Improv, Psychological Safety, Compliance & Speak Up Culture: Part 5 – Truth in Comedy

Jun 19, 2026

This is part 5 of a 6-part series of Creativity & Compliance, where Tom & Ronnie explore the connections between improv comedy and improving compliance, psychological safety and speak up culture. Today's episode, Truth in Comedy.

Hosts

Tom Fox

Ronnie Feldmen

 Resources

60-Second Communication & Awareness Shorts
A variety of short, customizable, quick-hitter “commercials” including songs & jingles, video shorts, newsletter graphics & Gifs, and more. Promote integrity, compliance, the Code, the helpline and the E&C team as helpful advisors and coaches.

Workplace Tonight Show! Micro-learning
A library of 1-10-minute trainings and communications wrapped in the style of a late-night variety show, that explains corporate risk topics and why employees should care.

Custom Live & Digital Programing
We’ll develop programming that fits your culture and balances the seriousness of the subject matter with a more engaging delivery.

Tales from the Hotline
Fast, fun case studies about workplace behavior gone wrong, brought to life by comedians and storytellers.

About This Episode

Improv, Psychological Safety, Compliance & Speak Up Culture
Part-5, Truth in Comedy

This is part 5 of a 6-part series of Creativity & Compliance, where Tom & Ronnie explore the connections between improv comedy and improving compliance, psychological safety and speak up culture. Today’s episode, Truth in Comedy.

Improvisation is a spontaneous, collaborative art form where performers take suggestions from the audience and create characters, dialogues, scenes and stories spontaneously, off the top of their heads, without a script.

Psychological safety can be defined as the belief that you won’t be punished for speaking up with ideas, questions, mistakes or concerns. Creating psychological safety in your organizations is arguably the most important challenge that an ethics & compliance program faces.

So what do these two things have to do with each other? Strange as it may sound, quite a bit. The philosophies and techniques behind creating an environment where comedic creativity can thrive and creating an environment where employees feel safe to speak up to challenge business decisions and report concerns are similar. There is a lot that ethics and compliance professionals can learn from this connection. You can get a few A-Has from the Ha-Has.

“THINGS ARE FUNNY WHEN THEY ARE TRUE”
Another improv comedy tenet is “things are funny when they are true” or as impov comedy legend Gilda Radner famously said, “Humor is just truth…only faster.” This emphasizes that the most effective humor often stems from authentic, observable, and relatable human experiences, pain, or social commentary. This concept suggests that comedy acts as a bridge for connecting with audiences by exposing shared truths in a way that feels honest rather than just contrived invention.
 

So how do we apply this concept to E&C in our organizations? Listen to the podcast as we unpack some philosophies and techniques.

There Are No Mistakes, Only Gifts
Another improv tenet is “there are no mistakes, only gifts.” Employees know that the organization isn’t perfect. You will gain credibility by sharing some of these problematic organizational truths and what you are doing to help correct those imperfections. Embrace mistakes and utilize them to teach, while also sharing that you are a safe place to go to for help (psychological safety).

  • Share speak up reporting information and how its changing over time.
  • Share anonymized investigations.
  • Share results of culture surveys.
  • Share the process for speaking up and what happens afterwards.

Tell Interesting Stories
Don’t Be Boring!

If you’re not into listening and would prefer reading, you can download our Whitepaper: Improv, Compliance, Psychological Safety & Speak Up Culture

Ronnie Feldman is the CEO & Creative Director at Learnings & Entertainments, a learning content provider made up of comedians and entertainers with a focus on corporate risk. We make compliance cool at www.LearningsEntertainments.com

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