Thursday, March 31, 2011
Troll Thursday
So today is Thursday, and in my group of friends it means only one thing. Trolling. For us this usually involves making an absolutely ridiculous statement that is actually just slightly wrong. For example: "I wonder if Andrew Jackson had a sweet one liner when he shot Alexander Hamilton." History stuff, always make me laugh. The best part is that you can take it anywhere, like the movies: "I just finished watching Cool Hand Luke and Robert Redford was amazing, I can't wait to see him in Lawrence of Arabia." It may help to keep it to stuff people you follow on twitter or friends on Facebook understand. Don't get too fancy. I hope this inspires you guys to get out there and troll your friends.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Another quest of mine---With update!
Today I may have accomplished another quest of mine twofold. I have been unemployed for a while now, due to where I live the only jobs it seemed were flipping patties at mcdonald's. Well yesterday I was told to come into an interview at Publix, which is a nice place that pays a decent wage. Not only that but a friend at the local Wild Wings cafe told me she could get me a job as a waiter, which is what I really want to do.
Now I'm probably going to take the job at Publix first as that will most likely come to fruition first and then take the Wild Wings job as a secondary. I'm just so excited to be able to buy things soon.
In other news, due to complications with my new address I just got my w-2 so I will be hopefully getting tax money soon. Not only that but if you guys keep up whatever you're doing to make me money i'll be able to withdraw that soon. I feel like I'm going to be so rich.
The last part of this post will be dedicated to getting to 100 followers. Update: A gentleman suggested instead of giving away one liners I should give away my first joke notebook. I think that is an awesome idea. Once we get to 100 followers I will choose one randomly and they can e-mail me their address. I will promptly mail them my notebook. Who knows it may be worth something some day and will hopefully make you laugh at least once.
Update: I just got back from my interview at Publix, as long as I pass a drug screening and background check I have the job! Not only that but I'll be getting $8.50/hr, which is pretty sweet for the south. I would have gotten $9/hr if I had more deli experience. I also found out that the deli manager makes an ungodly amount of money for the position. At least if comedy doesn't pan at there is some pretty wicked advancement potential.
Now I'm probably going to take the job at Publix first as that will most likely come to fruition first and then take the Wild Wings job as a secondary. I'm just so excited to be able to buy things soon.
In other news, due to complications with my new address I just got my w-2 so I will be hopefully getting tax money soon. Not only that but if you guys keep up whatever you're doing to make me money i'll be able to withdraw that soon. I feel like I'm going to be so rich.
The last part of this post will be dedicated to getting to 100 followers. Update: A gentleman suggested instead of giving away one liners I should give away my first joke notebook. I think that is an awesome idea. Once we get to 100 followers I will choose one randomly and they can e-mail me their address. I will promptly mail them my notebook. Who knows it may be worth something some day and will hopefully make you laugh at least once.
Update: I just got back from my interview at Publix, as long as I pass a drug screening and background check I have the job! Not only that but I'll be getting $8.50/hr, which is pretty sweet for the south. I would have gotten $9/hr if I had more deli experience. I also found out that the deli manager makes an ungodly amount of money for the position. At least if comedy doesn't pan at there is some pretty wicked advancement potential.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Writing Comedy
Sorry guys this is a long one. I wanted to start off with a sort of preamble to my journey to let you know not only where I'm going but how I got here.
A lot of people ask me where I got both my inspiration for material and how to get up on stage and do what I do. One of those questions has an easy answer. I was born into a traveling family so I didn't spend a lot of time in one place. Anyone else who has done this knows you have to learn to make friends quick or be lonely. So I quickly found out my talents lie in making my classmates laugh, so I became the class clown. As I got older I didn't stop despite finding more stability in my high school years. I became obsessed with stand-up comedy at this time and absorbed as much as I could find to watch. In turn I would tell my friends about all the hilarious jokes I had heard, they understood that it wasn't my material but my delivery of it was good. What started out as kind of a nonchalant comment that I should get into comedy slowly became my dream. Being the class clown I grew up craving attention, possibly because of the lack of it I got at an early stage, which I feel sufficiently explains why getting on stage is so easy for me.
Once I got to college I found out about all these great comedy open mics in the area and knew I had to start writing because I had no material. The problem is that I had no idea how to write. What I decided to do was to carry around a little notebook and write down anything I found funny, whether it be some obscene conversation I had with friends or something I thought was silly about a commercial. In no time at all I had an entire flipbook full of ideas. The hard part was figuring out what was actually funny. My freshman year there was a talent show for my dorm. At this time my roommate also wanted to do comedy, so we designed a duet set to perform and while our material was somewhat over the line offensive for a campus in the south full of Christians we actually got some good reviews from audience members. That and a lot of uncomfortable people shifting in their seats. Here's where the tale gets tragic.
There were a number of comedy events on campus sponsored by a school organization. I had joined this group as a way of meeting people in the entertainment industry, however, if I had known then what I know now I would never have joined. Because of my previous involvement with this organization I was disqualified to compete in any comedy events for fear that if I won it could be seen as biased by the student body. I was thoroughly pissed, frustrated upset and just about every other negative emotion you can describe for a while. But I continued to write, determined to not let this keep me down. I managed to establish a campus open mic and perform there. I had a great deal of positive feedback which for me was a blessing and a curse. I was overjoyed that people truly liked my material, but there weren't enough shows to perform at. In the last year a local bar has started its own open mic the is available for performers once a month.
Finally there was a place in town to regularly perform. But herein lies the rub. The relatively same groups of people come every month. So in a months time I have to write at least 4 new jokes so I don't seem stale. I haven't been able to use a joke more than twice because of the recurring audience. This in a way can also be a blessing, it forces me to actively write more and more material. At this point if I were to perform for a fresh crowd I could probably have at least a half hours worth of material. My next show is April 17th. If any of you live in South Carolina it would be awesome if you came out.
A lot of people ask me where I got both my inspiration for material and how to get up on stage and do what I do. One of those questions has an easy answer. I was born into a traveling family so I didn't spend a lot of time in one place. Anyone else who has done this knows you have to learn to make friends quick or be lonely. So I quickly found out my talents lie in making my classmates laugh, so I became the class clown. As I got older I didn't stop despite finding more stability in my high school years. I became obsessed with stand-up comedy at this time and absorbed as much as I could find to watch. In turn I would tell my friends about all the hilarious jokes I had heard, they understood that it wasn't my material but my delivery of it was good. What started out as kind of a nonchalant comment that I should get into comedy slowly became my dream. Being the class clown I grew up craving attention, possibly because of the lack of it I got at an early stage, which I feel sufficiently explains why getting on stage is so easy for me.
Once I got to college I found out about all these great comedy open mics in the area and knew I had to start writing because I had no material. The problem is that I had no idea how to write. What I decided to do was to carry around a little notebook and write down anything I found funny, whether it be some obscene conversation I had with friends or something I thought was silly about a commercial. In no time at all I had an entire flipbook full of ideas. The hard part was figuring out what was actually funny. My freshman year there was a talent show for my dorm. At this time my roommate also wanted to do comedy, so we designed a duet set to perform and while our material was somewhat over the line offensive for a campus in the south full of Christians we actually got some good reviews from audience members. That and a lot of uncomfortable people shifting in their seats. Here's where the tale gets tragic.
There were a number of comedy events on campus sponsored by a school organization. I had joined this group as a way of meeting people in the entertainment industry, however, if I had known then what I know now I would never have joined. Because of my previous involvement with this organization I was disqualified to compete in any comedy events for fear that if I won it could be seen as biased by the student body. I was thoroughly pissed, frustrated upset and just about every other negative emotion you can describe for a while. But I continued to write, determined to not let this keep me down. I managed to establish a campus open mic and perform there. I had a great deal of positive feedback which for me was a blessing and a curse. I was overjoyed that people truly liked my material, but there weren't enough shows to perform at. In the last year a local bar has started its own open mic the is available for performers once a month.
Finally there was a place in town to regularly perform. But herein lies the rub. The relatively same groups of people come every month. So in a months time I have to write at least 4 new jokes so I don't seem stale. I haven't been able to use a joke more than twice because of the recurring audience. This in a way can also be a blessing, it forces me to actively write more and more material. At this point if I were to perform for a fresh crowd I could probably have at least a half hours worth of material. My next show is April 17th. If any of you live in South Carolina it would be awesome if you came out.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
My first real show.
Hey guys this is my first post of many and I'm going to start it of with video of my first performance. I'd like to start off by welcoming you and hoping that you continue to follow my journey as a stand up comic and give me feedback on my material, delivery and stage presence. Anyway watch and comment:
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