how i got in comedy...part II
(a continuation of previous post)
so, there i am. a jobless wannabe comic at age 40. no idea of how to write a joke, no idea of just how to get started. even if i did come up with an act miraculously there was no place to work at comedy in late 1982. was i discouraged? hell no, i was more excited than i had been in years and years if not my entire life.
i probably didn't get a laugh for the first three months but i went up every night, sunday through thursday, at the COMEDY WORKSHOP and some nights i would do an early set there and then drive 20 miles north and do a late set at THE GOOD HUMOR BAR.
every sunday, the WORKSHOP would post a list of "regulars" on the bulletin board in the green room and if you weren't on that list you had to "write yourself in" and hope that you got a decent spot. months went by and my name was never on the list of "regulars" even though i was there every night. i took to writing under the list of regulars..."PUT MY NAME ON THE LIST, I AM NOT GOING AWAY!"
i taped each and every show that i did and then went home and listened and charted the laughs (what few there were) so that i could develop an act that had a "flow" to it. i tried out new material every week, most of which i soon discarded because....well...they just weren't funny.
one of the great advantages i had was that i was at the COMEDY WORKSHOP and the acts that were there were so incredibly good that it inspired me to try new and different things. it is amazing just how many of us went on to make a living in the entertainment business. bill hicks, sam kinison, brett butler, t. shawn shannon, jimmy pineapple, steve epstein, riley barber, jack mayberry, fred greenlee, rashawn mcdonald, danny martinez, cheryl holliday, jeanne garafolo and andy huggins just to name a few were regulars when i was there. some of those names you won't recognize but they went on to huge careers as writers and producers. every one of them was original, no hacks, no guitars, no props....pure stand-up. the years between 82 and 87 were the best of my life in oh so many ways.
i got my first paid gig in june of 1983 when i opened at the WORKSHOP. my first road gig was with bill hicks and bill silva when we went on the ill fated trip to louisiana to play red neck discos and biker titty bars. "no business like show business...like no business i know...."
by late 85 i was headlining at "A" clubs in the Midwest, chicago, indy, louisville, lexington, detroit, cleveland, dangerfields in new york, etc.
next post i will spend more time in how i went about writing the jokes and refining them.
so, there i am. a jobless wannabe comic at age 40. no idea of how to write a joke, no idea of just how to get started. even if i did come up with an act miraculously there was no place to work at comedy in late 1982. was i discouraged? hell no, i was more excited than i had been in years and years if not my entire life.
i probably didn't get a laugh for the first three months but i went up every night, sunday through thursday, at the COMEDY WORKSHOP and some nights i would do an early set there and then drive 20 miles north and do a late set at THE GOOD HUMOR BAR.
every sunday, the WORKSHOP would post a list of "regulars" on the bulletin board in the green room and if you weren't on that list you had to "write yourself in" and hope that you got a decent spot. months went by and my name was never on the list of "regulars" even though i was there every night. i took to writing under the list of regulars..."PUT MY NAME ON THE LIST, I AM NOT GOING AWAY!"
i taped each and every show that i did and then went home and listened and charted the laughs (what few there were) so that i could develop an act that had a "flow" to it. i tried out new material every week, most of which i soon discarded because....well...they just weren't funny.
one of the great advantages i had was that i was at the COMEDY WORKSHOP and the acts that were there were so incredibly good that it inspired me to try new and different things. it is amazing just how many of us went on to make a living in the entertainment business. bill hicks, sam kinison, brett butler, t. shawn shannon, jimmy pineapple, steve epstein, riley barber, jack mayberry, fred greenlee, rashawn mcdonald, danny martinez, cheryl holliday, jeanne garafolo and andy huggins just to name a few were regulars when i was there. some of those names you won't recognize but they went on to huge careers as writers and producers. every one of them was original, no hacks, no guitars, no props....pure stand-up. the years between 82 and 87 were the best of my life in oh so many ways.
i got my first paid gig in june of 1983 when i opened at the WORKSHOP. my first road gig was with bill hicks and bill silva when we went on the ill fated trip to louisiana to play red neck discos and biker titty bars. "no business like show business...like no business i know...."
by late 85 i was headlining at "A" clubs in the Midwest, chicago, indy, louisville, lexington, detroit, cleveland, dangerfields in new york, etc.
next post i will spend more time in how i went about writing the jokes and refining them.
posted by Ron Shock | 12:29 PM
6 Comments:
Now THIS is what I was hoping for! These first two installments have been great. Part of what got you somewhere is that you were "dry" enough with your material that if the audience didn't laugh at it, out it went. I think the tendency of most would be to say, "The audiences around here are stupid. I'm leaving all of this material in and I'll wait for a smart audience to find me." Then they go on to manage a Jiffy Lube.
I used to go to open mic nights at the Comic Cafe here in Atlanta (where I once saw you) every Monday night not to participate, but just watch. Although I loved it, the dozen regulars would say the same stuff every week, undeterred by the absolute lack of a laugh. I tried it twice but decided I'd rather pursue broadcasting or print, where I could "hide."
I pursued my dream was well, but the wall I came up against was, Wow, I'm published in the paper, or on the radio, but...where's the money in this? You can do this stuff plenty of places for $100 but I couldn't figure out where the paydays were! Perhaps I'll learn if I keep reading...
Oh, I meant to say, you saw Janine Garofalo back then? I would've been all over that like white on rice! She was HOT!
art, one year i was scheduled to be the headliner for new year's eve at this hotel/comedy club. two weeks before that they fired jeanne because the "manager" (who the week before was a bar back) didn't think she was funny. i told the club that either a. they reinstate her or b. find another new year's eve act and since other than hicks, i was the most popular comic in houston it would hurt their business. they wouldn't relent and i didn't do the gig but jeanne has never forgotten that.
i always thought she was extremely attractive. but i was married then. oh well.
Houston was absolutely the Liverpool of Modern Comedy....that much is certain
Sadly, there has already been a whole generation of people who those names don't mean a damn thing to.
Yeah, they latch on to Hicks and rightfully so, and they've heard of Kenison and Brett Butler, but you're writing about a golden age of comedy that may not come around again for a long long time.
Fred Greenlee was hysterical, and was once on the same Showtime Comedy Club special as you. You were at the Grin Room in Baton Rouge and I forget where he was, but he did a bit where he did an impression of a smoke alarm and pulled it off so deadpan that it was insanely funny. The type of joke that I could never make funny even if I used the same words, but he made it hilarious.
And I once referenced the John and Mary story in a freshman-year college essay on irony.
Still reading.
Still make it to Vegas regularly, and still enjoy Lotus of Siam when I go.
-- Josh (and Jolene)
it was, beyond any doubt, a magical time and we were in a magical place. the stars were aligned just right and comedy and comics of the highest level were brought forth. i was blessed to be there.
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