I love stand up.
Good on you for doing it.
I've seen Dave Attell, Jim Gaffigan, Ian Bagg and Katt Williams and company this year.
Nothing, absolutely nothing, is as good to me as stand up.
I listen to it every night on the iPod.
I can't fall asleep without it.
I put on a whole season of Comedy Central stand up and fall asleep to it.
I'm frikkin addicted.
You, "ugly," have absolutely NO idea how good reading this post just made me feel!
I've worked with three of the four comics you just mentioned, and all three of them are near-household names who pull in seven-figures a year, and have absolutely nothing to gain from associating with a mere fourth year (with an extended break to relocate home to New York) relative-beginner in this business, like me.
And yet two of them have REGULARLY given me advice, compliments and constructive help.
And on almost every single night, I see other celebrity or near-celebrity comics helping younger comics who are just starting out.
It really is a beautiful thing.
In the first several years in this industry, almost NO ONE makes enough money to survive on in a major city - for most of us, each week consists of a 40-50 hour day job like everybody else PLUS another 40-50 hours, or so, on writing, on editing, on performing, on handing out fliers (at the very beginning, just to get stage time!), on commuting, on networking, on supporting friends' shows, on studying the older great comics on youtube and on some other great websites, on running your own shows, on shameless self-promoting our respective product, on being absolutely AWED when we watch the modern greats like Attell and Giraldo in person, where they perform at some of North America's greatest venues like The Comedy Cellar FOR A MERE FIFTY BUCKS PER SPOT on the nights when they're not on the road pulling in up to *70 percent of the door* (HINT: THAT'S A LOT OF FUCKING MONEY PER SHOW! - I'M SURE THAT YOU CAN DO THE MATH!) JUST BECAUSE THEY FUCKING *LOVE* IT!
And yet that strong "we're just 5,000 human beings out of an American Population of over 300,000,000 who are choosing to invest a HUMONGOUS chunk of our time and our energy (KNOWING WE'RE BEING PAID DICK FOR *AT LEAST* 5 to 7 YEARS FOR EVEN THE *MOST* TALENTED COMICS), JUST BECAUSE WE LOVE IT *AND* SO THAT WE CAN BECOME BETTER AT IT - AND, of course, to a degree, in an effort to add value sheerly by making others laugh (and hopefully, in my opinion, THINK)" type of camaraderie, and all of the comments from comedy fans like you make it all worthwhile.
That and all of the pussy.
I am unequivocally positive that I am speaking for every single one of the approximately 5,000 of us who are doing it full-time when I say:
THANK YOU SO SO MUCH FOR SUPPORTING LIVE COMEDY!
The supply of talented young comics, in my opinion, is BY FAR, at its highest as far of level of quality (youtube Anthony Jeselnik and Ted Alexandro for a taste of just how smart, original and funny some of the not-quite-yet-celebrity comics are) that it has been since I started following stand-up as a kid in the 70's.
So if you live in or near a major city OR college town, you should be able to see REALLY REALLY good quality stuff in person (and please trust me - neither TV nor the internet can so much as TOUCH the experience of seeing it live - at its best, it feels like you're at a great rock concert) for a VERY reasonable price.
If anyone has any questions about the business, or would like any pointers on starting out, please feel free to PM me.
I would be very happy to help.
And even if I wasn't happy to help, I owe it to great men like Mitch Hedberg and Dave Attell and Pat Dixon (if you haven't heard of him yet, I PROMISE YOU that you shall hear of him soon) and a host of other wonderful people who just happen to be great comics to "pay it forward."
At the risk of sounding preachy, my fellow Bluelighters - FOLLOW YOUR DREAMS!
I swear on my life that it is my experience, my observation of others' experiences, and my strong opinion, that all of the time, sweat and toil spent shall be repaid in spades when you KNOW that you're doing what you're supposed to be doing with your life.
I promise that I never meant to post such a long follow-up in my own thread.
But then, again - I made this post for virtually the same reason I started this thread in the first place.
Peace, Love and ALWAYS LAUGHTER, Fellow Comedy Lovers,
L O V E
L I F E
.