Huh.
Reading that joke almost two months later, it's idiotic.
I have a show at the Elks Club coming up on Friday. A show at Billy's the Thursday of next week. A show in Peoria the week after that. I performed in Peoria on the 7th and qualified for the semi-finals in some amateur competition they're running. The club is terrific and the owner is a great guy; he's someone who actually CARES about comedy and not just running a business. That's refreshing.
Peoria sucks. The comedy club is right next to a strip club. And from what people tell me, you're WAY more likely to see a "tight" set at the comedy club.
I had a TERRIBLE set at Billy's last week, but it was my fault for being totally unprepared. I need to find ways to get myself up for smaller shows and open mics and stuff. That's really awful of me to say; I shouldn't need to have to get up for ANY show, let alone Billy's. It's always a thrill to perform there, it's just getting harder whenever there's a small crowd.
I work nights at Wal-Mart. I don't dislike the job, I just dislike the hours.
I have my apartment to myself right now. There's a chinchilla living here for a short time. I get my paycheck on Thursday and that'll take care of rent. My next paycheck will take care of West Village. Then I am worry-free about that.
Went to Worlds of Fun in Kansas City with my family for the last couple days. It was a great time and I enjoyed myself.
Went to Chicago last week and finally saw the Cubs win. That was S-W-E-E-T. Also saw a Slipknot concert. Not as sweet, but Dragonforce and Disturbed were incredible. Mastadon was alright too. I swear, I spent the maximum amount of time alone with John Zugg that a person can peaceably endure. One more day and I would've screamed at him for being annoying, pointing out painfully obvious stuff, or trying to one-up me in things.
It was wonderful to see Gary, Carol, and Cody in Chicago. I missed them a lot. A song Cody recorded caught the eye of a representative for Disney Radio. Cody had been firm that he does NOT want his songs playing on Disney Radio for read of being lumped in with the kinds of "musicians" that are regulars at Disney. He doesn't consider them legitimate artists or musicians (they aren't). But my Aunt Carol has been wanting him to be okay with Disney Radio liking his music, because it's a foot in the door. I think Cody can get his foot into a much larger door if he waits. I don't know many other 18-year-olds who have performed at the Grammys with no major airplay on commercial radio.
Come September I'm going to be setting up 2009 stand-up dates a places like Bricktown, House of Bricks, and Jokers/Jukebox Comedy Clubs as well as other venues. I'm going to reach my goal of 100 shows this year; I want a goal of 100 paying shows next year. Upping my goals annually is, obviously, the way to go. I want to be able to go full-time once I get my loans paid off ("full-time" means I will be able to pay rent and cover basic living expenses-- I finally won't have other expenses to worry about-- on my stand-up income alone). Doug Stone tried to go full-time professional while he still had credi card debt and car payments. He now works for a temp agency accepting $7/hour jobs just to get by. I don't want that to be me. I'd rather spend the next few years honing what I have, expending and developing my material, then hitting the ground running when I am financially capable (which I consider to pretty much be anything above 0 debt). I'll do stuff like making week-long trips to NYC or Chicago to get stagetime with the big guns, but I love Des Moines enough to wanna stay here awhile and call this home. The cost of living is low, too. That helps.
I'm optimistic because 2008 has been, by far, the best year for me comedically. It should be. 2009 should blow '08 out of the water, though. And 2010 should make 2009 look like it was my first year in comedy. I have to keep growing; if 2008 WASN'T my best year of comedy, I would have to re-assess what I'm doing and see why I'm not advancing in my stand-up career. Comics should get funnier. Not all of them do. I'm thankful to God that so far, I have been one of the lucky ones.
...Again, though, I'm still in Des Moines where nobody outside of Iowa knows who I am and probably won't for awhile yet. So even though it's felt like a big year for me, in the grand scheme of things, it's peanuts.
Peanuts are delicious.
I have a show at the Elks Club coming up on Friday. A show at Billy's the Thursday of next week. A show in Peoria the week after that. I performed in Peoria on the 7th and qualified for the semi-finals in some amateur competition they're running. The club is terrific and the owner is a great guy; he's someone who actually CARES about comedy and not just running a business. That's refreshing.
Peoria sucks. The comedy club is right next to a strip club. And from what people tell me, you're WAY more likely to see a "tight" set at the comedy club.
I had a TERRIBLE set at Billy's last week, but it was my fault for being totally unprepared. I need to find ways to get myself up for smaller shows and open mics and stuff. That's really awful of me to say; I shouldn't need to have to get up for ANY show, let alone Billy's. It's always a thrill to perform there, it's just getting harder whenever there's a small crowd.
I work nights at Wal-Mart. I don't dislike the job, I just dislike the hours.
I have my apartment to myself right now. There's a chinchilla living here for a short time. I get my paycheck on Thursday and that'll take care of rent. My next paycheck will take care of West Village. Then I am worry-free about that.
Went to Worlds of Fun in Kansas City with my family for the last couple days. It was a great time and I enjoyed myself.
Went to Chicago last week and finally saw the Cubs win. That was S-W-E-E-T. Also saw a Slipknot concert. Not as sweet, but Dragonforce and Disturbed were incredible. Mastadon was alright too. I swear, I spent the maximum amount of time alone with John Zugg that a person can peaceably endure. One more day and I would've screamed at him for being annoying, pointing out painfully obvious stuff, or trying to one-up me in things.
It was wonderful to see Gary, Carol, and Cody in Chicago. I missed them a lot. A song Cody recorded caught the eye of a representative for Disney Radio. Cody had been firm that he does NOT want his songs playing on Disney Radio for read of being lumped in with the kinds of "musicians" that are regulars at Disney. He doesn't consider them legitimate artists or musicians (they aren't). But my Aunt Carol has been wanting him to be okay with Disney Radio liking his music, because it's a foot in the door. I think Cody can get his foot into a much larger door if he waits. I don't know many other 18-year-olds who have performed at the Grammys with no major airplay on commercial radio.
Come September I'm going to be setting up 2009 stand-up dates a places like Bricktown, House of Bricks, and Jokers/Jukebox Comedy Clubs as well as other venues. I'm going to reach my goal of 100 shows this year; I want a goal of 100 paying shows next year. Upping my goals annually is, obviously, the way to go. I want to be able to go full-time once I get my loans paid off ("full-time" means I will be able to pay rent and cover basic living expenses-- I finally won't have other expenses to worry about-- on my stand-up income alone). Doug Stone tried to go full-time professional while he still had credi card debt and car payments. He now works for a temp agency accepting $7/hour jobs just to get by. I don't want that to be me. I'd rather spend the next few years honing what I have, expending and developing my material, then hitting the ground running when I am financially capable (which I consider to pretty much be anything above 0 debt). I'll do stuff like making week-long trips to NYC or Chicago to get stagetime with the big guns, but I love Des Moines enough to wanna stay here awhile and call this home. The cost of living is low, too. That helps.
I'm optimistic because 2008 has been, by far, the best year for me comedically. It should be. 2009 should blow '08 out of the water, though. And 2010 should make 2009 look like it was my first year in comedy. I have to keep growing; if 2008 WASN'T my best year of comedy, I would have to re-assess what I'm doing and see why I'm not advancing in my stand-up career. Comics should get funnier. Not all of them do. I'm thankful to God that so far, I have been one of the lucky ones.
...Again, though, I'm still in Des Moines where nobody outside of Iowa knows who I am and probably won't for awhile yet. So even though it's felt like a big year for me, in the grand scheme of things, it's peanuts.
Peanuts are delicious.