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 <description>Learn about the ins, outs, ups, and downs of being onstage with New York comedian Christian Thom. If you&#039;ve ever wondered how comics come up with material for their set, distinguish themselves from other acts, and - hopefully - make ends meet, this is the show for you. Whether you think you&#039;ve got what it takes to make &#039;em laugh, or just want to know how the heck they do it, you&#039;ll get an earful with the Comedy Insider.</description>
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 <copyright>Copyright 2007-2008 ON Networks, Inc.</copyright>
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 <itunes:summary>Learn about the ins, outs, ups, and downs of being onstage with New York comedian Christian Thom. If you&#039;ve ever wondered how comics come up with material for their set, distinguish themselves from other acts, and - hopefullly - make ends meet, this is the show for you. Whether you think you&#039;ve got what it takes to make &#039;em laugh, or just want to know how the heck they do it, you&#039;ll get an earful with the Comedy Insider. 

See more of this great show and others at www.onnetworks.com.

All of ON Networks&#039; shows are available in both Apple TV HD and a
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 <description>Pat Dixon talks about his numerous TV appearances.&lt;br&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.onnetworks.com/videos/comedy-insider/taking-it-to-television&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://images.onnetworks.com/images/comedyinsider_tv_425x239.jpg&quot; title=&quot;Taking It To Television&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;</description>
 <pubDate>Thu, 14 Feb 2008 18:11:00 -0600</pubDate>
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 <item> <title>Recognize Your Host</title>
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 <pubDate>Fri, 18 Jan 2008 15:39:00 -0600</pubDate>
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 <media:text type="html"><![CDATA[Comedy Insider
Episode “Recognize your host”

Christian Thom: Christian Thom here in one of my favorite places central park, with more than 25,000,000 visitors annually central park is the most visited city park in the United States.  One thing tourist and New Yorkers can agree on is this an oasis away from the steel and pavement and everyone respects it’s majestically splendor.
The park boasts more than 185 acres of greenery, lakes, and trees and has appeared in countless movies, TV shows and books.  New York plays host to the world and this park plays host to all New Yorkers making the city great and allowing the skyscrapers to stretch upward while providing us with some comfort.  Is that kind of stability than a host brings to a comedy show, setting the pace in keeping the tone.  My friend Jen Palumbo is a comic who knows a thing a two about hosting.
Jenn: Jenn it is a very unique, rare, exotic, name short for Jennifer, anyone ever hear that name before, Jennifer? No nothing, Palumbo, Italian for pigeon.  Thank you very much I appreciate that, my dad likes to tell people it means warrior eagle, but he is full of shit.  Kind of like a pigeon so that all works out.
Christian Thom: OK let’s dispel a myth that the host is not a real comedian or that they are not really on the show, we can get that away immediately.
Jenn: Yes some of the best comedians are really gracious and they host a show. Eddie Brill who books for David Letterman often hosts shows all over the city.  There is a whole bunch of them and they probably don’t usually get the credit that they deserve because your own standup, hopefully if you’re good host it is on the back burner and you are a different role totally as a host.
So people do not know that you actually are a very talented comedian because you’re just like the Donna Reed of the evening, you know just graciously bringing up people and getting them quietly off of the stage.
My parents had been married for 40 years and I asked my mom which she thought made a successful marriage and she said well your father does not try to run my life and he does not try to run his life either, married people is that true?  Yeah probably, are you married, do you want to get married? 
Guy: Uh yes… 
See I am bringing people together, really.
Christian Thom: The host has a hugely important job. 
Jenn: Yes. 
Christian Thom: Maybe even the most important job in the entire club that night.
Jenn: Yeah I think the biggest thing in my opinion at least is that they keep the momentum and the energy up and it is very tenuous and you can either ruin it or improve it.  Typically in the beginning of the show there is a period of taking the temperature of the audience and seeing who you are dealing with, some quick crowd work hopefully.  Then you go into your act, you should do your bits in the beginning, gets the energy going and then that is it that is about focusing on the people that you’re bringing on and off the stage.
I think the only other time you’d put back in your standup is if a comedian really bombs, if the comedian goes up in he eats it…
Christian Thom: It happens all the time though…
Jenn: Yeah, how the audience just checks out leaves and gets in a cab and you have to try to get them back.
Christian Thom: Now what happens if the opposite happens, what if someone comes on and kills and then you’re the host and you have to prepare them for the next act?
I would keep it brief; do you know what I mean?  If the energy is up be like was and he great, let’s give it up one more time and let’s bring out the next thing.  I am all about just keeping the show moving and keeping everyone happy and being a good hostess and not being self serving.  That drives me crazy about hosts, I hate when they cheaply just keep plugging in their own material, because they want the stage time what ever if you’re a good host again you keep the focus on the people who were booked for that show.
Are you from New York?  I’m sensing no, New Yorkers do not wear that.  Arizona, are a lot of you from Arizona?  OK you seem hesitant to admit that, is everything OK in Arizona?
Christian Thom: Now when the host comes out there is always a certain amount of were you from, how’re you doing tonight, but you have to do that when you are hosting.
Jenn: Yeah I would like to think that the host should be likable; do you know what I mean?
Christian Thom: I’ve never seen a dirty comedian or really daring comedian is the host, it is always the person that the audience relates the most to.
Jenn: Yeah, well right hopefully and I try really hard to be personable and likable and to get the audience with you. 
Christian Thom: Well what about you when you have the girl who’s getting married who is having her bachelorette party she has got the tiara on and she is really drunk and she is on the cell phone texting and smoking…  How do you handle when one little section of the audience starts to break off?
Jenn: You know again I think you handle it differently as a host then you would as a comedian, I think as a comedian you could be a little bit harsher.
Christian Thom: Oh absolutely use call it right out, but as a host you want to…
Jenn: Yeah I think you have got to be very clever and in the moment in how to try to get them back in a great way.  I think I would probably ask what the occasion was, and get them more involved in the show.  I definitely have shows where people are getting married and then I will say is there any married people here and do you have any advice for them.  You do have to really go with it and think quickly and try to do what you can get everyone back on the same page.  And I think sometimes if you do have someone disruptive you can take that and figure out what the deal is and see if you can bring other people in on the same topic.
So New Yorkers applaud, OK so it is just you people that are from Arizona, OK will welcome to our fine city.  I live in Brooklyn actually I don’t know a thing if you live in the outer Boroughs but I find I have a hard time getting people who live in Manhattan to come to my house.  It is like one bridge in the act like the need a battery of vaccinations and an updated passport.  You know I am like why don’t you come to Brooklyn tonight and they’re like Brooklyn, what is, is land you speak of?  Is it safe to drink the water, well it is 4:00 PM our time.
And you know I definitely had, have you ever had tapes when the hosts introduced you and it was just kind of lame and a kind of ruined the tape.  I had some growth come up and shoe is like here is Jenn Polumba, I don’t remember her introduction.  And though I did a really good set, and then she went back on stage and was like funny, funny, funny.  It was so irritating because you really do want to get the introductions right.  I hate when I mispronounce a name or a screw up something.  You know what is great to is actually when a host either calls back to your routine for the tape, or he says wasn’t she wonderful.
If I could have a really good host gives me props at the end of my sent you know I’m going to be giving that tape to everybody.  The headliner, I have seen her perform countless times, her and I did a horrible show in Massachusetts last week and she still manage to wow the crowd despite their drunkenness, it is my honor and thrill to bring to you Laurie Summer, give it up.
Again maybe it is not the pinnacle of celebrity to be a comedic host but if you really do care about comedy and you care about the art, and you care about the craft and you enjoy it, I think you really do take that role very seriously.
Christian Thom: It is part of the community.
Jenn: Yes, it is a nice thing to do and it is a fun thing to do, is a night out and I get to have fun and see other comedians and I really like that.
Also I would just like to say personally it has been great entertaining you I hope you had a good time, if you see me on your way out and I hope you do please give me your name and address I can send you all thank you cards, you have been lovely take care and have a great night
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</item>
 <item> <title>Back To School</title>
 <link>http://www.onnetworks.com/videos/comedy-insider/back-to-school</link>
 <description>Bernadette Pauley has a discussion with Christian Thom about the college circuit&lt;br&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.onnetworks.com/videos/comedy-insider/back-to-school&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://images.onnetworks.com/images/comedyinsider_school_425x239.jpg&quot; title=&quot;Back To School&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;</description>
 <pubDate>Mon, 08 Oct 2007 11:36:00 -0500</pubDate>
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 <media:description type="plain">Bernadette Pauley has a discussion with Christian Thom about the college circuit</media:description>
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 <media:text type="html"><![CDATA[Comedy Insider
Episode “College humor pays comedians well”

Christian Thom: Hi Christian Thom here, hanging in the park outside my old Alma Mata NYU. You know it is right here in Washington Square Park where many freshmen have their first interaction with actual New York urban culture. By buying dime bags of oregano laced with trace amounts of actual pot. Go violets.
Yes the NYU mascot is the Violet. $47,000 a year in tuition and you have to root for a flower. I guess that makes or chief rival masculine dignity. Could you imagine if the UCLA Bruin was a flower? Go pansies. Beat off the Trojans. Now that’s just wrong. 
You wouldn’t know it, but college campuses are actually thought of as huge comedy clubs by comedians. Because think about it, there are more  people willing to laugh and get drunk here on a Friday night, than al the comedy club in New York combined. And tonight comedian Bernadette Pauley is going to give us a glimpse into the college circuit.
Bernie, most people think of comics as performing in night clubs and comedy clubs only. But that is just one professional arena out of many. And you play at a lot of colleges as part of your media. 
Bernadette Pauley: Yes, I travel the country, state to state. Been to Alaska, and it is a large part of my bread and butter. 
I got the husband at home, he is pretty good. Not easy being married though. Everyone tells us it is easy right. They are like oh just get married it is awesome. Ha, ha, ha, ha. You will just run around like a married princess it will be great. Just do it. Everybody lies. Oprah she ha ten sows a week on having a good marriage. You don’t see her doing that shit do you? 
Christian Thom: Now you have a certain act that you do in the clubs. And then you have another act that you do in the colleges. How doe the material change? How does your act change?
Bernadette Pauley: Well there is different theory’s about that. I don’t have an entirely different act, now people. Some people say you have your college set, your corporate set, and your club set. And that is what you do, and you make your living and that is what you have to do. 
Other people, you might call them purist say if you change anything your pandering. But right now I alter it a little bit because you have to look at people’s experience. Like a lot of times in clubs I can do tons of marriage material. Cut to colleges nobody is married yet. I do a lot more pop culture.  Don’t even start talking about being married until like after half an hour has passed. So that they really know me and who I am. It is like I guess boxing. You do a little bit of a jab, jab, and a left here, and a right there and you kind of move them on over into your territory. 
I shouldn’t complain though I have a pretty good life, if look around at the rest of the world people have it really bad. Little tiny kids living in slums don’t even know what a house is. They jus sit in these puddles all day. Women wear Burkes’. Get set on fire. No one in the world deserves to live like that. Unless of course you are one of the girls on MTV’s my super sweet 16. And then it is okay. Actually I think we should start a little exchange program. We will take the kids from the slum puddles, we will ship them over here, and we will ship those girls over there to take their place. We could plink them right in the puddles. Plunk, plunk, plunk. Take away their tiaras. Give them flies instead. 
Christian Thom: So tell us the process of booking yourself into colleges, or into the college circuit. 
Bernadette Pauley: Okay um, I didn’t even know the college circuit existed. And I was vey lucky someone referred me to their college agent Matt Schuler, and I have been with them for like seven years now. And they are awesome, they submit me to colleges. They have a great relationship with colleges. And also they submit me to NOCAS, which is the national organization of campus activities. The get together for this huge conference and it goes like 72 hours. And they will pick like ten comedians, five poets, a juggler, and magicians. 
Christian Thom: Entertainment. Yeah. 
Bernadette Pauley: Entertainment. And then after your showcase you go to this giant building or area and you stand in a booth. Like up for sale, which is ridiculous. So you are like between the juggler and the band. And everybody is just like…
Christian Thom: And you feel like a whore in Amsterdam. 
Bernadette Pauley: Yes and it goes good sometimes. And it goes poorly sometimes, and you just never know, there is no rational. So sometimes people are like oh my god, you’re a superstar can I have your autograph? And like we want you to come to our school, and then sometime there like, uh can you move over so I can get the person I like. You know what I mean. So it is really hard on the ego, but I guess it is a good test. 
And then what do you do to feel better about yourself? You drink too much, you spend money you don’t have, and you do drugs, which is what you are doing right now. So don’t watch that stuff, but if you find yourself watching it, you get strong. You take your remote, you watch a little cops. You will be like oh, I am doing okay. Yeah, I am better off than the guy with no shirt and his wife with no bra. Uncle Larry?
Christian Thom: Colleges are actually a really legitimate circuit that runs parallel to the clubs as well. 
Bernadette Pauley: It’s a very legitimate circuit. Once in awhile people will try to act like it isn’t. Like oh you do colleges, your just a sell out, your just a hack, you do cruise ships you’re a hack. And trust me there are a lot of really bad hacky acts on cruise ships, so don’t get me wrong. 
But if you really want to be a purist, colleges might be an ore legit venue. Because if you look at the history of comedy, and Jay Leno, and Ellen DeGeneres, and all these people. All these people were around hello, before comedy clubs. Comedy clubs sprouted up and were built around them. People used to do comedy at bowling alleys, at strip clubs, at colleges. And they just toured state, to state, to state. This is the old fashion way. His is how real comedians came up before everybody wanted to be one. And they were like; ooh I could get a sitcom and have a lot of money. All these guys, Seinfeld and the rest of the included, comedy clubs were built up around them in this comedy rush. Before that these guys were still working six nights a week on the road, doing colleges. 
My mother was so excited when I got engaged to him though. Irish catholic mother, she was like oh good because for awhile there we though you liked girls. I was like mom that is ridiculous alright, I am so not gay. I mean sure I have made out with a couple of girls, but it’s not because I am gay, it is because I am an alcoholic. She was relieved, we are Irish. Ironically my best friend of 11 years is a lesbian and I was her first girlfriend. I just didn’t know it. 
I believe that every comic should probably be well rounded, and that includes doing your corporate, doing your club gigs, doing your colleges. Doing some stuff in other countries when you can. You really have to be well rounded because, I am repeating myself. But in the older days there weren’t comedy clubs, so you just took gigs everywhere and anywhere you could get them. That’s how they became so well rounded. That’s how those guys can handle themselves in front of anybody. 
And why not have a huge open market full of college kids that appreciate you begin there. And these are the people that are going to watch you on TV ten years from now. So why wouldn’t you want to go see them in person. They can just be such a great really appreciative crowd. They are not hammered like in comedy clubs sometimes. You do a Friday or a Saturday night midnight show. You are like why am I here. You know what I mean, I am just babysitting. You know. 
Christian Thom: In a bar. 
Bernadette Pauley: And nobody begrudges you anything, nobody tries to chat you a hundred bucks off the check when you get there. Which happen in quite a few comedy clubs, so for me, I couldn’t not do them. You guys are fabulous I have been Bernadette Pauley, thank you guys so much. 
]]></media:text>
 <itunes:duration>7:58</itunes:duration>
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 <itunes:keywords>college humor comedian tour comic comedy central gig</itunes:keywords>
 <itunes:subtitle>Bernadette Pauley has a discussion with Christian Thom about the college circuit</itunes:subtitle>
 <itunes:author>ON Networks</itunes:author>
</item>
 <item> <title>Doing It Yourself</title>
 <link>http://www.onnetworks.com/videos/comedy-insider/doing-it-yourself</link>
 <description>Comic David Lee Nelson on managing one&#039;s own career, money, and exposure&lt;br&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.onnetworks.com/videos/comedy-insider/doing-it-yourself&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://images.onnetworks.com/images/comedyinsider_doingit_425x239.jpg&quot; title=&quot;Doing It Yourself&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;</description>
 <pubDate>Mon, 01 Oct 2007 15:32:00 -0500</pubDate>
 <dc:creator>ON Networks</dc:creator>
 <guid isPermaLink="false">3466 at http://www.onnetworks.com</guid>
 <category domain="http://www.onnetworks.com/videos/comedy-insider">Comedy Insider</category>
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 <media:text type="html"><![CDATA[Comedy insider
Episode “Doing it yourself”

Christian Thom: Hi Christian Thom here in lower Manhattan. One of the things that really irritates New Yorkers is when tourist don’t update their guidebooks. I can’t tell you how often I am asked, can you tell me how to get to the World Trade Center? People this is just embarrassing. Hello, it has been gone for six years. 
Yep, believe it or not the number one tourist attraction in New York is a big hole in the ground. Hey it’s still more fun to stare at than Beauty and the Beast on Broadway. It’s no wonder they haven’t built anything on this site. It has the highest profit margin of any tourist spot in the city. Only problem is they can’t sell a snow globe of dirt, yet. 
But seriously it really is an embarrassment that nothing has been built on this site so far. I guess if you want something done right you have to do it yourself. And though we probably can’t convince that bastard Bloomberg to put a building here, Comic David Lee Nelson can tell us about building your own show, and finding a stage for it.  So let’s hear him out.
David you are a guy who organizes his won shows and his own tours. What are the benefits of being proactive that way? 
David: Well there are a lot of benefits to being proactive like that especially in a market that is as competitive as New York, especially when you are starting out. You have used the comedy clubs Gotham and Caroline’s that are huge names…
Christian Thom: They are the destination. 
David: Yeah they are the destination so if you are starting out comedy in the city you have to build your own stage time. And comics do that by handing out fliers for clubs or bringing people to the clubs so they can perform. But you can also do that by finding your own spaces and putting your own shows together. 
My dad was disappointed because he wanted me to be like an athlete you know. Like I used to play basketball until, I got to high school and realized I was white and we don’t do that passed a certain age. And it was sad because I was good in the suburb leagues. But I got to high school and a thirteen year old black kid is dunking on me and calling me faggot. And I was like you know what, I am going to join choir. That sounds like more fun. And it was, choir was more fun than Tyrone’s balls in my face. Because in choir when he did it you know Mr. Harrison was like stop. David has his Avie Maria solo coming up.
David: Before I was aloud in the clubs I would play in the Cabaret clubs, any clubs that would let me up just to build enough time. That is where you really learn how to do ten minute. Twenty minutes, half hour. 
Christian Thom: Well that’s the thing in New York, at lot of times you do the ten or fifteen minute sets. 
David: Well I came from a theater background and I like talking a lot. So I was interested in doing a half hour or 20-25 minutes and extending the time I was performing. And I found if I produced my own shows I was in charge of how much time I did. And I could do thirty minutes at the end of a show as opposed to five minutes in the middle. 
And a lot of times in New York it is like 7 or 8 comics per show. And I think that it is hard for the audience to get to know each comic, starting again every time to get to know a comic. But if you are producing your own show you can do three comics per show, four comics per show. And give the audience a chance to build more of a relationship with.
We are kind of a bohemian my wife and I. We have a roommate, still. And this girl she s so nice, but she is a total slut, and I had interviewed a guy to interview us. But I didn’t want another guy in my house having sex. So instead I have a string of guys in my house. 
You know the show I produce is actually called skinny white comics. And we actually performed it in theater, opera, like jazz festival down in South Carolina. That’s how my tour started; we performed in the Spoleto festival, which is the biggest international arts festival in the country. And they had never had a straight up stand up comedy show before. And we performed down there last year, and we had a great run, sold out in two weeks of shows, and that really told me there was a real market for that. 
There are a lot of cool towns in this country that just don’t have comedy clubs. So they don’t have a chance to see standup a lot. And I get a lot of great feedback and a lot of great response. And they appreciate it. Where in New York four to five years, I am just starting to scratch the surface of the comedy clubs and I am starting to host places and things like that. 
I find I get a lot better crowds outside of New York, especially because I started here. This is where I started doing standup comedy. I didn’t have the advantage of starting in a smaller market. I got to meet, I was so fortunate, right before he died, and I got to meet Mitch Hedberg. And I told him I had been doing this town for like two years. And he was like what the hell are you doing living in New York you got to screw up in a town first. 
So then that happened and then I got back to New York and my best friend in the world had told me he had broken up with his Girlfriend because she read his journal and found out he was cheating on her. You don’t know how hard it is to find out your best friend writes a journal. It’s the most upsetting thing in the world. You can find out and he like wanted to hang out this weekend. But I was like no; you write a journal I need some time. And he was like, I am upset, and I was like why don’t you go write about it in your Hello Kitty diary you might feel better, you know.  People think I am gay as it is, I don’t need a journal toting best fried following me around. 
Christian Thom: Now how do you go about first organizing and then promoting your shows, you own shows?
David: The internet has made that a lot easier with MySpace and email. You can directly market your show to the town that you are going to be in. I always hit up alternative weekly’s. I find that they have been really responsive to putting ads in there for free. I go to the bars and I give the bartenders comps. So I go the hotels and give the concierges comps. I give the rickshaw people comps, just anyone who can talk about the show. And then hopefully we have a really packed great opening night. And that leads to really great crowds the rest of the time.
We don’t have kids yet, no, no kids. But my mother in law wants me to have kids so badly. And everything we do is a sign to her that she is pregnant. Like we are home for Christmas and my wife asked for seconds and she is like. Whoo, hoo, hoo are you pregnant? He, he, he, he. And we were like no mom we are just high okay, leave us alone. 
Originally I was an actor and I got into standup because I wanted to be in control of what I was performing. What I was writing, and to take it a step further producing my owns shows not only do I get to  say what I want to say as a comic, but I then I also get to shape a evening with the comics that I love. And the comics that I think are really interesting. And that is the most thrilling thing to me getting to the theater an hour early. Cutting on the lights seeing the people come, seeing the comics I picked come and do really well and being the last one there. Cutting off the lights and leaving. I was like wow that is something I put together and created. And to me that is the most satisfying feeling. /And if that is what I will do for the rest of my life. I will be in pretty good shape. 
Christian Thom: Sounds good. 
David: Alright listen guy’s thank you so much for coming to the show. My name is David I hope you have a great night.



]]></media:text>
 <itunes:duration>8:01</itunes:duration>
 <itunes:explicit>no</itunes:explicit>
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 <itunes:subtitle>Comic David Lee Nelson on managing one&#039;s own career, money, and exposure</itunes:subtitle>
 <itunes:author>ON Networks</itunes:author>
</item>
 <item> <title>Finding Your Voice</title>
 <link>http://www.onnetworks.com/videos/comedy-insider/finding-your-voice</link>
 <description>The tables get turned on host Christian Thom.&lt;br&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.onnetworks.com/videos/comedy-insider/finding-your-voice&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://images.onnetworks.com/images/comedyinsider_voice_425x239.jpg&quot; title=&quot;Finding Your Voice&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;</description>
 <pubDate>Mon, 17 Sep 2007 14:54:00 -0500</pubDate>
 <dc:creator>ON Networks</dc:creator>
 <guid isPermaLink="false">3362 at http://www.onnetworks.com</guid>
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 <media:copyright>Copyright 2007-2008 ON Networks, Inc.</media:copyright>
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 <media:text type="html"><![CDATA[Comedy Insider
Episode “Finding your voice”

Christian Thom: Hi it’s me, Christian Thom here, at the metropolitan opera house, New York’s Parnassus of high brow entertainment, where they are currently performing Polyotchy. Hi brow, please. I look like I should be hanging on the wall of a pediatrician’s office. Now I have worked here on the largest stage in New York, and as you know I have also worked on the smaller stages in New York in comedy clubs. And they actually have a lot in common, because as my girlfriend so gently reminds me every night size doesn’t matter. Unless you are taking about penis size in which case it does matter. Sorry guys. 
Whether big venue or small, a performer’s career is all about finding your voice. Since I happen to know a thing or two about this, tonight comic Veronica Mosey is going to turn the tables on me. And I am going to talk all about bringing out your own voice.  Come on you bastards, funny ain't free. 
When you are a comic they ask you to do all kinds of stuff for money right. So they asked me to read for Shakespeare in the park this summer right. So they know I am a comic, so I go in there and I am like so I saw Al Pacino’s Richard the third. Now is the winter of our discontent, made glorious somehow by the son of your car. A horse a horse, I got a horse in my throat. 
This is Christopher Walken as hamlet. Now there will be or not to be what was the question, whether it is nobler in now in the mind, suffers slings and arrows, and already it’s fletching, to take arms against the, see troubles and by opposing and them.
Veronica: So how are things going?
Christian Thom: Great, they are going great.
Veronica: Now listen you are more of a character kind of guy, you morph into characters you change your whole personality. How do you go about doing that?
Christian Thom: What you need to do a character is a point of view. 
Veronica: Ok. 
Christian Thom: People think I am just going to make a choice of doing physicality or a voice but what you really need. The most important thing and all you need really is a point of view. You know people talk about sense of humor. It is all your take on things. My act is ultimately about language. That’s really what it is about, communication and failure to communicate. I use all these voices and all these different examples to get my, to really pull the rug under people. And that ends up being what it is about.
How about Woody Allen as Shylock, where my Jews at, alright? I am going to say one thing, I don’t think it could be fascicous in any way. But I think there are many time in the reality. You rated me but my moneys in my useless. And you hate to fuck, I feel like I was born with a patient shrug. And the sufferance I think is the badge of all our tribe. Let me ask you a question, if you cut me do I not bleed? Let’s not find out okay, I have a hot date tonight with Lady M. You know she is a dark morose type I always fall for the wrong women. 
Veronica: So point of view is everything. 
Christian Thom: Yeah, if you are doing impressions or you are doing characters or you are stringing a bunch together, which virtuosity people do. The through line is your point of view and what you are saying. And you move in and out of them. If you have facility but you lack point of view. Then what you get is so boring that it is total hack work. Like all those bad impressionist from the eighties. I am Robin Leech I don’t know why, or all that kind of stuff. 
Or imitate Bob Dylan all those kinds of things you want to stay away from. All your saying is that person is more interesting than me. And you don’t want to say that. Dennis Miller used to, would call this out too, He would say what about that hack impressionist who would say. What if Jack Nicholson worked at the Dairy Queen? He wouldn’t work at the Dairy Queen, you would you idiot. You know that’s the kind of thing. 
So I started, I started doing, I am going to make the Gunnies laugh right. I am not going to laugh at this shit c’mon. No I um, I started doing impressions in Long Island and you think the hecklers here are bad Long Island is the worst. I would be in the middle of a joke in the middle of a setup and I would hear. Do Alec Baldwin, c’mon boss you can do anybody. Come on Gina’s got a crush on him c’mon fucking do him, do him. You can always spot; I am a guinea from long island so I can tell. You can always spot the Italian kid from long island because you know when you are on the subway and you hear. Please report any suspicious looking packages. He is always the guy going; yeah I got a suspicious looking package over here.
If you are doing a character you have to be 100, like an actor you have to be 100 percent you and a 100 percent the character at the same time. You want people to remember you and not this trick you do. 
Veronica: Right okay. 
Christian Thom: Like Billy Crystal, great, great impressionist but you always remember Billy. But he was the through line. He always would combine these characters just to remind you that it was him being funny and not the character he is doing. Like John Belushi. Belushi was a great impressionist and Belushi did Brando. And when Belushi did Brando it wasn’t like Oh, wonderful you are a dancing monkey, I really appreciate that you did a trick. It’s always like, the audience would react to it, they would be uneasy. It was political and he was definitely playing the subversive card all the time, and he was completely himself. 
So I am going to leave you with this. I got a haircut this week that was humiliating more than this. You know what they call this hairstyle? Running out of options, and when you are losing your hair they find you and they send you tapes and pamphlets. I am not joking tapes, like actual VHS tapes, cassettes. Because they figure if you are losing your hair you can’t possibly afford a DVD player. 
And they advertise hair replacement surgery and what they tell me is, we can replace your hairline gradually in stages so people think your hair just grew back on its won, which would be phenomenal if except for that fact that hair doesn’t do that. It doesn’t grow back. They really shouldn’t call it losing your hair; it doesn’t just dissipate into the universe. It just enters a relocation program and ends up on your back. 
So if I get a hair transplant I want all my friends and co workers to say, hey Chris, nice plugs they really look good. I don’t want them to say, oh Christian I think your hairline is growing back. The cancer must be in remission that’s fantastic. 
Doing all these voices actually helps you discover your own voice. 
Veronica: How is that? 
Christian Thom: Well when you do voices. When you put them al together like that and then you stand back and tae a god look at them. What they all have in common is you. You were the through line, it is your writing it is your personality and it is all your choice. And they are all examples of some emotion or thought that you have, because ultimately that is what is important. And that is all you really have as a comic. You are up there expressing your point of view. 
Veronica: And that is who people are there to see, Christian Thom. 
Christian Thom: That’s right. 
And you women you lie to me about this. Your like oh no its fine its masculine it’s sexy. No its not, we know females don’t want to mate with bald males. We see it in the animal kingdom. The eagles doing fine, but the bald eagle, he is going extinct. Just like my time with you guys, have a good night, thank you. Christian Thom everybody, Christian Thom. 
]]></media:text>
 <itunes:duration>8:06</itunes:duration>
 <itunes:explicit>no</itunes:explicit>
 <itunes:keywords>free video comedy monologues stand up comedian jokes humor speaking crowds</itunes:keywords>
 <itunes:subtitle>The tables get turned on host Christian Thom.</itunes:subtitle>
 <itunes:author>ON Networks</itunes:author>
</item>
 <item> <title>Climbing the Ladder</title>
 <link>http://www.onnetworks.com/videos/comedy-insider/climbing-the-ladder</link>
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 <pubDate>Mon, 10 Sep 2007 14:06:00 -0500</pubDate>
 <dc:creator>ON Networks</dc:creator>
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 <media:copyright>Copyright 2007-2008 ON Networks, Inc.</media:copyright>
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 <media:text type="html"><![CDATA[Comedy insider
Episode “Climbing the ladder”

Christian Thom: Hi Christian Thom here and I am here down on Wall Street. And let me tell you its dog eat dog here, the bulls the bears, the stocks the bonds. The free martini lunches, the Hamptons, the Asian massage parlors. The kind of place where men are men because they spend all day in an air conditioned office, selling things that other people make. 
The analyst wants to be a broker. The broker wants to manage hedge funds. And the hedge fund manager, he wants to be god, or with the right networking gods boss. Alright so let’s face it these guys are uh… But so are comics, we just keep different hours and we don’t have health care. But the bottom line is everyone is trying to get ahead and comedians are no different. From open mics, to bringer shows, to hosting, featuring, and finally headlining, standup is the underground rat race of New York City. And tonight comic Keith Alberstadt is going to tell us all about it. 
Keith lets talk a little about your progression in the clubs. 
Keith: Ok, sure.
Christian Thom: Every comedian’s progression, climbing those rungs of the ladder. 
Keith: Ok, well there are different steps involved in comedy when you start out. Some of them are beneficial; some of them are kind of a pain in the ass. You have open mics, which are obviously where everyone starts. No matter what comedian you think of they started out doing an open mic, which is pretty self explanatory. 
Then you have bringer shows, which means you have to bring X amount of people to a show who are going to pay for the cover charge plus a 2 drink minimum. 
Christian Thom: Essentially you are paying the club for their space and stage time. 
Keith: Yeah.  Then you got guest sets, where a club will let you do five minutes, ten minutes during a regular show night. So once you get past that door you work the M.C spot. Then from the M.C. you go to the feature level, which is the middle spot. Most clubs in the country operate on the three comic M.C. feature headliner show. And then once you have kind of established that feature role for yourself. Of course the next step is headliner. 
Yeah why not right, I love baseball, I do. I like the fact that baseball gets behind worthy causes. I don’t know if you saw this but on mothers day they wanted to raise awareness for breast cancer.  So they used pink bats, kind of cool right. And to raise awareness for steroids abuse, they used tiny shriveled balls. 
Christian Thom: And right now you are you are in that tough position of going from a solid feature to a headliner. 
Keith: Yeah, it is a rough transition. So if you don’t put your foot down and stand up for yourself, a lot of clubs out there are going to go. You know what; this guys a solid feature act. He is just as god as the headliner. If we continue to pay him what we are paying him. We are basically getting two headliners in one show. It is going to be a dynamite show and we don’t have to pay that much money. 
Christian Thom: No one is just gong to offer you more money and better spots. You have got to be able to ask for it ad be able to execute. 
Keith: Right sure, absolutely. And sometimes it works on people and sometimes bookers say alright screw you. We don’t need you anymore. Or they will say alright we will give you a shot and they will move you on. 
I realized a few months ago, I was figuring out what to give up for lent, and I thought you know what; I am going to give up sex. Then I heard the voice of god in my head go, c’mon Keith challenge yourself! What about porn? That’s the spirit. I am catholic and I do drive a lot which is why I noticed that the Vatican came out with the Ten Commandments for motorist. I don’t know if anybody else saw that bit they actually have an official ten commandments for motorist. And I say why not, seeing as how we have totally mastered the original ten, its time for new challenges. 
Christian Thom: And I am sure you have been in the position here you have been the feature and you got to stretch or hold or even do the headliner spot. 
Sure I was at a club about a month ago and literally two minutes before I went on stage. The headliner hadn’t shown up yet and then you got to call, that he had to go to the hospital. So I had to do more time, which was fine I have got the material. The rule of thumb is if you are going to do thirty minutes on stage, you better have 45 to an hour. If you only have 30 and you want to be a feature you are probably not going to do that well. 
Christian Thom: No in general I try to write three times as much as I am going to do. Just to make me feel comfortable. 
Keith: Yeah you got to be prepared. 
A lot of people get into arguments with their spouses what they want to name their baby. Right they want to name it different things so they argue. I don’t think that is cool man I think you should uh… Here is what I think, I think if you ever have an argument with your husband or wife about what to name the baby, I think you should concede. Let them name it whatever they want to name it, and then to show your dissatisfaction and a little bit of sarcasm. The rest of that kid’s life whenever you say his name use air quotes. That’s a good compromise. That’s a good tee ball game you had there, Clifton. That was great. That was great acting in that school play there “Clifton” played one hell of a tin man. Anyway we can keep his name for you, would that be possible. 
When I first started closing a room, moving from feature to headliner I just thought naively, you know what its just fifteen more minutes. Which is not, and it was not a problem. The actual act of doing more material wasn’t an issue. The issue was the little things of the checks are being dropped. You know where you lose an audience for five minutes where they are worried about who had the chicken wings. 
Christian Thom: And half of them are drunk by that time anyway.
Keith: They are drunk, depending on the room you got to put up with a little more rowdy crowd, maybe a little more inattentive. 
Christian Thom: You got to pull them in and work harder because they don’t want to pay attention; they have laughed for three hours at this point. 
Keith: There are certain hurdles to overcome when you reach that level. It is not just about the more time on stage, and learning that, learning the differences and adjusting. It is the challenge that you got to tackle in order to make that step and then sustain it. And stay there and not get demoted which has happened before to a lot of people. 
I like New York I do, my friends in Nashville have a very stereo typical view of what living here is like. Whenever I talk to them they ask me nothing but generalization type questions like. Have you gotten mugged yet? What’s that like? Does that hurt? Or do you carry a weapon? Yeah I do carry a weapon but it is not conventional, I carry outdated technology because muggers hate that. They walk up to me and go give me all your! Is that a cassette walkman? 
But I need to say that you know the success just like any other career is defined differently. I have met some people they are still the house M.C. in a particular city, in a particular club. Because they have got a family there, they like the city. They don’t like to travel because they are living out of a suitcase. But they write all the time, they have got something to say and they have got a different ten minute in that M.C. spot every time I see them. They don’t see it in titles and levels and stages. They see it as you know I am doing stand up. And they are happy and that’s fine. Some people are jut happy doing the road and working the road and not being really a national name. If they are happy that is fine. Success to be philosophical can’t be defined, at least succinctly. 
Christian Thom: Yeah the top of the mountain is clouded in vapor. 
Keith: Exactly, yeah that’s a good visual. So yeah there you have it. See you later have a good night. 
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 <item> <title>The Importance Of Delivery</title>
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 <pubDate>Mon, 06 Aug 2007 17:04:00 -0500</pubDate>
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 <media:text type="html"><![CDATA[Comedy Insider
Episode “The importance of delivery”

Christian Thom: Hi Christian Thom here. We are at one of my favorite haunts, the Strand book store in the village. They have got over 18 miles of books. Form gigantic tomes like War and Peace and Moby Dick. To the nearly microscopic Whose Who in Puerto Rico, if it’s been written you can find it here. 
Now it has been famously said that there are three rules to writing a novel. Unfortunately nobody knows what those rules are. But one thing these dead bastards don’t have to worry about is delivery. Writers work for the printed page. But a comic, like a musician works for the ear. So no matter how string your written jokes are, delivery is even more important. And tonight we are talking with comic Luke Cunningham, who knows that delivery is everything. 
How much of your act is in the writing and how much of it is in the performance?
Luke Cunningham: I feel like the writing and the delivery are essentially synonymous. Like when I start conceiving of a joke in my head. I hear the delivery of it. I hear the rhythms and patterns that I will essentially lead the audience with. Like you have to say it in a way that makes sense to the audience, and also makes them laugh, that’s why comedy is so difficult. 
There is an action packed sport that I get to watch every Saturday night. It is fantastic and I think it should be on network television. Fist fights on the Q train, check it out. Awesome, sometimes they are intergender. Well excuse me, and then they just mix it up, you get to see the best action you have ever seen. 
Let me ask you a question sir, when there is a fist fight on the Q train, does the guy in the Scarface t-shirt win? No you’re wrong because they are both wearing Scarface t-shirts, sir, both wearing Scarface t shirts. Correction, are you familiar with Scarface. Scarface and Obama for president in 08, every black dude votes for them, that’s all I am saying. 
When I hear a joke, like I hear jokes in my head. And it sounds creepy and weird, but like I do, I hear jokes in my head and I hear the rhythm and the pattern of it. I feel like the words that you are saying are the lyrics, but the inflection, the rhythm the pattern that you use to get the audience to follow, that essentially the instrumentation. That’s really the music. 
When you’re making a joke really work and you’re delivering it exceptionally well you honestly feel like your singing to the audience. You have them, you have them on the line and you’re just a step in front of the beat waiting for them to laugh. 
I always have an issue with meeting the women. I was fine once I was in the relationship. The issue was always that awkwardness of going up and like introducing yourself. But I totally solved that, you take two things that women can’t resist and combine them onto one convenient vehicle. I taught a baby how to ride a puppy. It’s been doing gangbusters for me, take it to the park, and let it run around. And your like oh it must be difficult to teach a baby to ride a puppy, it is, alright soft patch of grass, much better learning environment than an asphalt parking lot. You learn as you go. But the tough part is actually getting the baby, because I have never got anyone pregnant. Even though you and I both know sir, condoms feel like snow pants. 
But there are plenty of babies up on the upper west side of Manhattan, and the other day I grabbed one. I realized only grab one when there is another baby that looks exactly like it in the same baby holder so no one is missing out. So I grab this baby, ad this woman who doesn’t even look like the baby starts yelling, No es so Niño. No es so Niño. Which I could only imagine translates as please take this baby, and use it as a convenient device in your comic vehicle. 
But no I don’t speak nonsense so I grabbed it, and I actually suit my baby up a little bit. My baby rides the puppy with a t-shirt on the front that says daddy hearts commitment. And on the back it says in real small letters. He has been so upset ever since mommy died in that tragic cunnilingus orgasm accident. Won’t you come home and help him grieve?
Christian Thom: I find I am always trying to get my natural rhythm, my first response, how I react to things into the material and into the audiences head. 
Luke Cunningham: Yeah and that’s why you rewrite. That’s why you take things and you recut them. When you recut them you are essentially trying to make them more musical. You are trying to make the more efficient. You are trying to take out the dead spots and the down beats. 
When you rewrite, you’re not so much rewriting as you are redelivering. Like you take the words that you put together and you make them more efficient. You find a way that it is just going to resound more with the audience. You are not rewriting to make that premise funny, you’re rewriting to make sure that that premise…
Christian Thom: Lands.
Luke Cunningham: Yeah lands with the audience and works in a way that gets the job done. 
I have a gay roommate, which is great, its fine. He is a wonderful person. But he didn’t tell me he was gay. I feel like you should find that out during the tour, you know what I am saying. Just disclose that right off the bat, like over there that’s the double sink, those are the marble fixtures. Any weird noises you hear from that room is me getting plowed by another dude. And the electric is fifty a month. Don’t you feel like you should find that out? 
Like don’t make me hear it coming out of your fucking room. Like ungh, ungh. Hey Andrew are you and gentleman moving furniture in there? What’s with all the thumping and banging? Lift up your legs; someone is going to pull a hammy. 
But there are essentially three real forms of comedy. There is standup, there is improve, and there is sketch. And that what most people work in and like movies and things are a derivative of those three. Well, improve there is a certain concession from the audience, like we will lower our expectations a little bit because you are coming up with this off the top of your head. 
Sketch they essentially have a higher expectation but you have a group of people that you can work with. You have a script; you have rehearsed it a dozen times. The most difficult from I think is stand up because you have all of the expectation of sketch. And they are all, so they expect it to sound like you have just arrived at these points. Like this is the first time you have said this to a group of people.
And that is really true talent. To be able to wrote and rewrite and exercise that material until it is so well delivered that it sounds natural and it is going to make people laugh. And you’re so confident that it is going to make people laugh that you don’t even have to think about it. 
Have you guys ever had a friend tell you a story and you find out that’s not the fucking story at all? The way that they tell it to you, like I had a friend tell me. My friend Alex was like, I had my first threesome. And I was like, really? How did you pull it off? And he was like well it was me, and Kim my girlfriend, and this guy she works with. I was like you didn’t have a threesome, your girlfriend had sex with somebody and you watched. Its not, devils in the details Alex. 
You cannot practice how creative you are. You cannot control when the jokes come and the premises arrive. , what you can practice is how you deliver them. How you time everything, how you make the word form into a rhythm and a pattern and how you make people laugh. That’s all you can practice. 
Alright thanks very much I am Luke Cunningham. 


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</item>
 <item> <title>Converting Life Into A Routine</title>
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 <description>Comic Susan Prekel talks about finding humor in the awkward moments&lt;br&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.onnetworks.com/videos/comedy-insider/converting-life-into-a-routine&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://images.onnetworks.com/images/comedyinsider_routine_480x270.jpg&quot; title=&quot;Converting Life Into A Routine&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;</description>
 <pubDate>Mon, 30 Jul 2007 15:15:00 -0500</pubDate>
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 <media:text type="html"><![CDATA[Comedy insider
Episode “Converting life into a routine”

Christian Thom: Hi, Christian Thom here. I didn’t want to talk too loud because we are in little Italy and I don’t want to get whacked. But I used to live in that building right across the street there. Right next door to a debt collector for the mob, who used to give me unsolicited career advice, like hey Chris I know you a performer and everything, but do you know how much money you could make selling crack out of this window. And not just crack donuts too. 
Tempting though that was I had to tell him I already had a job waiting tables at the restaurant down stairs. Where I would get a lot of this, hey kids come here, come over here. Ni more bread, anymore bread makes it to this table I will fucking stab you. I am on Atkins, oh and Giuliani over there he is o south beach so set him up too.
Now though having someone threaten my life didn’t seem funny at the time, every comic knows its precious little moments like that that ensure you won’t ever be out of material. And today we are talking to comedian Susan Prekel, who has managed to turn her life into an open and very funny book. 
When you draw on your real life for material, where does it come from?
Susan Prekel: Where, well it all comes from my real life. It is all stuff that happened, but how I decide what I like to talk about is the stuff that is the most either aggravating to me or something that really gets me going. It was so ridiculous, it was so annoying. , I will give some thought to try to keep the setup short and figure out alright, how I make this much more quickly. And I will worry about that afterword. 
You know most comedy comes from things that are frustrating or agitating. Yeah, yeah it’s rare that something funny comes from something, it’s so amazing! 
Christian Thom: Oh this wonderful ting happened to me I can’t wait to tell you about it. 
Susan Prekel: He told me he loved me, now that’s just not funny. 
Does anyone do yoga? So you know at the beginning of every single class the teacher always asks, does anyone have any injuries that I should know about, any injuries? And one girl is always like yea I got some neck stuff going on, I got some neck stuff. And this is her big thing, this is always her response. Then you shouldn’t do anything that’s going to involve your neck. Wow, that is amazing, amazing Paisley, skylark, jasmine. That’s just…
Christian Thom: but now no ones life is as funny in real life as yours seems to be. 
Susan Prekel: Yea, I can see what you’re saying, but I will say that everything actually really did happen. You know you just condense all the funny things into a short period. So over many years yea these funny things did happen. But I also think maybe I seek out those experiences, or I am on the lookout for awkward interaction. Or like love to stick out some situation where someone else might be like, I am getting out of here. I am like, no I am going to stay and see what this person does. 
Christian Thom: Right I find myself putting myself in situations that a normal person wouldn’t go into because hey, this could be good comedy. 
Susan Prekel: Exactly, exactly.
There is something to that positive thinking, but I don’t think like, I mean come on tell that to Jimmy on the cancer ward at the age of five. You know, you just weren’t thinking positively enough Jimmy. You need to visualize yourself with hair. 
I think the reason I talk about dating so much is not that I date so much or I am so obsessed with dating. It is just that is so full of opportunity for feelings and people to say crazy things, and…
Christian Thom: Well most dates are horrible. 
Susan Prekel: They are insane. 
Christian Thom: and they are people you never would come in contact with unless it was a date.
Susan Prekel: Yea. And there is just so much that can go wrong. That so much can go right for comedy. 
Ok, this is just something you need to know for guys, when we are out on a date; we don’t really need to know who you think is hot. It is just rude, I was out with this guy, it was a first date too, that’s important. Like fine, six months in the fantasies over, I get it. But on the first date I wan to pretend you think I am special, and so um. And that you don’t have credit card debt. Ok, so I was out with this guy, who I really liked because he was smart and funny. But not physically perfect which made his arrogance all the more fascinating. He had kind of a dead grey tooth in the back, and I was like whatever if this goes well he can get it fixed. 
So uh I am out with Ben and the tooth. And he is going on and on which Hollywood star, the stylist, the trainer, who he gets to travel with .Oh my god please tell me I would really love to know. I would really, really love to know who do you and your tooth think is hot. Katherine Zeta Jones, oh and I think he really is beautiful she is one of the most gorgeous women in this world. And totally out of your league, this is your league; this is your league right. You work in a cube; you’re not meeting Katherine Zeta Jones alright. Your meeting me, I pluck my own brows. I am going to go home, take my bra off and fall asleep in front of the TV alright. Your meeting me and you should be happy because I could be bringing a lot of joy in your life. 
I had an acting teacher who used to always say this. You know take it personally. And she would be like take that personally; don’t you have a response to that? And I don’t have that problem, I take it all personally, just some annoying little interaction at a restaurant. Maybe someone bumps into you or something. 
Christian Thom: Things that other people might dismiss. 
Susan Prekel: Exactly I am going to do, well what was that about? I saw that person earlier and I could have told you, I am being punished because early in the bathroom I kind of, I mean it was hard to say who was first. But I think I was first and I went ahead and went first. He clearly thinks I cut ad this is my punishment. And I am like probably going to say something. 
You know maybe on some level I know that this works for me doing comedy and I keep it up because I can’t seem to let go of functioning throughout the day like this. And it is exhausting for me; it is exhausting for the people around me. I, I am kidding. 
Christian Thom: but know for the audience they love it. 
Susan Prekel: Well, no it works when I get on stage. 
My cousin visited recently, that lives in Michigan. And she announced at dinner that she doesn’t like high school, doesn’t like it. Who does? It is something you get through, like brunch with your god mother. Or sex with a nice person. 
The other thing that is great about those stories is there is another thing that goes on with like family too. But I do have a little bit of hesitance; I do hesitate to talk about that. Because I am afraid of what I am going to say .because you know when things are going well, I am no thinking about what I am saying. And that makes me very nervous for myself, which is too bad, because I think I am actually going to have to get over that point where I can progress and actually get better. 
Christian Thom: I think your going there now. 
Susan Prekel: I think I am too, and I think I am really scared about where I am going to be spending Christmas for the rest of my life, because it’s not going to be in Michigan. They are going to be like you, we are done with you. We don’t want to se you we heard what you said about us. 
Christian Thom: well, there is material right there. 
Susan Prekel: Yea, so I suppose. 
Thank you so much goodnight. 



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 <itunes:subtitle>Comic Susan Prekel talks about finding humor in the awkward moments</itunes:subtitle>
 <itunes:author>ON Networks</itunes:author>
</item>
 <item> <title>Women In Comedy</title>
 <link>http://www.onnetworks.com/videos/comedy-insider/women-in-comedy</link>
 <description>Veronica Mosey explains how her comedic style can compete with mens&lt;br&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.onnetworks.com/videos/comedy-insider/women-in-comedy&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://images.onnetworks.com/images/comedyinsider_women_480x270.jpg&quot; title=&quot;Women In Comedy&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;</description>
 <pubDate>Mon, 23 Jul 2007 13:17:00 -0500</pubDate>
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 <media:text type="html"><![CDATA[Comedy insider
Episode “Women in Comedy”

Christian Thom: Yes I do have a beamer; I keep it at my place in the Hamptons. Hi Christian Thom here, New York has the highest ratio of single woman to single men than any city in this country, nearly seven to one. And guys if you’re employed and bathe regularly, that number can double or even triple. So fella's if you cant make it here, you can’t make it anywhere. Oh and If you don’t have time to bathe, just throw on a European accent. 
That works too. Yes, I keep my BMW with my Aston Martin in South Hampton. Aww, but enough about romance, whether a man or a woman its sink or swim when your up on that stage. And our boobs can not be used as a flotation device, unless they are really, really fake. So don’t call them female comics, they are just comics, and tonight comic Veronica Mosey, will tell us exactly what that means.
Guy in bed: Where’s my coffee? 
Veronica Mosey: It’s frustrating really; I have tried this inline dating stuff. I don’t know if you guys ever tried this. Bu the worst thing about online dating in New York City is every body puts the same hobbies down. You know what the most popular hobby is? Hiking and biking. Just real quick where the fuck do you hike? Apparently there is no more elevators, you just repel down your elevators in the morning. 
Christian Thom: Ok, how is it different being a female comedian, than being a male comedian?
Veronica Mosey: Uh less spots and you just don’t get as much of an opportunity. First of all I think you have to spend the first couple of minutes on stage proving that you’re funny. Because if they have seen one woman that is not funny, then they are just going to perceive that your not funny. And off stage, when you kill, like I always do. You come off stage and you end up having someone say you, you usually hate female comics but you are really funny. 
There's one thing a guy wrote, I prefer women who like candle light dinners, and he had to specify that. I prefer women who like candle light dinners. And I don’t know a lot of women who don’t like candle light dinners, so was thinking like maybe he had a bad experience. Like maybe he made the dinner, and then lit the candles, and then she walked in and she was like, what the fuck! What’s with the candle light dinner you fucking asshole! You said we were going hiking and biking. Maybe she was like a burn victim, made candles. 
Christian Thom: Now how do you navigate around that? Do you play differently to the women in the audience than you do to the men?
Veronica Mosey: No, I play the same to everybody. I want every single person in that crowd to like me. There is absolutely no reason for me to play to the women when I like men. I just think it puts you in a frame that’s it. Now you’re supposed to talk about getting your period and how men suck. Right ladies oh my god! Like I used to do a whole bit about that. I actually had a bit about female comics because I hated them so much. I hated the way they came out and put you in that category. And I think the problem is again you have to remember that you are representing the community. 
I know it sucks but it’s the way it is. When you are a minority in any situation, you are representing the community. So if you’re a female comic and if you get up and all you talk about is how you cant meet a guy and all these women issues or female issues. Douching or whatever the heck it is.  No on is interested. And then what happens is you just ruined it for the next girl because when she gets up on stage she has got to deal with the fact that guys are going to go, uh.
Do you ever get corrected by a kid? That sucks right. Especially when you cant say shit back because it’s like your friend’s kid, or your brother’s kid. I was at my sister in laws house and I was talking about this movie. And I was like the movie was so stupid, my nephew was like, that’s a bad word Aunt Veronica! And I was like, movie? I didn’t know what he was talking about. He is like stupid is a bad word, you shouldn’t say that word right mommy? And my sister in law backs him up because she is a fucking bitch right. And so she says to him like, yea, we don’t say the word stupid in this house. I was like yea, well that’s fucking stupid. Yea, and then I got into trouble again because apparently fucking is a bad word too. 
Christian Thom: But despite some of the negatives, there is a lot of things that female comedians can get away with that I can’t. In your act you can talk about slapping kids and it’s cute, if I do that there is no other way for it to be perceived than angry. 
Veronica Mosey: Yea, that is true, because anything said with a smile and a little wink gets you. I mean women can do that in many things with their lives. They don’t want to admit it, but they do. So yea I definitely can get away with more. 
I just think we coddle our kids; they have to get hurt they have to hear bad things to learn how to handle. Like my brother and his wife have this six inch foam bumper. It goes like this around there kitchen table. So my nephew won’t hit his head on the table. Ok the best way for a kid to learn not to hit his head on the table is to let him run by and hit his fucking head on the table. Like let him run by and catch his eye lid right on the corner of it, you know what I mean? Or if it doesn’t happen organically that’s ok, just grab his fucking head and smash his face on the side of the table. And when he is on the ground be like, that was really stupid. Lesson learned right? 
In the beginning of my career I dressed in miniskirts and boots and shit and I thought if I look sexy on stage. If I look hot, then people will pa attention to me. But I found out it is actually the opposite. You really can look sexy and attractive, but you can’t look slutty. There is kind of a fine line. Once you do that then people say oh we are not going to pay attention to what she is saying.
Christian Thom: Well that s all they are focused on.
Veronica Mosey: Right, exactly. And when women say well I want men to respect me for my brains and not my body it’s like… Yea, but all your doing is expressing what a whore you are, so therefore that show you’re going to be portrayed. It is frustrating to me at the club I will see girls come in and they will be completely blitzed or they will be and I am this guy and I will completely rag on them, I will rip them to shreds. And it makes them hopefully look at themselves and go home and say geez, I look like a real moron. For the most part is usually works. Yea, but otherwise I get yelled at by some girls whose like this. At the end of the show like, I can’t believe you said that about me. Like I am stupid, I sound stupid, stupid? I can’t stand the way they say that shit.
One thing I can’t stand in this town is protesters. I think protesters need to work on their shit, ok? First of all get a job. I never understand where these people work ever, they just write signs in marker. And I heard these people protesting the war, that’s cool. But they kept chanting 2, 4, 6, and 8 down with anger down with hate. 1,3,5,9 occupations is a crime. And I was like odd numbers are not cool in a protest. The 2 4 6 8 we have heard that, it rhymes with hate or discriminate or irate right? 1 3 5 9, never mind that there is no seven in there.
A woman a female comic just need to know who she is; if you know who you are you have all different aspects you can talk about. You don’t have to just talk abut being a woman. And you are a human being, you have a million different things going on in your life, you don’t have to do that. And all the women who have made it big have never had sexually specific material. 
You know Ellen DeGeneres is a lesbian, she doesn’t talk about being a lesbian ever, and she just talks about life and living. Roseanne Barr, domestic goddess routine, more about family it wasn’t about I am a girl. It was all about family and how she perceived life. So I think if you want to become a respected female comic, or respected comic. Just, you know, kind of forget that you are a girl. I essentially think you just have to be who you are, be a person. 
Christian Thom: I try to do that.
Veronica Mosey: I know you do. I hope you figure you out soon, that would be nice. 
Veronica Mosey: Hey I am Veronica Mosey, thanks a lot guys I had a great time. 


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</item>
 <item> <title>On The Road</title>
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 <pubDate>Mon, 16 Jul 2007 14:30:11 -0500</pubDate>
 <dc:creator>ON Networks</dc:creator>
 <guid isPermaLink="false">1319 at http://www.onnetworks.com</guid>
 <category domain="http://www.onnetworks.com/videos/comedy-insider">Comedy Insider</category>
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 <media:text type="html"><![CDATA[Comedy Insider
Episode:  “On the road”

Christian Thom: Hi, Christian Thom here in China Town, one of the ironies of being a comedian is. You move to New York to become a comedian, but in order to make money as a comic you have got to work out of town gigs. So that means lots of traveling. Now personally I just got back from the real china, and it’s funny to notice the little cultural differences when you are away. 
For instance New York runs on take out food. Here it is per4fectly acceptable to walk down the street while you’re eating your lunch. In Europe same thing only they call it take away. But in china they actually have a sit down rule, because it’s considered rude to stand up while you eat. 
So it is just interesting to note how these little cultural habits are reversed. Because here in the west after we have eaten we have then applied the sit down rule to defecation, where as over there it’s more crouching tiger than hidden dragon. 
So being funny means pending a lot of time away from home and comedian Mike Siscoe is one of the biggest road dogs working the circuit today. 
What’s the longest you have been on the road?
Mike Siscoe: Longest, about eight weeks, and straight. Eight weeks and that was all over the Pacific Northwest to the Midwest to the south west and then back up to Seattle. You’re performing at least five nights a week. And then on the weekends you are doing two sometimes three shows. So you end up doing about ten shows in the week. But its better, it better; now it’s like every other week and its here in the tri-state area. I am just going to Jersey, to Pennsylvania; if I have to I will go all the way out to Duluth Minnesota. 
Thank you, thank you guys. I should probably get one thing straight I am not your typical New York comic, I am actually what am known as a road comic. I play all over the country I play over seas a lot. And in fact one thing I have learned about playing on the road is its very hard to be American nowadays. 
Seriously when I go over seas I get a bunch of shit because I a ma American. Like I went over seas to Canada, check this one out right. You got it I don’t really got to explain it to you do I cause it’s really not for you guys, it lets me know what I am working with. Because if you don’t get it the bar is right down stairs it’s got lots of shiny bottles to look at. Yeah.
Christian Thom: Now when you’re out there how do you tailor your act for local audiences? 
Mike Siscoe: It depends on the town. One of the things I have really learned on the road was how to read an audience. To look and see who’s in my house tonight is it a bunch of old people? Well, there not going to get biatch, you know? There not going to get any kind of young MTV references. So, tailor it. Are they loud and drunk? Then I have to be louder than them. So that was the skill you have to learn how to read the audience. 
And then I have to know where I am. Am I in a red state or a blue state? I do a lot of political kind of material a lot of social commentary. Sometimes you just cut it out a little bit. Sometimes you trim it down. I have learned to say it in a nice way, and I have learned not to come at them and say I am right you’re wrong. I don’t want those people to pay goo d money to see a show that they hated. 
Christian Thom: And you’re a guest in there house. 
Mike Siscoe: Exactly, I am a guest and this is their town and there thing I want them to have a good time as well.
I was at Montreal for New Years, and this French Canadian guy starts giving me shit because I am an American. Hey, cowboy. Big bad American, welcome to Canada huh? At leas there in Canada we don’t torture. The hell you think your don’t, I sat through that whole Celine Diaz thing in Las Vegas, the whole time wishing I was in Guantanamo bay. Please Jesus put me in a naked cell somewhere. Let a retarded girl from West Virginia take a snapshot with my nut sack. Oh click, click. 
Christian Thom: What’s the worst hotel you have ever stayed in?
Mike Siscoe: The worst hotel is right up there, it’s the economy lodge in Greensborough North Carolina. It’s a crack house really. I am sitting there late at night its 3:00 in the morning, I hear knocks at the door. You want a date sugar, you want a date. There’s cars…
Christian Thom: So they had room service?
Mike Siscoe: Well, yea, for crack whores. There are gunshots in the middle of the night. When you pull back the sheet sand you see a stain and the only thing on your mind is the best thing this could be is blood. That’s the best it could be. You want to move on. 
The thing is I can’t blame the guy for being mad at America. I mean seriously we haven’t given the world a lot to laugh at in what like six and a half years. I think the funniest thing we have done in six and a half years was when dick Cheney shot that dud in the face. I have heard people say that was a tragedy; no fuck you that was funny. It was funny when bugs did it to daffy; it’s even funnier in real life. 
I firmly believe that every comic should play the road. That it’s a right of passage, that you’re not a complete comic without it. You don’t know what the rest of America thinks. If you just play the big cities. I have played LA and I have played New York, and their distinctive audiences, but there not the same as Peoria. There not the same as Minnesota, or even Nebraska. Each one has its different feel. Each one has its own sense of humor, and you have got to know what that is like. It is going to make you a well rounded comedian. 
Not only that but In La, you know you are only getting ten minutes a night. So many times here in the city you are only getting ten minutes a night. If you start to get fame you start to get noticed and recognized people are going to say, can you come out to our club, we will give you five thousand dollars for the weekend we want you to be here. And they are going to expect you to have 60 minutes of material, and if you never put sixty minute together. 
Christian Thom:  Well we know the disaster stories. 
Mike Siscoe: Oh yeah, there huge, there’s guys who have had like great 25 minute sets, and then for the next 35 minute people are going…
In the last election I only wanted one thing and that was to feel good again. I wanted to go back in time when America was peaceful and prosperous. Back in time when Fallujah was just a black girls name you know. So I wrote in my candidate, I wrote in Bill Clinton, because that’s the last time I felt good. You know, and I have had people all over this country say, Bill Clinton lied to America, he lied to the people. Of course he did he fucked a fat chick you think that’s going to come out in a news conference? Who says banging a fat girl is a crime then lying about it I mean I am a five time felon and so are most of the guys here man. 
I personally I really enjoy playing some of the small towns, because everybody comes out. 
Christian Thom: And there really appreciative. 
Mike Siscoe: They love you!
Christian Thom: You came to them.
Mike Siscoe: Yeah, they dot get entertainment, everybody’s there. They don’t say by to you and drink; everybody wants to shake your hand afterwards. You know they put me on the radio, hey special guest in town. And they hype you up, people are in line and when I walk by the line there like. Oh my god, that’s Mike Siscoe and its like really, really, because in New York I can’t get bagels without somebody cutting in front of me. You’re the closet thing to a celebrity they have got in town and they love you for it. 
I don’t get all that hate man, if two gay guys want to get married so what that doesn’t bother me. If two lesbians want to get married so what that doesn’t bother me I am in the corning watching I don’t care if the notice us. Seriously, I just don’t think I could be a minster at a lesbian wedding. You may now kiss the bride, slowly… 
I mean on the road you eat poor, you drive for hours and hours and hours. You play in front of drunks, you get ripped of by club owners, and you get ripped off by bookers. Your car breaks down, I wish I could have a normal job that I have weekends off and I can have insurance and I can have a house. And I can have the whole thing but I can’t. I just have to go on the road every now and then and I have to do my comedy and I have to perform. And that’s it that’s all I can do with my life. 
Christian Thom: That’s the answer.
Mike Siscoe: Yeah, that’s it. That’s all I want to.
Christian Thom: You’re happy?
Mike Siscoe: Oh so happy. I’m whipped. 
Thank you folks my name is Mike Siscoe you guys have been a lot of fun. 

]]></media:text>
 <itunes:duration>7:58</itunes:duration>
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</item>
 <item> <title>Crafting Your Onstage Persona</title>
 <link>http://www.onnetworks.com/videos/comedy-insider/crafting-your-onstage-persona</link>
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 <pubDate>Tue, 26 Jun 2007 08:32:04 -0500</pubDate>
 <dc:creator>ON Networks</dc:creator>
 <guid isPermaLink="false">976 at http://www.onnetworks.com</guid>
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 <media:title>Crafting Your Onstage Persona</media:title>
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 <media:description type="plain">Jim Mendrinos talks about a comedian&#039;s identity</media:description>
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 <media:text type="html"><![CDATA[Comedy Insider NYC
Episode “Crafting your Onstage Persona”

Christian Thom: Hi, Christian Thom here. New York City has long been hailed as the cultural capitol of the United States, from its vibrant night life, to its museums and galleries. From its delicate panoply of exotic subway aromas, to the mysterious fluids that wash up on our streets, like so many immigrants looking for freedom. One thing you can say about New York. It is the premiere city for stand up comedy in America. Not counting Chicago, and Los Angeles. And the bets of the best headline here, at the Gotham comedy club.
Comedian Jim Mendrinos is the man who literally wrote the book on comedy. In his career he has preformed for over a hundred thousand complete idiots and now he is here to share that experience with you. You told me that when you were starting off, Sam Kinison grabbed you by the scruff of the neck and said this, I show you, write a joke. 
Jim Mendrinos: Yeah, and you know it was amazing because the construction was there but was missing was me. You know I would just go, and I put the jokes there, and I would do them as written, which is exactly what you don’t want to do when you’re writing a joke. You want to have your personality in there and his exact quote was “Get your fucking personality in the line.” 
Which was something that really took me years to really internalize and fix, but its difference between saying something I wrote then saying something fro he heart, when every comic starts there is a filter in there head that says I can’t say that. I can’t talk about that. And what he did was basically help me take away that filter which I think lets your own personality come out quicker and it’s your own personality that forms your character as a standup.
I know I really don’t look like a comedian; I really look like your cross country driver who kills hookers at truck stops. I know this; either that or I look like your high school English professor who used to look at you a bit too languidly your sophomore year. But we all have our crosses to bear my friend. 
Christian Thom: Now I have heard Woody Allen say this, you never consciously try to create a persona. It’s only your natural personality. 
Jim Mendrinos: Yeah that never works. 
Christian Thom: Right?
Jim Mendrinos: Well, I shouldn’t say never it does, if you’re going to be a dedicated solid comedic character like Steve Martin, where he was always doing that over the top kind of absurdist behavior, or Rodney Dangerfield who perfectly crafted this looser character. Then you can sit there and go, ok let me, here’s how I dress for that character, here’s how I do this with that character. But a great standup, I am not talking about the good ones I am talking about the great ones, are the ones who have a life on stage. You know a myriad of there emotions, there not just one or two things they say. If you remember back to Eddy Murphy, his first stand up special. I mean he had bits that were angry and he had bits that were dirty. And he had bits that were pure joy. And when you look at all the character comics, they play one note. And you know, it’s the exceptional performer that can play one note. 
I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night, a little question. How come when we all can’t fall asleep; we all wind up doing the same stupid thing? We all stare at the alarm clock, and then we will say things, things like if I fell asleep right this very second. I could get four hours and twenty two seconds worth of sleep. Snooze alarm goes of you will smack the hell out of it. Then just lie in bed and justify why you should be allowed to stay there. You’re like nnnnnn, boom, I won’t shower. Nnnnnn, boom, I wont shave. Nnnnnn, fuck it I will call in sick. 
For me, and I am sure you have had this, you are performing you see another comic perform and they do similar and or exact…
Christian Thom: And then you can’t do that joke or you’re so mad they did that joke?
Jim Mendrinos: Yeah well, in my opinion if somebody does the same joke, I wrote a really crappy joke. But when you inject your personality in it and you inject what is funny about it. I should be writing stuff that’s so original…
Christian Thom: You can’t copy it. 
Jim Mendrinos: Yeah.
If you haven’t been to Montreal you got to go you know why? Because everyone in Montreal is gorgeous, man woman, child everyone, which is amazing because not more than 40 miles away from there in Plattsburg, New York you have the ugliest fucking human beings, I have ever seen. Really there is supermodels’ grazing alongside the highways in Montreal. 
I was reasonably sure they were not going to allow me in the city, that’s how good looking they are. I was positive I would get there and there would be a Mounty like Monsieur, Where you going? Uh, Montreal. You? No. You go to Plattsburg.” 
You know I started when I was 19, I am 42 now. You know the stuff I was doing at 19, 20 would look so bad coming from my mouth at this point. And that’s the bottom line, eventually what you wrote which was the truth for you then, becomes a lie. Well, that’s why you don’t want to set your persona; you want to let who you are at the moment defining who you are on stage. You have to understand that everything has to evolve. 
Weird shit happens to your body as you get older, like the other day I yawned and I threw my back out. How miserably out of shape am I that yawning is now a strenuous activity. Consult physician before yawning, told you weird stuff. You know when I was getting old I could tell you the exact moment. I was lying on the couch and my leg fell asleep, and I just didn’t even bother to wake it up. I was like I ain’t got no plans, do what you want to do. I am tired of being the boss of you. 
You got to evolve and you got to constantly take an inventory of who you are as a human being right now. And unless you’re doing a character like a Rodney Dangerfield, you know. It’s hard to make that lie seem real to the audience. You will lose an audience very quickly if you don’t evolve your material and let the material and your humanity meet together to define your persona. 
When we talk as stand ups, we can’t paint a dry picture, the audience is drunk. We play at least on the club level, in front of a bunch of people who are drunk. Their distracted because their there with dates.
Christian Thom: And our job is to get them drunker. And then send them into their cars. 
Jim Mendrinos: It’s the only art form in the world with a two drink minimum. Picasso didn’t have a two drink minimum, your not going to the Louvre and having a couple of scotches just to get in. 
You guys have been a lot of fun enjoy the rest of your night, goodnight. 





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 <media:text type="html"><![CDATA[Comedy Insider 
Episode “Stand up economics”

Christian Thom: Hi, Christian Thom here. Everyone knows New York City is an expensive place to live. But trust me there are plenty of ways to scrimp and save while you’re here trying to make it. And since you can’t sell your blood and semen anymore, I recommend having lunch here, at Grays Papaya, New York’s 24 hours hot dog stand, widely regarded as the ramen noodles of meat. After all, where else can you get two hotdogs, a coconut drink and a tape work for only $3.50? Between the tape worm and my thyroid condition, I come out about even. 
Now a lot of people wonder why the hot dogs are just little bit longer than the bun. It’s actually so they can fit two hypodermic needles in there, end to end. Hey every penny counts while you are waiting for that big break, and today comedian Lori Somner is going to help us out and shed some light about what you can expect from a career in stand up. 
So what, what does a comedian make when they are first starting out?
Lori Somner: Uh, really your more making money outside of the city, when you are getting more road gigs, or if you start hosting. Some of the spots through the week are $15 spots, $20 spots, that’s why you are going club to club and there’s so much work in the city. 
I do live on the upper west side and uh, well I live on the upper, upper west side. I live on eight hundred and forty fucking Second Street. I am just kidding I live downtown, in the 200’s. My rent is a dollar. I love telling people I live on Broadway. Especially if they have never been to New York City, there like Broadway wow goes that far north? Broadway goes that far north? Yes, Santa lives on Broadway cut it out. Santos, lives on Broadway, he’s my pot dealer. 
Christian Thom: Now when you go on the road. You do the road game, you got the headliner and you got the middler, and the opener, three different pay scales. 
Lori Somner: Right, eight, right, there’s three different pay scales and it could range anywhere from where your first starting out from three hundred to five hundred dollars and then its infinite whoever you are, depending on if you have door deals and stuff like that. You can be making ten thousand dollars on a weekend or you can be making much more than that. Or you could be making $2500 dollars for a weekend.
But a weekend is going to be Thursday through Sunday, when you’re out on the road. You know you’re doing one show on Thursday, two shows on Friday, and three shows on Saturday and one show on Sunday. So sometimes it works out like your making a lot of money but there occult be the opposite too. 
Christian Thom: And you have transportation cost and hotels and meals and all that kind of stuff. Which is all a write off. 
Lori Somner: Right, right.
But I know that I will always get face lifts, I don’t care how ridiculous you look because you do. Look at Cher; is she not awful to look at? (Sings impersonating Cher) What? Move your face! Stop it, enough is enough. But I know I’m going to do the same thing I don’t care, I don’t care if my ears connect in the back of my head I don’t care. 
Christian Thom: Ok, then how do you transition from walking away from your job to fulltime comedy?
Lori Somner: Well, it happens differently for people, some people will get that magic phone call. That here’s a contract and here’s a pilot deal and everything else. Or there’s the reality for most people and you have to work your way up the ranks and there’s different ways to make money on it. 
You can start producing your won shows. There are so many rooms around the city, besides the major clubs, and even in the major clubs. Comics amongst each other, it’s like ok you’re producing a show, well I am producing a show. So I will put you on my show, if you put me on your show. And then I am going to network with the people that I meet there, so that’s how your building. Your building an entourage, you’re building a reputation, your building just by branching out and doing all these different shows. 
I feel so Zen right now; I feel such a Zen moment, that’s how I feel. And it’s good because I have been fighting with my roommate because I believe in reincarnation. And we have fights all the time I’m like, I believe in reincarnation. And she yells at me she was like, No Lori when you’re dead your dead, your alive and then your dead that’s it. And I just looked at her I was like; it’s so funny because you said the same exact thing in your last life. 
Christian Thom: I never know when you have made it as a comedian, because it just goes on and on, there’s always another show more to do. 
Lori Somner: That’s because you know when you make it, because when you can walk and pretty much say any room, when you’re performing at any club, when you have that name, within the business too because it is a community, a small community. 
Christian Thom: And when people come out to see you, as opposed to just going out to see comedy.
Lori Somner: Right, right, right. And other comics are headlining and doing pro spots around the city. They have their own notoriety even though their not known mainstream, you will know them by face. You know there’s just that whole progression. There’s a process, it’s a journey and its time. Because it weeds out the ones that don’t have what it takes, that don’t want to do the work that’s entailed in it. Because Chris Rock still works, hard, he’s still going up on stage and working out material and going another place and working out material its still so he’s always working and that’s why he has the success that he has. 
But in my apartment I sometimes have roaches in my apartment, and I used to you know I would spray them and you know the pads. But I don’t want to do that anymore because I feel like oh that’s so sad. I can’t kill them so I talk to them now, and like if one show up I will just talk to it and ask it to leave like thinking that’s going to work. Like, I don’t want you here. You don’t belong, you’re making me feel uncomfortable, and can you go? And he left and he hasn’t come back. So I am going to run for president because I can change the world. 
You can either wait for the phone call or you can create you’re own phone calls. It’s all a part of the process and the jo