Recently I’ve been so enveloped in the new Casa de Haha, I forgot to post this milestone here last month. We love our round numbers, and must give them significance in our decade-based lives. A few thoughts.

My first dreams of stand-up comedy
10 years of stand-up comedy? Feels like only yesterday (for audiences)…
I made this picture in college after reluctantly trying a stand-up competition. I performed a few minutes of something resembling comedy, outside in the grass, in the dark, before the weekly Movie on the Lawn. I remember a joke about a rising Illinois Senator whose name sounded like a game on the Price is Right.
“It’s time to play OBAMAAAAA and win a brand new car!!!”
It was enough. I was in. I stopped the half-hearted grad school applications and got a job working lights and sound at SideSplitters, a Tampa comedy club. Over the next 10 years I’d have hustle times performing every night, my slow times performing a few times a month, work terrible road rooms, host a ton of shows, BINGO nights, and dove into acting, writing, podcasting, and production. Just embracing life as a creative (and waiter/cook).
I have too much to say about comedy, and it might never have anything to say about me. That’s part of it. I don’t have a hunger to be famous or “the best”, which probably works against me.That’s okay. I do have a fire in me to create things for people to enjoy.
I’m gonna! Thanks to all the comics and audiences for your lessons.
p.s. Now I don’t have to make a big post until 15 years!

10 years ago I was doing stand-up for the third time in this college contest. I made it to the finals so a lady dressed me in $200 of American Eagle clothing, and looks like I wanted to wear it all at once. No salt yet in my pepper. Almost my entire set is about donating blood. What is this kid thinking?