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.