One of the most masterful pieces of storytelling I’ve ever seen came from randomly wasting time on YouTube.
…as a Kopywriter I keep note of good stuff like this.
It was around the time Britney Spears was going through some wild times with drugs, alcohol and just appearing insane in the media.
Craig Ferguson (the talk show host) came to her defense and told his own story about being an alcoholic.
He tells an intensely serious story….mixed with just the right balance of humor.
Notice he’s telling a story about how we was trying to kill himself…..yet it’s still humorous!
Not all of it. But some.
He still gets a tear-jerking response out of the speech without being a bummer…or a stogy old coot. Just a real dude.
Real stories are sometimes serious, and sometimes funny.
Sometimes the two blend perfectly like this: