Comedian Stories: Tales From the Road in Under 5 Minutes

Today's podcast is my 150th episode. I'm doing a quick look back on some of the episodes and encouraging you to listen to them. I'm also reminding you of a second podcast I'm co-hosting with comedian Frank King titled Over Fifty and F'ing Funny - interviews with working, non-famous comedians.

This episode on "Burning Lunch" is a quick story on something that happened many moons ago and still kind of mystifies those of us involved today. It happened over a year while I was doing 40 comedy shows for one group. We asked ourselves, What makes a good lunch, and why would you not like a sandwich for lunch? As we kick off the new year, give some thought as to what things from 2020 you can burn and feel good about it.

Sure comedians remember things like their first time on stage or the first time they worked with a big star. But sometimes the firsts in comedy are things that are even bigger than those. In my podcast this week, I talk about 3 comedy firsts that I vividly remember that impacted me and kept me excited about my new career. And they aren't firsts that you usually think about when going into comedy. Take a listen.

Yes comedians get asked weird questions. Probably because people aren't used to meeting comedians, so they just blurt out stupid questions, but also I think that people hat since we talk about ourselves on stage, people think we're okay with answering pretty much any questions off stage. But that is not really true. Here's a few of the weird questions I've been asked.

Golfing and cops usually don't mix, unless you lived in my neighborhood. The place I called home when I first move to LA was pretty dicey, and full of cops. This week I'm telling a quick story about my run in with the law when all I wanted to do was golf.

All you've got to do to get famous is get on one of those shows like Last Comic Standing, and do really well - right? Well maybe or maybe not. Here's a short story about my auditions for these kinds of shows. Yeah, this episode went over 5 minutes. . . and I could have stretched this to 2 episodes, but I didn't. Enjoy this peak into comedy competitions.

Not spending the holidays with your family because you don't want to kill them with a virus is one thing, but missing family get-togethers because you're working on the road as a comedian is totally different. In this episode, I talk about a couple of depressing, memorable times where I missed holidays with my family in order to do comedy.

This is a really short episode today but this story has just stuck with me. A lot of bar gigs were hard for me, and this one just kinda summed up all of those bar gigs. When you go through stuff like this, and still do stand-up comedy, you know that you really want to do stand up comedy.

Prop comics are entertainers who use props; anyone from stand-up comedians to magicians, hypnotists and the like can be considered prop comics if they include humor in their act along with something visual. There are good and bad things about being a prop comic, and I've worked with a few in good and bad situations. Here's a couple quick stories.

Performing comedy in front of zoom may be one of the hardest things to do. But as a comedian and keynote speaker it's something I HAVE to do now. So I've come up with 5 quick tips that have helped me do comedy on zoom SUCCESSFULLY. Hopefully these will help you regardless of if you're doing comedy or just giving a quick presentation.

Yes, I've done my comedy at a resort for gay men . . . and it went great for ME. Not so great for the other 2 acts. This week's podcast is a short story about that show and what I learned.

Writing jokes for specific audiences is so much fun because you learn about the group, and the jokes usually help you connect right away! When you're working comedy clubs, you can't interview the audience ahead of time, but you can still do a little customization. Here's a few tips I've picked up along the way for customizing a comedy show . . . or any event really.

Being live on hundreds of radio shows is a learning experience for sure, and one that has helped me even today with my virtual comedy events today. I'm not sure I learned from every show, but there were lots of strange experiences. Like the time they booked me and my clean comedy at the same time they booked a guy talking about swingers. It was too funny. Listen to my short podcast on some of the radio shows I've been on.

Some comedians don't know when to stop with the jokes! Maybe you know someone like this who isn't even a comedian! But for me, I feel like we don't have to be "on" all the time - it's annoying. Here's a quick podcast about a couple guys I know who just can't stop with the jokes.

Our Baby Boomer Comedy Show is a hit! Or at least it is a hit give or take COVID. I'm sure we'll be performing it again in theatres soon, but this week's podcast focuses on how we got started with the show and a few of the hurdles we had to jump to get it up and running.

If you were around in the 70's and 80's you might have heard about a nifty type of programming called Cable Access. The cable companies were new, and as such they were required to allow anyone to put together a TV for free using their equipment for free. In my podcast this week, I talk about working on a couple of these cable access shows. They were kind of goofy, but fun. And we got to use professional equipment at no charge. Can you imagine companies letting you do that today? My podcast is produced every Thursday and is titled Comedian Stories: Tales From the Road in Under 5 Minutes." I kick it off with humor from my live comedy show, then I tell a quick story from my life as a comedian, and I end with a take-away tip of what I learned from that story.

How often does my comedy act change? That's a question that comedians get asked a lot. In this episode I talk about writing new jokes versus using the standard jokes for my act.

Should actors be comedians and comedians be actors? Well, that can happen, but just because you're one doesn't mean you can be the other. In today's podcast, comedian Jan McInnis talks about a few random acting classes and auditions she's done, and her thoughts on acting.

People go to comedy clubs all the time to celebrate, birthdays, weddings, even winning a million bucks. True! Here's a few stories of times when I've been on stage when some celebrations were taking place. I always tried to participate fully in the celebrations, even when they were annoying.

Is it better to have a small crowd or a big crowd at your comedy show? In today's podcast, Jan talks about how comics treat small crowds differently, and what her experience has been with small crowds. Listen in and see if you agree!