There are few outdoor activities that do not require a competent if not expert services of an event host. It could be said that for as long as there has been the spoken word there was a need for someone to be able to help control a gathering of a large group of people. I would like to think that the historical background of the event host or master of ceremonies came from the popularity of town criers can be traced back at least to medieval times. The key requirements of the role were the ability to read, a loud voice and an air of authority. They were found at local fetes, events and at town crier competitions. Sounds familiar? The actual term master of ceremonies originates from the Catholic Church. The Master of Ceremonies is an official of the Papal Court responsible for the proper and smooth conduct of the elegant and elaborate rituals involving the Pope and the sacred liturgy – public worship done by a specific religious group.
Moving away from the powerfully significant influence of the church, the term master of ceremonies began being used for people at non religious events who were tasked with crowd control and keeping things going on schedule. This was in addition to keeping a crowd engaged and entertained.
For many masters of ceremonies this means channeling their inner comedian depending on the nature of the event over which they are presiding. The role broadly requires a greater level of improvisation – creating a sense of place and community, interacting with the audience throughout the event.
The rise of a few modern musical genres brought on new meanings on what was expected of the master of ceremonies. In the dance halls in the island of Jamaica. At each event, there would be a master of ceremonies who would introduce the different musical acts and would say a toast in style of a rhyme – this process is what became known as deejaying with the music genre of dancehall – directed at the audience and to the performers. The master of ceremonies would also make announcements such as the schedule of other events or advertisements from local sponsors. It was these dance halls that popularized the M.C. (emcee) coquallism in reference to both the master of ceremonies and a rhyming wordsmith. By the late 1970s, the term M.C. continued to be used by the children of women who moved to New York City, from Jamaica, to work. And it was a few of these transplants who created the musical genre of hip hop and its subsequent subsidiary of rap. As hip hop progressed, the title M.C. became a backronym – reverse acronym – for a number of phrases such as ‘microphone controller’, ‘microphone checker’, ‘music commentator’, and one who ‘moves the crowd’. Quite the ironic development considering how this all started. Because of the nature of the job, there are many people who think that being an emcee is a simple gig. They would be sorely mistaken, however, as naturally being loud and confident certainly would not be enough.