About Steve

“If you are not enjoying yourself on the journey toward your goal, you’re ripping yourself off.
Trust me, there are enough people willing to do that for you.” – Rizzo-ism

Don’t Let the Laughter
Fool You: The Steve Rizzo
Success Story

“The Least Likely to Succeed… NOT!”

Once upon a time, Steve Rizzo was told by a guidance counselor that he didn’t have the intelligence for college. And having been saddled with the dubious high school honor of being voted “Least Likely to Succeed,” Steve didn’t give himself much of a chance to emerge as anything special, much less a world-class comedian or Hall of Fame speaker. Years of negativity had led him to believe that dreams were the luxury of only a fortunate few.Steve went on to surprise everyone, including himself, by excelling with honors at the university and post-graduate levels. Eventually Steve even taught at his old high school, proving once and for all that guidance counselors are not fortune-tellers.

 

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From All-Star Comedian
to Hall of Fame Speaker

 

Perhaps the most unexpected aspect of Steve’s career was the stellar degree of success he achieved as a national headline comedian, with opening acts such as Drew Carey, Rosie O’Donnell and Dennis Miller. He shared the marquee with Ellen DeGeneres, Rodney Dangerfield, Eddie Murphy and Jerry Seinfeld. Steve starred in his very own Showtime comedy special, earning him honors as a Showtime Comedy All-Star.

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[Steve] used to be a stand-up comic, but now he’s a speaker who is inspiring people all over the world.

– Drew Carey

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But the surprises didn’t stop there. At the pinnacle of his stand-up career, Steve walked away from comedy to pursue his true purpose and passion—to teach people how to be happy and successful no matter their circumstances. He traded his standing ovations as a stand-up comedian for more fulfillment (and yes, more standing ovations) as a motivational keynote speaker.

Steve has shared his blueprint for personal and professional success with audiences across the globe. He is a member of the prestigious Speakers Hall of Fame—an honor bestowed on fewer than 200 speakers worldwide since 1977.

Steve is the author of the bestselling books Conversations With Bob, Motivate THIS! and Get Your SHIFT Together, and is often called upon as the “go-to” guy on the topic of personal development for many network, cable and radio media outlets. His immensely popular PBS special brought him into millions of homes and revealed why he’s an expert on Attitude, Humor and the Power of Positive Thinking.

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Nationwide Insurance

We can say without any hesitation, your performance, both as emcee and motivational speaker was outstanding. You were an effortless hit and you must have known it from the reaction of the audience. We have heard nothing but raves about how good you were. It’s also obvious by the survey results that we received back from our qualifiers and their families, they were definitely entertained!!! It’s such a good feeling as a meeting planner, to hear throughout the conference the wonderful things people were saying about you. Many were trying to imitate your humor, but they just didn’t quite match up to you!Thank you so much for entertaining our group. I think we can all agree that you truly are one of the funniest people we’ve ever known. Our best wishes for the future!

Christy Corey, Linda Davis, Cindy Wheaton, Meeting Planners – Nationwide Insurance

Enterprise Fleet Management

Steve Rizzo delivered what he promised when we hired him, i.e., to be the best keynote speaker we’ve ever had! I can honestly say that in the 18 years I have been attending National Sales meetings and organizing them for the past 5 years with Enterprise, nobody has delivered quite like Steve did. The feedback we got from our sales team immediately following his speech indicated that I am not the only person that feels this way. I know our folks left ready to tackle their sales goals with a renewed energy and definitely a better attitude!

Tom Chelew, Vice President, Sales & Marketing, Enterprise Fleet Management

The Hartford

Steve’s presentation was the BEST of the BEST and provided a message with laughter and kept each one of us fully engaged. I have NEVER received more recognition and positive comments from our clients, guests, and Senior Management team than I did from Steve Rizzo’s presentation. Thank you Steve, for an outstanding presentation and for making our event not only a success, but the BEST we ever had!

Wayne Carpenter, Director of Client Relations, Hartford Insurance Companies

Brokers’ Service Marketing Group

Steve was the keynote speaker at our largest client event, which consisted of CEOs, Presidents and Executives from some of the top financial companies in the country. The result… everyone was blown away! His message was so simple and so relatable—everyone walked away knowing how to Get Their SHIFT Together! Even better than that alone, we had a great time with Steve. He was hilarious on and off the platform and took the initiative to understand the audience ahead of time. [He] absolutely nailed a message that is timeless and needs to be heard by companies and businesses everywhere. We’ll be asking him back again in the near future. I would highly recommend Steve as an impactful and memorable speaker.

Jason E. Lea, CFP®, Brokers’ Service Marketing Group

American Express

Steve Rizzo spoke for our audience of around 600 frontline travel agents. He knocked it out of the park! His combination of business strategies and humor resonated with the young, old and in-between. He talked about getting your SHIFT together and showed us how to go through the day with an unstoppable attitude to succeed. A standing ovation by all 600 attendees was truly a sight to see! In addition, it was wonderful to see countless attendees approach him to say thank you.

Nichol Druckemiller, Manager – Business Development, American Express Travel & Lifestyle Services