Road Stories Part One: The Silent Heckle

January has been a very busy, stressful month. And probably the most rewarding one I've had in this 1 1/2 year journey as a stand up comedian.

In January I hosted numerous shows, went on the road to Laffs in Tucson, AZ, did 6 shows in Claremont, auditioned for The Gong Show, filmed for network TV on Laughs, and produced my own Main Room show at Flappers Burbank. Oh. I have 3 other paying jobs and some resemblance of a social life.

But there are lessons I'm learning while pursuing this stand up dream, and here are a few life lessons I've learned because of comedy.

Today I wanna talk about "silent heckling" or when the audience doesn't laugh. There are two ways an audience doesn't laugh.

1. They are smiling and enjoying themselves but aren't loud.

2. They just don't find the comedy laugh-worthy.

Both are demoralizing. And this form of silent heckling can kill the spirit of the person on stage. Here's the weirdest part, the same jokes that killed in Tucson can get crickets in L.A. and vice versa.

What happened? Did I get funnier or less comedic? Neither. Just like in life, you aren't going to connect with everyone the same.

People can be silent hecklers in real life. Their silence can be disapproval or just quiet appreciation. Then they tell you, after a while, they've loved you or to stay away.

In January I had 25 shows. 5 were disasters. Absolute crickets. 20 were fun and the audience engaged. My 5 shows in Tucson were killer shows! Just killer! People loved it! I had 3 shows in the outskirts of L.A. that were rough the next week. Same material. Same me. Different environments.

George Carlin said if they laugh on Friday, not on Saturday, it's not you, it's them...go make them laugh Sunday.

Kind of like in life. If you have silent hecklers of disapproval, go find those who appreciate you. Because in the end, those were the ones you were meant to engage with.

And sometimes you have to go on the road to find them.