I took down my first YouTube stand up set today. While I'm very proud of it, and I still use some of the same jokes, I've decided that it is in my best career interest to take it down.

Since October, I've grown dramatically as a comedian, and the set shows my promise but not where I currently am as an artist.

Also. I have really short hair. Like a military buzz cut. And now that I have a full beard and crazy hair, from a marketing place, it's not what bookers and audiences will see. My plan is to put together all my video sets in a DVD one day. And if I ever get to the point to film a special, those will be DVD extra features.

The festival has ended. It was a richly rewarding experience. I made new friends. I got to hang out with older ones. And I saw a lot of great comedy.

My favorite acts included Bryan Kellen, Jamie Kaler, Annie Abrams, Jen Kober, and The Jasons.

My friends Samantha Rund, Nick Wuthrich, Mike Perkins, The Virzi Triplets, Jessie Milestone, PJ Baio, Julie O'Leary, the Aggerwhil's, Steve Saracino, Bob Ooten, Misha McCortney, Howard Aronin, Kyle Chrise, and so many others were all fantastic.

​This week I'll be signing with a talent agency. So the journey will be taking the next step now.

Day 5 was the best day yet! I had a great hosting set for the 11pm show and had friends and fans come out to support!

Friday I will be doing social media for the festival and Saturday is the Best of the Fest!

Day 4 is in the books!

I went to an informative class on political humor and then had my bar show. You can watch my live feed before the show. Lots of fun! Thank you to Nathan, Bonnie, and Nick for supporting!

After being interrupted in my Sunday set, I was heckled a second time tonight...by the Flapper's music station! 1/4 into my set the bar music starting playing...I will be posting that video ASAP!

I also had a lot of fun watching the 8:30pm YooHoo room show and the 11:00pm late night show.

Tomorrow I will be hosting the 11pm. Please come support!

Day 3 of the festival was a blast! I saw so many of my comedy friends perform and kill it on stage! Nick, Samantha, Marty, Greg, Julian, Annie, Raajeev, and Justin all had amazing sets!

I went to a panel of bookers and festival directors and heard how they want clean instead of blue.

I also had a blast watching the different headliners kill it. Darren Carter and Jamie Kaler were on fire.

Day 4 I'll be performing in the bar at 6pm. Can't wait!

Day 2 was a total blast! I got to catch up with two of my favorite comedians Bryan Kellen (we met last week at the Ventura Comedy Festival) and Tom Segura (I hosted 4 shows for Tom in January), and I got to see my name on the YooHoo Room board.

My good pals The Virzi Triplets had a great set in the 11pm Main Room show and I took two very informative workshops on getting TV Warm Up work with Michael Rayner and Podcasting with Steve Trautman. Then I saw a live taping of Your Mom's House with Tom Segura and his wife Christina Pazsitzky.

I even ate a salad.

Day 2 was a complete success!!!

Day one was a huge success! I had a great show in the YooHoo Room in the family friendly show, and I made. Some great contacts and new comedian friends.

The funniest moment for me was being heckled by a 65 year old man.

"...so the other day my friend Marissa said 'I don't know why you're single. You're not bad looking.'"

(Pause)

OLD MAN: "You're not good looking either!"

ME: "Oh, sir. You're adorable! Can I take you everywhere with me?"

Can't wait for Day 2!

Discount tix for Burbank Comedy Festival. Click the links! Come by to play!

Sunday 8/14 6:30pm YooHoo Room - bring the family! http://bit.ly/29o1L7x

Wednesday 8/17 6:00pm Flappers Bar - bring your laugh on. http://bit.ly/29xpvXR

Thursday 8/18 11:00pm Flappers Main Room - I'm hosting! Bring the gang! http://bit.ly/29Dmqp4

As a teacher on and off for 13 years, I've been able to share a lot of great poetry with my students. I told them to look back at these poems when they like life isn't as overwhelming as they thought they'd be. Last night, after not winning the Ventura Comedy Festival I thought of the poem "One Art" that has a great opening line hook.

I then began to think about how I didn't lose, but I just felt like I did. One of my favorite quotes in literature was from A Seperate Peace when Finny explains competition is a social construct.

I was very lucky to have an amazing 10th grade English teacher teach this book and extract this text. Because every contest is not about winning or losing. It's about the art of doing one's best.

The reason we "compete" is because to the audience, the idea of just performing sounds too simple. But the idea of competing. Now there's the stakes. There's the electricity. There's the purpose.

I'm not against competition. I'm against being defined as a winner or loser. Some say that's "loser talk" but I would say that person doesn't see the world the way I do. That's fine. The Moom abides. The Moom abides.

The past two weeks were fantastic. I made new friends. I made contacts. I got to talk on stage about my faith, my internal struggles, my singleness, and I got to make people laugh.

I also had other people tell me how inspired they were about my sense of humor concerning how others treat me. I'm not a victim. I just play on stage. And to an audience wanting to feel better about their own experiences, my strange little life provides the fodder for that.

Now that that year one is officially over...the Moom will abide into year two stronger, more secure, less tight, and ready to see what God has next in my life.

I won the semi-finals of The Ventura Comedy Festival! I'll be with 6 other comedians on 8/6/16 at 9:00pm at the Ventura Harbor Comedy Club!

I'm also putting together promotional material for the next festival. Here's a look at the design work for the new postcard handout I made with my friend Steven.

​Oh. And a talent agency reached out to me today. Not bad for my one year anniversary of doing stand up!