A client told me that after a first performance, he felt like he just got in a fight. I knew exactly what he meant. When I’m driving away from a juicy argument and I can’t stop thinking about what I could have said. It’s a million chess games running thru my head. If I said …
I have a baby and a dog. They need “yes” space. As much as possible, we try to keep them in areas where they can do no wrong. I can leave pieces of plastic wrapper on the floor and yell “no!” at the dog every time he goes near it, or I can pick up …
prereq: everything that we learn / remember is tied to a story. I loved the power of the story of being a street performer. I was a punk kid on the street shouting at people walking by, then 30 minutes later was surrounded by 300 strangers cheering for me and giving me money… Almost like …
I street performed for 4 years. I met a lot of beggars. A beggar says “Spare a dollar?” They don’t say “Spare a dollar, or you know I need socks, or give me some food, or your subway card, or treat me with some respect.” It’s clear and it’s simple and it works. A single …
We’re possibly getting back to doing shoulder-to-shoulder live shows. I mean, responsible producers are getting back to it. Some people never stopped. People talking about “returning to normal” always made me feel creepy MAGA vibes. I don’t want anything to return to normal. I don’t want anything to return to anything. We’ve come thru a …
A great comedian knows when to get off the stage. Get the big laugh and scram. “Leave them wanting more” is the phrase, but it’s really not the strategy. Leave them satisfied. Don’t ask them for more. Same in sales. People try to get booked by me and they keep giving me promo materials. A …
My son, Arlo, is 12 months old today. I was thinking it would be really cool if I had some amazing lesson I’ve learned or some story that relates to fatherhood and entertainment. I can’t think of something like that. Life of a father in quarantine hasn’t been simple and distant. It hasn’t been a …
Variety arts like mime, juggling, and magic are viewed by many entertainers as a crutch. Real comedians don’t need a guitar to get on stage. Real musicians don’t need jokes. Real story-tellers don’t need to converse with a doll. These concepts are valid, but not very important. We don’t need to identify as a genre …
When performing on the street, I realized that I could make people laugh the whole show, but if I made them clap more, I would get more money. Some theories on this phenomenon… people thought if they clapped more they saw better stuff it was a way of getting feelings engaged in the body when …