Press Voices

„Humor makes life bearable“

The communication trainer and comedienne Jenny Simanowitz talks about her motherly feelings for all the “grey soldiers” who appear on the Career pages.

 

“I stand on the stage and speak bad German”, says the South-African born Jenny Simanowitz. In reality, this “actually-not-a-stand-up-comic” has much more to offer. In an interview with KURIER she talks about our fear of failing and the absurdity of the human condition.

 

K: The market for business-cabarets is becoming tight. Can one still make a living?

JS: I don’t see myself as a stand-up-comic. I hate jokes. My communication-cabaret is less a cabaret as an inspiration for better communication.

 

K: But one is allowed to laugh?

JS: Of course, it’s all about humour. Humour is wonderful. It makes us forget that life is senseless.

Was that too hard?

 

K: Yes!

JS: Ok, I’ll put it another way. Human existence is actually absurd. And humour is the flavouring which makes it possible to laugh at this absurd existence. I don’t make jokes. I try to show all our absurdities in an exaggerated way. If we can laugh at our weaknesses then we can admit them to ourselves without it hurting. And that’s what a good training should be about.

 

K: Finding amusement in our imperfection?

JS: In our own attitude to our imperfections. We hear and read everywhere that it’s alright to make mistakes. But in reality making a mistake sends us into a panic. We’re afraid of losing our job or our reputation. But look at me. I stand on the stage and talk bad German. But the audiences come, although I confuse the third and the fourth case!

 

K: Perhaps they come because your programme is called SEX & BUSINESS

JS: 85% percent of the show is about business. But a training that rigidly only deals with business situations doesn’t move people. What moves them are topics that touch them in an existential way.

 

K. Like Sex?

JS: In English sex doesn’t just mean sexuality. It also means gender. It’s about power-behaviour, dominance, about all the minute, half-hidden messages that are passed back and forth without our being conscious of their meaning or effect... Don’t get me wrong. People nowadays try hard to be politically correct, but the show of dominance which particularly the male sex exudes, is sometimes unbelievable. I see these men in their grey business suits staring at me from the career pages of newspapers. If you dress like that then it’s inevitable that you behave like a soldier.

 

K: Do you trust yourself to say something like that to an audience full of business men?

JS: Yes of course, bur I say it with motherly sympathy! I think it’s so obvious that I’m not a man-hater that I can allow myself to tease the men a little.

 

 

EXTRACT FROM PRESS REPORT:

"...Jenny Simanowitz is Moderator, Showmaster and Trainer in one person.

She acts, tells stories and parodies and it's all concerned with conscious and unconscious communication processes. These are held under a magnifying glass and humorously examined.

There is a deep psychological aim behind her work, the personal psychological relationships which are so important in modern life. But still, everything is warm and light-hearted. She combines entertainment and training at a high level- a mirror of life as we experience it.

Jenny Simanowitz is a teacher and "animateur" and has more than 20 years experience as a trainer."

Kurier

 

"...your performance yesterday was really good...you feel so good in the middle of an audience and your carefree style and naturalness is really infectious! I found the audience participation parts super!"

Wiener Salon

 

"She bubbles over with charm. The subject matter was very carefully and sensitively presented. Both men and women laughed a lot and were very relaxed."

From an Austrian Daily Newspaper

 

"I just wanted to say thank you for the evening - you brought a lot of new "overthinking" to IMC people. My colleagues enjoyed the evening very much."

University of Krems, Austria

 

The cabaret yesterday "Women and Men- what a theatre!" by Jenny Simanowitz was a great success! The theatre was absolutely full and the audience stayed and discussed the issues intensively long after the cabaret was over.

Gendermainstreaming Project, Eisenstadt