a script.

I write a blog post is what I do.

Why?

Because it helps me focus on what the heck am I really trying to say about this.

Then I look at the blog post again.

The idea of knowing the content.

I then break it down to a couple bullet points and then I just think about you sitting on the other side of the desk and I talk to you.

And this way I can accent things if I want to.

I can use words like if I want to make it sound like I'm really nervous when I'm talking.

I can talk about how I was really scared at this time.

And you can use words and you can talk fast and things like that.

There are all sorts of ways to do that.

But the in the end, what he said, again, this is going back to Mr.

Goggins.

He said, you just do the work.

He goes, and you show up and you do the best with what you got at the time that you got.

I'll put a link to this video.

It's a short and that's really it.

You just do the work.

There are some things you just have to do.

The only way I could figure out how to do stand up comedy was to do stand up comedy.

And the only way you're going to see what it's like to work without a script is.

Is to work without a script.

And the beautiful thing is stand up comedy.

The only way you can truly test it is to do it in front of an audience for you.

You can work without a script in the comfort of your spare bedroom and nobody will ever hear the outcome of that unless you publish it.

If you need help with this, as always, that's what I do.

I love to help podcasters.

You can join me over@schoolofpodcasting.com and sign up for either a monthly, quarterly, or yearly subscription.

And that comes with unlimited coaching.

Yeah, you and me, one on one, as well as a bunch of courses that'll take you from an idea to world domination.

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I'm Dave Jackson.

I help podcasters and I can't wait to see what we're going to do together because I want to be your podcast consultant, Sam.