I won’t lie, I had to look up how to spell the title. Comedy is a weird game. To get work, people want to see video clips or have you guest set. Guest setting sucks because you don’t get paid, but may get future work. This is not normal. “I would like to work here at the factory.” “Well, why don’t you put in a week, show me you can run a crane. Then I may hire you, but I’ll probably forget your name. Unless you fuck up, then I’ll never, ever forget it.”
The video clip thing stinks because any asshole that has ever done comedy can put together a good five minutes. Stack the crowd, do your best five and someone checking out the clip thinks you’re Richard Pryor. I recently entered a comedy festival in a far away land where I had to submit a video clip and pay $25 to dump my name in a pool of great and shitty comics, hoping against hope I make the cut. If I don’t get in, they keep the money. I basically paid $25 to bribe some club owner to please God maybe watch my set. Then, if they like it – I get to do a free festival, where I may possibly make some connections…or waste my time and money getting rejected in person. I was about to say piss on it, then I saw the winner got to do prime time late night TV spots. Only $25? Sign me up!