Corporate Comedy Entertainment · Phoenix · Scottsdale · Nationwide
Corporate comedy your people will still be quoting next quarter.
JesterZ is Arizona’s professional corporate comedy company. We build a custom, one-hour show around your company, your people and your event — and in twenty-five years and six thousand shows, we have yet to make the person who hired us regret it.
- 6,000Live shows performed, directed or produced
- 1,000+Organizations served
- 2001Performing since
- 100%Clean, every time
Watch JesterZ live corporate show. Check out all that we offer.
The client list
Booked by companies that check references.
Since 2001 we’ve performed for more than a thousand organizations — ten people in a boardroom, two thousand in a ballroom, Memphis to Maui. Every company below ran its own due diligence before it ran us.
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They came well-prepared with extremely funny bits about our business. Our leaders and all who attended were laughing the entire evening. They are tasteful, appropriate and dead-on in their humor.
Banner Thunderbird Medical Center -
In a world of ordinary corporate outings and lame office pot-lucks, your smart, customized performance inspired laughter and created memories we are sure to discuss around many a water cooler for years to come.
University of Phoenix -
I laughed for 90 minutes straight. Others came to me and said they were still crying from laughing so much.
Arizona Regional MLS
Senior executives at Discover and Pinnacle Living have agreed to take reference calls from prospective clients. We’ll share their details once we’re talking about a real date.
And closer to home
What you’re booking
Sixty minutes of corporate comedy, built around your company.
Not a comedy show you hire and hope fits. A show that could only have happened at your event, in front of your people, on that night.
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Before the date
We learn your world first.
On a call ahead of the event we get the raw material: the reorganization everyone is tired of, the VP who always says “circle back,” the running joke from the sales kickoff, the guest of honor being roasted. That’s what the show gets built from.
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On the night
Four professional performers.
One host who runs the room so you can finally sit down and enjoy your own event, and three comics who have worked together for years. You are not managing anything once we start.
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The format
Nothing is scripted.
We carry more than 200 improv games and bring the right ones for your room. Office Shakespeare turns your buzzwords into a one-act play. Day in the Life of Upper Management turns a typical Tuesday into a sketch. Sound Effects puts your CEO to work.
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The content
Clean is the default, not a mode.
No swearing, no vulgarity, no off-color material, nothing at anyone’s expense. That is how we have worked for twenty-five years — in front of hospital associations, church groups, youth organizations and Fortune 500 HR departments.
And it is not a roast. We do the opposite — we make everyone in the room more than they imagined. Your VP as Jason Bourne. Your CFO as Oprah. Nobody who didn’t volunteer is ever pulled on stage, and nobody goes home the punchline.
Before the date you’ll get our customization questionnaire — your lingo and abbreviations, who the “characters” in the department are, the inside jokes, who’s willing to volunteer, and anything you’d prefer we never bring up. That last line is the one planners tell us they appreciate most — and leaving it blank is fine, because the show is clean either way.
Some clients also put a bowl by the door and ask people to drop in a favourite movie quote or line of dialogue on the way in. We work them into a couple of the games. It costs you nothing and it is reliably one of the biggest laughs of the night.
Who’s on stage
Led by Jef Rawls.
Jef founded JesterZ in 2001 and has performed in, directed or produced nearly 6,000 live improv comedy shows across a thirty-year career, in front of more than half a million people. He has hosted over 3,500 live events as emcee, and coached more than 50,000 students, employees, executives and teams from the C-suite to high school. He is the person running the room at your event.
He hosted the Emmy Award-winning What’s Up on ABC15 Phoenix and Inside The Laughter, where he interviewed Sean Astin, Dick Van Dyke and Pat Finn, and he has fronted an all-comedy radio morning show. He has emceed the Phoenix Marathon for five years and the Miss Arizona Scholarship Pageant finals for two.
Many of the improvisers performing in the Valley today got their start in a JesterZ classroom.
And the company behind him.
The JesterZ cast are working professionals — award-winning actors and writers, film directors and producers, stand-up comedians, commercial actors and influencers. Not a weeknight hobby group.
Their credits run from feature films and shorts to national commercials and national stand-up tours. Among them: work with MrBeast, Studio C on BYUtv, Brian Regan, Whose Line Is It Anyway? and Lindsey Stirling; training at The Second City, iO Chicago and ComedySportz.
Most have been on stage twenty years or more. The four who walk into your event have done hundreds of shows together, and it shows in the first ninety seconds.
Beyond the show
Two things worth adding, and one we’ll happily leave to you.
Most clients book the hour in the middle and hire separately for everything around it. These two are worth having from the same company.
Jef hosting — galas, keynotes, awards nights, fundraisers, conference stages.
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Emcee & Host
Someone who can actually hold a room.
Announcements, awards, transitions, and the eight minutes when the AV cart dies and somebody has to talk. Jef has hosted 3,500+ live events — galas, awards banquets, marathons, fundraisers, pageant finals — and he thinks on his feet for a living.
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Atmosphere Actors
Characters working your room before the show starts.
Costumed improvisers who greet at the door, work the cocktail hour, host photo ops, present awards, or roll out a new product in character. If you have a theme we’ll enhance it. If you don’t, we’ll help you pick one. Priced per actor, per hour.
Booking the daytime as well as the evening? Our corporate training and team building workshops run the same customization process with the same facilitators.
We are not your production company, and that’s deliberate. Staging, audio and lighting belong with your venue or your AV partner, who know that room better than we ever will. We show up, plug into what’s already there, and do the one thing we’re the best in Arizona at. If you still need a production referral, we’ve worked alongside the good ones for twenty-five years and we’ll point you at them.
Before you book anyone
What to ask before you book corporate entertainment.
Entertainment is the one line on your run-of-show that can’t be fixed in the moment. These are the questions worth asking every act you’re considering. Ours are answered here.
- Insured. Certificate of insurance to you or your venue whenever you need it.
- W-9 and signed agreement. Both ready on request — procurement never has to chase us.
- Your AV team gets a rider. Technical requirements go to your production contact as soon as the date is held — not the week of.
- You approve the content. Nothing goes on stage that you haven’t signed off on, including anything involving named people at your company.
- In the room before doors. There is almost nothing to set up — no truck, no crew, no room hold the afternoon of. Mic check, a run-through with your AV team, and then you don’t hear from us until we’re announced.
- References who have said yes. Senior executives at Discover and Pinnacle Living have agreed in advance to take your call.
- A cancellation policy in writing. A 50% deposit holds the date, and if you have to move the event the agreement says exactly how that deposit transfers — before you sign, not discovered later.
- A company, not a soloist. We carry a full roster and run our own training program, so your date doesn’t rest on any one performer being well that week.
Investment
Corporate Comedy Entertainment Phoenix: What It Costs.
From $3,500
A typical corporate evening runs $3,500 to $6,000 — the custom show, the preparation behind it, and your emcee for the night. It moves with group size, travel, and whether you want atmosphere actors working the cocktail hour. Conference general sessions, awards banquets and full-day programs are quoted separately.
Working with a different budget? Tell us anyway. We quote schools, churches, nonprofits and smaller teams on their own scale. Either way you’ll have a firm number on the first call — we don’t run a discovery process to get there.
Check your date
Tell us about the event.
Date, rough headcount and venue is enough to start. We’ll come back with availability and a firm quote, usually the same day.
Practical questions
What planners ask us.
How long is the show?
Sixty minutes is the right length for an offsite, an awards dinner or an evening program, and it’s what we recommend. We’ll cut to thirty or extend to ninety if your run-of-show calls for it — just tell us what slot you’re filling.
What do you need from us?
A performance area at least sixteen feet wide by eight feet deep, and four hands-free lapel microphones — we prefer lapels because the scenes need our hands. Handhelds work if that’s what the room has. Additional stage lighting helps but isn’t required, and in a small room with good acoustics we can work at ground level with no amplification at all. Your AV team gets a one-page rider as soon as the date is held.
Where should we put you in the run-of-show?
After dinner service is finished, not during it. Improv runs on the room’s attention — plates being cleared and waitstaff moving between tables pulls focus and quietly costs you laughs. We’ll work around a plated dinner happily; just walk us through your agenda and we’ll tell you the slot that gets the most out of the hour.
Is anyone going to get roasted?
No. It’s the question we get most and the answer is the opposite of what people fear — we make everyone in the room more than they imagined, not less. Nobody is pulled on stage who hasn’t volunteered, and your customization questionnaire includes a line for any topic or person you’d prefer we never touch. We honor it without exception.
Is it genuinely clean?
Yes — and not “clean for a comedy act.” No swearing, no vulgarity, no off-color topics, and nothing at the expense of anyone in the room. We’ve worked for hospital associations, churches, youth organizations, school assemblies and Fortune 500 HR departments for twenty-five years on exactly that standard.
What does it cost?
Most corporate evenings start at $3,500 and run to about $6,000 — that covers the custom show, the preparation behind it and your emcee, and it moves with group size, travel and add-ons. Schools, churches, nonprofits and smaller teams are quoted on their own scale. Tell us what you’re working with and you’ll have a firm number on the first call.
Do you travel outside Arizona?
Regularly. We’re based in the Phoenix metro and perform throughout Scottsdale, Phoenix, Tempe, Chandler, Mesa and Sedona, and nationally — we’ve worked events from Memphis to Maui. Travel is quoted with the date.
Can we see you perform before we book?
Yes, and we’d encourage it. We run public shows most weekends at our theater, so you can watch the same performers work a live room before you commit a line of your budget. Very few acts you’re considering can offer that.