I work with a lot of comics. I've studied a lot of comics. I've taught a lot of comics. So when I tell you the biggest misconception across the board of aspiring feature and headliner acts is the same for 90% of working open micers and showcase comics, I'm telling you there are universal bad habits in both philosophy and structure. Comics have the idea that building a 30-45 minute act is simply building 3-5 minute sets and then like Lego pieces, connecting them. So let me get this out of the way first. 

WRONG! 

While the idea looks correct on paper, combining 7-10 random bits will not be a sustainable or consistent methodology to keep an audience engaged and in the passenger seat with you while you feature or headline. So let's look at how to build a 30-45 minute act that you can take anywhere. 

Lego Building Acts Create Tonal Whiplash
The main reason you don't want to just take random bits about a current job, Joe Biden, your first date, a trip to the Grand Canyon, dating apps, war movies, and forgetting passwords is because they might have nothing to do with each other. If you think of a long set as a road tip, there is a way the map is laid out and elevations increase and decrease. Weather gets progressively colder or hotter. And the scenery fades into new landscapes. Plus, there is a central destination. 

In comedy, your act should be building toward a point where the crowd realizes you've revealed all you can on an aspect of your life. You might be many things, but your act for a few years (or decades in some cases) is showing one side of you. You might have done everything you joke about, but there needs to be a through line for the material to feel connected. 

In more human speak: There has to be a reason you are talking about a topic. If you lack this, you end up just whipping your crowd at your whim, making them confused with tonal whiplash. 

Your Personality and Identity Are Key 
Once you walk on stage, the crowd makes assumptions about you. Some people will naturally be excited and others will be annoyed. Think of your act as a car trip. Would you want to listen to you for 45 minutes straight? Are your stories just "Oh, then this happened...and then this happened...and what's the deal with..." OR are your sharing and building toward a climax of sorts. Are you answering the unasked questions the person in the other seat was wondering about? 

At the start of any set, outside of some riffing about previous comics or the venue, you must establish a few things about yourself. How do you reveal yourself to the crowd? Here's how a few comics clarify identity: The middle age slacker (early George Carlin), the cool sexually free aunt (Amy Schumer), the frustrated boomer (Jerry Seinfeld today), the lazy dad (Jim Gaffigan), or the feminist fed up with feminists (Whitney Cummings). Or maybe it's just the Wild and Crazy Guy (Steve Martin) or the drunk redneck (Ron White) or the macho guy (Joe Rogan).

Through this identity (and it's basically one identity) all your jokes run through that prism. For me, I'm the Almost Successful Single Guy. I joke about jobs that were disasters, advance degrees that mean nothing, dates with hot women that went nowhere, nightmare paid gigs, and my first year teaching that went from inspirational to disaster. Everything is about my hope being snatched away by my own insecurities and indecisiveness. The American Dream gone wrong. Even when I joke about not knowing how to put chains on my tires, at the heart of it is my lack of masculinity. It's through this prism I'm able to create an act that takes a crowd through an aspect of how I see my life, and how I want audiences to see me. 

Creating 3-4 10 Minute Sets With Connected Themes 
Once you figure out the Identity you want to develop, you need to write basically 3-4 ten minute sets with an opening joke and closer that can be connected for a full show. Here's what I'm doing these days:

• 10 Minutes on Losing Weight But Feeling Fat 
• 10 Minutes on Dating Gorgeous Women and Failing 
• 10 Minutes on Overcoming Health Issues and Failing 
• 10 Minutes on Jobs that Never Worked Out 
• 10 Minutes of Being Heckled in Paid Shows 

Then I pick the three or four sets that work best for the crowd, connect them, use crowd work as a transition, and then collect the check. All of them are about my attempts at glory, only to have defeat handed to me on a silver platter. I once explained every joke I do can be broken down as "I win when I lose, and I lose when I win." 

Your Act Should Be Building To Something
When you think about the destination of your 30-45 minute show, keep in mind, your mini-closers thrown in are a taste for the biggest laugh of the night by the end. My mini-closers:

• For Fat Jokes it's shaving my beard to look handsome, only to look worse 
• For Jobs it's using an Australian accent for a food delivery job to make tips to survive 
• For my Health Jokes it's about the fear of impotence and overcoming that through weight loss
• For my Dating Jokes it has to deal with accidently dating an adult film star who just wants money

And I end most sets with me talking about my road gigs, finishing with how my senior center gig lead to me being heckled by an old man. Nothing is more demoralizing than trying to give back only to be walked out on. It's a fun act out and wraps up the whole show. 

​Final Thoughts 
As you are building out 5 minute sets, keep in mind, you want to be interchanging jokes so you can make sure they continue to have a similar theme. Once you have that prism/identity down, the writing becomes easier, and the laughs become more frequent. Even your crowd work will flow better, as you know what you're trying to accomplish. I know getting 10-20 minutes is tough in LA, but if you work with independent producers, venues, and other comics, you will find opportunities to see your act blend together. It might not work at first, but with a little practice and patience, you'll start turning 5 minute sets into 10 minute sets, and one day your 10 minute sets will become 30-45 minute sets, and you will be ready to take on the road like a pro.         

I taught English Literature at both the AP and College level for a combined 12 years. If there's one thing I learned teaching literature whether it was Hamlet, Death of a Salesman, or Life of Pi, most classic books and plays are tragic in their ending. Hamlet dies protecting his father's honor, Willy Loman kills himself for an insurance policy to give his kids, and Pi loses everything and nearly dies in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The characters are thrust into a situation above their paygrade and forced to pull through. Sometimes they find a silver lining and sometimes it ends tragically. Happy stories don't really survive the test of time in literature. Even in children's literature, Harry Potter lives on after facing great evil, Frodo finds refuge in leaving the shire for Hobbit heaven, and Dr. Seuss warns us the places we'll go are dark and scary more often than not. Yet they are the stories we retell over and over again. It's in that conflict most of us find our best comedy too. Woody Allen was quoted as saying comedy is just Tragedy + Time, and he couldn't be more right. 

Movies are different. But life isn't a Disney animated classic film. Not all blockheads become real boys. Not all red head wild children find their prince. And rarely does the Genie get his freedom. Yet those stories stay with us as well. Because life is complicated. Life is both finding your prince or princess AND it's realizing you can't afford the castle your thought you'd get. Life is trying to make your parents proud, only to realize they never really would be satisfied with your choices. In the film Stranger Than Fiction, Will Ferrell finds himself in a comedic tragedy, learning he has no control over his destiny, yet finds some solace in love. The tragedy put upon him are funny to the outside world, yet unbearable to live through. 

The balance between comedy and tragedy plays itself also through a life pursuing a dream in stand up. I don't care if you're Jerry Seinfeld or a nineteen year old open micer, there are shades of disappointment hovering your journey. Because comedy, acting, music, etc. has gatekeepers and boundaries you might not be able to break through, regardless of effort or talent. Even if you try to build a fan base, you might find your comedy works in an evergreen way, but not in a sell out the venue sort of way. Unrecognized talent and appreciation is a burden everyone from Jesus to Vincent van Gogh to the producers of Paul Reiser's Hulu show Reboot have felt. Jesus and van Gogh eventually got their flowers, but those poor Reboot writers are still trying to find work. 

So how do you deal with disappointment in an industry that takes more than it gives? You focus on the good and work to fix the bad. Maybe you're not making a lot of money, but you're getting more bookings than you did before. Maybe that booker isn't booking you but he's responding to your emails. Maybe you're always tired, but it's because you're making time to write jokes and edit clips. People who workout are tired too. Because they earned it. Not all tired is bad.  

Recently, my car was stolen, got into an accident, and the adjuster told me it's totaled. I'm going to break even on costs and be carless. While that sucks, I'm also going to be debt free now. With that comes a lot of freedom. The Bible says "the borrower is slave to the lender." That is felt every 10th of the month when I had to pay Premier Credit Union. I might not have a car, but I can at least sleep at night knowing I no longer have 4 years of payments. That doesn't solve my car crisis, but if I only focus on the car crisis, I'll never figure out how to move forward.   

In the story of The Good Samaritan, a man is beaten and robbed on the road. Two men ignore him. Then a Samaritan helps him and takes him to an inn to have his wounds healed. Most parables are violent, wild stories about death, broken up families, houses that fall apart, and losing money. Often people see themselves as the hero - they see themselves as the Samaritan. But sometimes they are the man left on the side of the road. And some are the robbers. And most are the men who step over the left-for-dead-man from Jerusalem. Sometimes we play different parts in the same repeating stories of life. We have to give ourselves grace knowing we aren't always getting a happy story. 

As we live out the tragic, we can question God like Job, but be prepared to not get the answer we want or any at all. Yet, there is one thing we all can do to deal with the harsh winds of life.     

One thing we all can do when we feel disappointment is to help those in need. As Gandhi said, "be the change you want to see in the world." Recently, I had a co-headliner gig canceled, so I reached out to the other comic and booked them for a show I produce. They didn't ask, but I knew they needed a pick me up.      

So when you are disappointed, find a way to help someone else in need. It might mean just sending them an encouraging text or liking their Instagram post. I know I still get excited when people who don't normally comment or like my posts show them some love. 

Too often we see one side of the coin, but every scenario has a way out. We just have to be brave enough to look through the pain to go through. 

• We often might feel like a victim, which we very well might be. But yet, we must never victimize others on the journey. 
• We often might realize there are only questions and no answers. But yet, we must try to solve the riddles, even if our guesses are incorrect and our conclusions make others angry. 
• We often might see darkness ahead because our flashlight is quite small. But yet, we must move forward, even if only one small step at a time. 

I don't know what's going to happen with my car and my driving situation. Stand up doesn't always cover every bill. But in my disappointment, I know I can still find ways to cheer up others and support where I can. Life is a mixture of tragedy and comedy. We will be up one day and down another. Sometimes its important to remember we get one spin around the sun, and we just have to make the best of those ups and downs. I'm 43, and I know I'll have a car again soon. Just not tomorrow. I'm also reminded that we can only get over our disappointments is if we press forward. Idle cars can't find much use for the rearview mirror. 

In the words of Gandalf to to Bilbo after their first adventure of dragons and war he looks at the Hobbit to say, "You are only quite a little fellow in a wide world after all!"
May we always think of ourselves as a little fellow in a wide world. If only so our problems don't feel any bigger than us. 

On Monday I got home from a 6 day road trip. I drove to Richland, Washington and back to Los Angeles for a 2500 mile round trip through literal wind, rain, and snow. I saw the foliage of late Fall, experienced different shades of gloomy rain, and even got to drive though a winter wonderland mountain. Every time I do that, I always ask, "How did Frodo and Sam survive?" Then I remember it's not real, even though I want Middle Earth to exist. I got to see three states (California, Oregon, and Washington) and visit a few cool cultural tourist sites, as well as stay in a motel that could have been confused with a prison cell or a rest stop bathroom. It's my tenth year of stand up, and one of the joys of the job is the traveling. Yet, the costs of gas, food, and wear and tear on the car are not always as economical as I'd like. But you don't get to play Madison Square Garden until you've played middle America, so here a few tips and tricks when traveling that can save costs and make the trip more memorable than it deserves to be. 

Driving v. Flying Isn't Cut and Dry 
When a few of you read I did a road gig that took 6 days, keep in mind it took two days to drive up to Washington (Wednesday and Thursday) and two days to perform (Friday and Saturday) and two days to return home (Sunday and Monday). Each day on the road was approximately 10 hours of driving, eating, and filling up for gas. Alone. So why drive instead of fly? Because I'm more likely to not lose money with gas than a plane ticket. Headlining money isn't always very good. Many bookers assume you'll build a trip around their gigs, so they don't take on any responsibility to pay a living wage. 

While gas will cost me $200-$250 for the trip, a plane ticket with baggage costs can cost $600+ with all fees included. Plus, not all cities have big enough airports to have flights that work with my schedule. For this particular trip, the only flights from LA or Burbank would require me to fly in Wednesday and get a room for two nights and fly out 6AM Sunday morning. The uber and hotel costs would be awful compared to what I spent by stopping in small towns along the way. Also, there is no guarantee my flights would depart or leave on time, meaning I could lose non refundable hotel costs. At least by driving I control my own fate. 

Side note on hotels: When staying overnight on your own dime, NEVER stay in a motel. Always find the best deal at a Best Western or La Quinta instead of staying at Bob's Inn. Trust me. You want a place with a corporate office and not a mom and pop place with keys that don't work, employees high as a kite, and no breakfast in the morning. I've stayed at a few $100 places where the omelet or waffle bar was better than most Denny's. The extra few bucks is worth the breakfast and working air conditioner or heater.   

Driving Allows For Sight Seeing 
While planes might get you to a location faster, there really is nothing quite like seeing God's country. When my GPS took me through the various locations, I saw so many lakes, rivers, trees, wildlife, reindeer, and even Yaks! I literally got all the winter seasons in a week to take in. While it's no first class seat, it's a first class ride through a Robert Frost poem. 
​
I also was lucky enough to accidently find myself at The Last Blockbuster on Earth in Bend, Oregon. While some would find the archaic remains of a now dead franchise video store weird or silly, I found it to be a wonderful trip down nostalgia road.   

If road gigs teach me anything, it's the fact America is a great place. A land of various climates and tourist attractions. While the pay may not be worth the actual trip, the trip with worth way more than the pay. 

YouTube Is Your Co-Pilot 
If you find yourself on the road for days, this can be your entry way to an uncredited education. I have a few podcasts I love to kill time with. There are Oscar Prediction gurus like The Oscar Expert and old review clips of Siskel & Ebert. Watching them argue about Cop & Half will never get old. I can listen to political thinkers from the deranged to the unhinged, which usually helps me talk out loud to my car speakers so I remember the sound of my own voice. Often I get lost in the ramblings of Jim Cornette and life on the road in the 1980's and 1990's professional wrestling scene. Did you know Hulk Hogan got fired by the WWF for making Rocky III by Vince McMahan, Sr. and rehired by Vince Jr. when he bought the company from his dad? You didn't! Well, ladies... 

The point is, we rarely have time during the day to lazily engage in hours of useless information. But on the road, you got nothing but time. You can listen to books on tape or just catch up on listening to The White Album without thinking about responsibilities. You truly are the pilot of your trip.

Discovering New Food Spots and Making Fans and Friends
While many people are trying to get audience members to add them on Instagram, I'm trying to meet bartenders, waitresses, and locals on my travels. When I stopped in Yreka, CA for a night there was a local bar and grill next to my motel and they immediately knew I was a weary traveler. The city is so small, they basically know who is from out of town. When I told them I was on the road to Jokers Comedy Club, the five people there all checked my IG and website and wanted to know everything about me. One bartender even gave me contact info for the Performing Arts Center about doing a show there in the future. 

When I stopped in Redding, CA on the way home, I ate at the local steakhouse because I got a hotel discount. I met a safety manager. Since I used to work in that industry, I was excited to hear about the latest news in that industry, and she was excited to talk to someone who actually knew what her job entailed. Plus she was really hot. And on the road, I'm a much sexier profession than in LA, where everyone is in the industry. 

Plus, once at the club I get to see old faces from the last time I was there and meeting new people who now work there. There's also new fans who start adding me on social media. With two near sold out shows, I got to have a lot of fun and meet some real middle American people happy to be entertained. In fact, a few ladies asked me to join them for a night out, but based on previous experiences, a lot of people are more well behaved in the club than they are out and about. 

Visiting Friends and Family Is Worth It
Even if I don't make a lot of money on every trip, I can still make a trip worth it by visiting people and have the club basically fund the trip. I usually play Tucson, AZ once a year and get to see my best friend, an old college friend, and a few Hooters bartenders I snap with on the daily. When I visit Washington I can see my mom and other family members up there as well. I'm including the family Boston Terriers Gracie and Molly. 

Often we don't travel to visit people out of state because who has an extra few hundred to a thousand dollars? But why not work and play on someone else's dollar? I've been able to see friends in multiple cities and states, paid for by comedy. 

Don't Do The Road If You Can't Afford To
While there are a lot of great experiences and people to meet, don't put yourself into debt doing this. My thoughts on credit cards are very conservative, but if you are putting your career on a card, you will find a lot of problems down the road if it doesn't pay off. This includes road gigs, festivals, and conventions. While there might be networking benefits, those benefits might not come as fast as you think. You might have to quit before you see that fruit bloom. I know a lot of comedy students who put their comedy career on a credit card and now are working overtime to pay it off. That means less time to get up on stage. 

Many comics, even the ones with merch, tell me they're giving up on the road because of costs. I've been doing the road since 2017, so I'm still a baby, but I totally get their frustrations. While comedy can be an amazing feeling on stage, the residuals don't last long, and like a drug, you will continue to search for the next high. So don't be afraid to budget and cash flow. 

Final Thoughts 
Comedy has been a life saver for me. A community that has brought me many blessings and friends. Yet, there are costs, and the road can eat you up financially, emotionally, and spiritually if you don't find joy outside of the destination. Many road comics become very bitter as they have to drive or fly to places they wouldn't care to unless it was for comedy. But if you can plan a real trip around it, you'll find a lot to love about the amber waves of grain. 

​When starting out on doing the road, I would encourage you to start with places friends and family are so you have company during the day. As you expand your trips, I would suggest you look up the best food places and tourist attractions. You will maintain a certain childlike wonder that will energize you, and more importantly, you just might write a whole new bit about your interactions with the world out there.       

Back when I started doing stand up, one show that many of us up and coming open mic comics loved watching and participating on was Kill Tony. Hosted by Tony Hinchcliffe, Joe Rogan's opener and one time Comedy Store doorman, the show's premise was and is pretty simple. Tony, along with his tech producer Redman, would pull names out of a bucket and newbie comics would do one minute of stand up. Then the co-hosts, accompanied by two celebrity comics, would critique and interview the fresh meat sweating on stage. In very early January of 2017 I put my name in the bucket at The Comedy Store and got up. I did pretty well. Big Jay Oakerson told me I was really funny, and Tony said I had a good vibe. It couldn't have gone better. But where the show was back then, is nowhere close to where it's gone now. And with Tony becoming the new roast master, the king of the open micers, and his podcast selling out Madison Square Garden, with much power comes much responsibility, and sadly, this past week Tony took trolling to a new level at the Trump 2024 rally. Let's take a look at where and how things got so dark so fast.   

A Show Built On the Backs of Open Micers 
Tony loves to mock bringer clubs; especially Flappers. Now, for the past year I've clearly been open about my problems with the club I used to work for, and as a comic, show booker, and producer, I've worked hard to not do the things they ask of comics. But here's the irony. Tony mocks Flappers for having bad comics and having a bad business model, but his show is literally built on the backs of those same comics.

Like Flappers, Tony uses free labor to exploit comics for his own financial gain. In fact, he used many of the same comics Flappers, The Comedy Chateau, and Haha Comedy Club use, also paying them nothing. Tony would argue he doesn't require comics to bring anyone, but those clubs would argue they don't either. The bringer clubs would say they just reduce time on shows or future bookings if they don't "support" the show. Tony would argue he's made stars out of David Lucas and Hans Kim through the show. All are con artists and showmen. It's just sometimes people transcend the con if they meant to or not. Tony has created the ultimate con through - convincing the comedy world he isn't using them for his, and only his, benefit. 

Tony is Only Famous Because of Joe Rogan 
Back in 2016 he filmed a comedy special for a little upstart streaming channel, Netflix, called One Shot. It was him walking into The Ice House doing his stand up act in one shot, instead of multiple cameras getting different angles. If you try to find it today, you can't. The special was universally panned and has been taken off the platform. In fact, comedy buddies told me he lost a lot of gigs after bookers saw it. How did he get a special so quickly? Well it helps that he opened for Joe Rogan and Jeff Ross.        

Now, there are unspoken secrets in comedy about big time headliners picking very mediocre features and openers that they can use to warm up the crowd and sell their merch. I'm not saying Tony is one of those mid level features that would never threaten the headliner's status, but I am saying it happens and I thought it upon learning this information. 

A frequent guest on The Joe Rogan Experience and writer for Jeff Ross's Roast shows, Tony has been able to make a lot of money by being more successful comic's friends. How else do explain the popularity of a comic without a single bit anyone has ever heard or remembered, known more finding obscure talent on his podcast than actually crafting and refining his own skills. If you discuss Kill Tony with comics you're more likely to discuss the guests, the Dr. Phil episodes, and Mystery Dan. 

A Long Relationship With Controversy 
The Ohio based comic has dealt his fair share of issues. When you look back on the last decade or so, his Netflix special was the least of his crimes. Over the years he: 

• Was dropped by his agency for racist comments found on Twitter 
• Used homophobic slurs on ESPN
• Mocked his opener Peng Dang with an Asian accent
• Mocked blacks, Jews, and Puerto Ricans at a 2024 Trump Rally

Plus there are years of footage from his live podcast that could easily come up and hurt him at any point in the future.

His brand is controversy. That is clear. And for a guy who has sold out venues many would dream of just playing, it's fascinating that it seems like he's still not quite as famous as his podcast is. According to Tony, Netflix was not interested in him being on the Tom Brady Roast, even though he was the booker and head writer. Maybe Netflix knows what the comics of LA know. He's a social climber who has built a career writing jokes anyone could write and anyone could say. But because he has a brash fearlessness, he can get into hot water quickly, forcing all hands on deck. Like a child with a fancy toy, he's not afraid to break it if would be more fun to light it on fire. 

Without the protection of his big brothers in comedy, would he feel as free to be The Joker of comedy? I would guess not. Without Rogan and Ross, he'd essentially be an open micer hoping to get a bringer spot at clubs. 

What He Did At the Trump Rally Started Crossing Lines 
People like to complain that the "PC Woke Culture" is destroying comedy. Well, that's just not true. But abrasive comics with bad setups and no punchlines are doing fine on their own making crowds uncomfortable. I'm not a big fan of critiquing comics after a roast battle, as the nature of the game is to be offensive. But when Tony was asked to be a speaker at the Donald Trump rally last weekend, he went from roast master to roast disaster. 

It also appears the Trump campaign didn't even know his name, as he was listed as "Kill Tony" on the guest speaker bill. 

His "jokes" about Puerto Rico being a garbage island, black people eating watermelon, and other "jokes" about Mexicans needing to stay away were not "jokes." They were thinly vailed racist comments that a 40 year old white male with too much money and too many powerful friends thinks he can get away with. Wearing his suit and tie, he wanted to look like the second coming of Don Rickles at the Ronald Reagan inaugurals in the 1980's - instead he looked like a ventriloquist doll on Jeff Dunham's lap. A sad man-child with a 5th grade picture day haircut. A modern day Clifford, acting like a brat because he thinks the jocks will protect him because he does their homework for them.     

Punching Down v. Punching Up

I have no problem with Tony supporting Trump. Half the country does. But to go on stage and use that opportunity to trash people isn't being edgy, it's being obnoxious.
At the roasts Tony punches up at famous people. At the rally he punched way down. That's the difference. 

While Trump has clearly said worse, Trump is always representing Trump. In this case, Tony was representing "comedy." Because he's not big enough of a brand to represent himself. Had Bill Burr, Joe Rogan, or Jeff Ross gotten on stage to do a similar act, people would see them for being a representation of themselves. Yet, they wouldn't have done THOSE jokes. In fact, they would have made fun of the crowd there or make fun of the political opponents the crowd came to mock as well.  

Tony, in an attempt to make a name for himself, in the most self aggrandizing way possible, only made all of us look bad by going after those not there or running for office. 

In fact, based on social media responses, comics immediately separated themselves from the racist rant. And then the politicians and media pundits chimed in. Andy Warhol said we all get our 15 minutes of fame, and boy did Tony get his. You may say, he's a comic who took a risk, and I'd say yes, but that risk didn't pay off and many are saying he might have cost Trump 11,000 votes. 
On a side note, some commentators are trying to spin it that Kamala Harris's camp paid him to tank the show, but considering the ex president's handlers approved the jokes, it's a fair bet the campaign is just struggling to explain themselves. Also, Tony isn't methodical enough be this Machiavellian. 

​Final Thoughts
Comedy is meant to be fun. What Tony has done over the past decade is turn it into a weird bully pulpit. His podcast celebrates the worst in comedy and his jokes represents the worst in joke writing. Will he be canceled? No. And not because Joe Rogan will protect him (and he will), but because you have to be famous to be canceled. And he was never that well known. He'll be forgotten by the media within a week, and month he'll be laughing at open micers next to Redban in the safety of his hometown in Austin, Texas.