Empire Produces Comedian, Darrell Hammond for a Celebratory Evening in Honor of Super Bowl XLIV
When one of the nations largest companies decided to host a special weekend for customers at Super Bowl XLIV, they turned to Empire Entertainment to provide headline entertainment for the Saturday night before the game. With an intimate audience of less than 100 consisting of CEO-level guests along with their spouses and children, it was Empire’s challenge to come up with an entertainment option that would entertain all of the age groups within the room.With the decision made to hire a comedian, Empire recommended well-known Saturday Night Live writer and performer, Darrell Hammond. Darrell is known for being one of the most prolific comedians of his time, responsible for a wide array of memorable comedic impressions throughout his 15 years on the air.
In order to allay client concerns about content for this singularly important audience, Empire arranged for a pre-event conference call with it’s producer, Darrell and a company executive responsible for the evening. Through this call, Darrell Hammond learned a great deal about the attendees, the client’s goals for the evening, and the celebratory feel they were looking for. This gave Darrell the background necessary to tailor his performance material to exactly suit the audience.Darrell’s 45-minute standup comedy set kept the guests hysterically laughing from beginning to end. The material was 100% clean and included many of his best-loved impressions including Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Jesse Jackson, George W. Bush, Jay Leno, and Dick Cheney among others. Darrell also interacted with the audience, working a few very willing members into the act. Following the performance, Darrell participated in a meet & greet / photo-opportunity with all of the audience members, and even joined the guests later in their hospitality suite.
For this engagement, Empire was responsible for all contracting, scheduling, production, and logistical elements for Darrell Hammond’s performance. Empire worked closely with the venue’s staff to coordinate the perfect timing and set-up for the performance.
Empire is the leader in providing headline comedy entertainment for high profile events throughout the world.
Guests received their first taste of technological innovation at registration, where they were welcomed by name on a reactive LED screen installation covering the full width of the entry wall. A large lunch café was created with a décor scheme that incorporated custom-built, ceiling-high steel LED frames draped with foliage to create smaller, intimate restaurant-style spaces that displayed both technology and nature.
A series of breakout sessions presented content targeted to attendees’ varied interests, while imagery displayed throughout the venue showcased real-life applications of how products designed to empower developers help to unleash the power of data and reimagine possibilities that will improve our world.
Every element of Microsoft Connect(); from registration, breakfast and keynote, to lunch and evening cocktails, were custom-designed to communicate exacting brand messaging and to deliver a high-touch guest experience to this important audience. The keynote and breakout sessions were livestreamed through an onsite studio built for this purpose and content was watched online by millions around the world.
Empire is proud to collaborate with Microsoft on this annual, top-tier business communication event.
To view excerpts of Connect(); 2017, please visit https://www.microsoft.com/connectevent
