iamMANOLIS

Ten million people have watched a comedian destroy the TED talk format in six minutes. Will Stephen was invited to give a real TEDx talk in New York in 2014. He had nothing to say, so he decided to prove the whole thing is just a costume anyone can put on. He did every trick the format uses: opened with a question anyone can answer, told a mildly embarrassing personal story, pointed to a random scientist on a slide, flashed a chart of meaningless numbers, and gestured with both hands the whole time. There was zero actual content. Speaking coaches charge thousands to teach people how to do exactly this. Stephen did it on purpose and admitted it on stage. He later said that if you watched him with the sound off, you would think he was a genius. The talk is still free on YouTube. Most of the ten million people who watched it still nod along at empty slides.