I started my comedy journey ten years ago in Los Angeles. I wondered into a comedy show in the basement of a bar, saw a terrible comic read from his notebook unfunny jokes and thought, "I'm funnier than that guy." The rest is history. One Dry Bar Special. Laughs on Fox. Nationwide shows in twelve states. Working with Tom Segura, Bert Kreischer, Jay Leno, Paul Rodriguez, Whitney Cummings, and Wendy Liebman. And a bank account that reflects the starving artist mythology to the tee. But there's also a lot I missed out on because I was blessed but also cursed to start out in Los Angeles. There's a joke that all the comics in Nebraska wish they were in LA and all the comics in LA wish they were in Nebraska. You can replace Nebraska with any other state (except New York), but the truth remains the same. So, are there disadvantages starting stand up in Los Angeles? And are there advantages starting comedy in a "fly over state?" Let's take a look.
LA Gets You Ready For Auditions, Not a Real Act Starting out in LA, I was used to 3-5 minute showcases at small venues and coffee houses. I had to learn quickly to sink or swim in hostile short bursts. To get off a joke that lands every thirty seconds to eventually twenty seconds to hopefully ten seconds and then rip off the tags for sustainable laughter was an embarrassing and scary experience. But that's the nature of the beast. If you're lucky, you eventually get ten minutes somewhere, where maybe you can work on a closing joke that you'll never get to try out until you earn the right to perform for 15 minutes in Bakersfield or Hemet. Meanwhile, my comedy friends from the mid-west told me they got long hosting spots and even 20-30 minute feature spots. I was standing in line at The Comedy Store with 150 other dreamers for Pot Luck and Kill Tony spots and they were telling tales about getting paid on a much more relaxed and forgiving road, combining multiple state tours. So while I might have created a series of five minute bits and sets, they were finding their voice much faster, as they had less competition for stage time and greater access to bookers who owned multiple clubs in their geographical location. While they carpooled from state to state, I was lucky to get a Friday in Burbank and a Saturday in Claremont. One LA friend moved to Michigan and made easily a couple thousand a month. He came back to LA, felt the cold shoulder again, and now he's done with comedy completely. Living in LA might have a million little shows, but it's still a million little sets. Currently, 90% of my shows are over 20 minutes, my shortest set being the 15 I do to open JR's Comedy Club. I'm one of the lucky ones, but it took almost a decade. My out of state comic buddies got the same perks within a few years. Open Mic Scenes Are Completely Different When I was starting out, there was a really cool booker who told me that I should always do my best material at open mics when at a club. Whether it was Flappers 5PM Tuesday mic or Lab Work at The Improv, he said don't let a booker see you doing new material. He was so right. In LA, first impressions are everything, and I can't tell you how many bookers of large and small venues would judge an entire career on one new joke at an open mic. "He's not ready" or "She doesn't have 'it' yet" was the judgement I'd hear from their mouths. I still tell comics that no matter how many times a booker says they know open mics aren't booked shows, they sill can't help but make judgements. But when I talk to bookers and house managers at clubs around the country, they seem proud of giving their local comics freedom to improve. Often, the bookers and managers get to know them as people, give feedback, and feel a sort of mentorship. Meanwhile, LA bookers take their email off the website and create secret handshakes to get booked. I recently saw a comic on a podcast discuss how he did his first nine years out of state before moving to Los Angeles. While the rest of us have to use open mics to try out new material and get stage time, he took his established act and broke it up to kill at open mics. He said he might have been broke, but he also got passed at big clubs before all the LA natives still trying to figure out their best three minutes. The Biggest Pro For LA Natives is Surviving the Long Game One true blessing of being an LA native or at least established in LA is that you learn how to survive the city while transplants feel overwhelmed by the cruel fast paced indifference. I was born in Los Angeles in the early 1980's and moved to Simi Valley in 7th grade. My dad stayed in Chatsworth after the divorce. I had all the LA experiences I needed by the time I started doing stand up in my mid-thirties. I know it's okay to live in Van Nuys or Burbank or North Hollywood. I don't have to find a $3,000 apartment in West Hollywood. It's a twenty minute drive everywhere if you understand city streets, Sepulveda, back canyon roads, and there's more free parking in The Valley for better open mic experiences. There's no need to "make it" once you were born here. A lot of my friends I met in comedy from out of state find themselves homeless, living in their car, because they only brought a couple thousand dollars with them. There's no $400 rooms to rent like in their hometown city. Or they accidently get an apartment in Palmdale, thinking LA County is small. Or they get a Downtown apartment surrounded by dirty streets and dangerous back ally trouble. They're gone before they have time to start. The ones who make it usually have supportive family members or got a great job before moving. Or they have huge credits and have projects and shows lined up. But if comedy stopped on January 1st for me, I could still live in LA. That's the biggest blessing of all. The hometown advantage. Final Thoughts Back in 2017 I debated taking a job in Ohio so I could be a geographical comic in the Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky, Pennsylvania scene. I looked into taking my Dry Bar credit to the Funny Bone chains and try my luck at getting longer sets in colder weather. I passed, but I do wonder if it would have been a better move for me. Plenty of great comics used that middle America landscape as a comedic playground to great success. So for those who started this journey in LA, just know if you feel behind the out of state up and comer, you're not paranoid. And for the out of state comic who thinks everyone born in LA is too laid back, you're right. We don't care. We don't need to see celebrities. Hell, when I'm on the road, I am the celebrity. Both groups have their pros and cons being from where they were born, but at the end of the day, the only place I really wish I could be or from is New York. I'll let you deconstruct that on your own.
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Paul Douglas Moomjean Blog's About What's on His MindBlogging allows for me to rant when there is no stage in the moment to talk about what's important and/or funny to me. Archives
February 2025
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