At my Monday open mike, a comic relayed a tale about how a lady told him he reminded her of Dane Cook. One of the weirdest things about performing is people sometimes feel obligated to tell you how well you did, then how you should change your whole act. It’s made even weirder since anyone that likes something generally doesn’t follow it with a backhanded insult. “I love your house! It’s so nice! It’s perfect…except all your decorating, room layout, floors…you know, the whole damn house.”
I’ve been compared to Steven Wright, Dane Cook, Ron White, local open mikers and even David Hasselhoff. My favorite of all time though was after a small town show. A woman came up very excited with her husband as I was peddling my wares. “You were hilarious! That was great! My only advice is you should watch Jeff Dunham. If you did that, oh man you would be awesome!” One problem. Jeff Dunham is a ventriloquist comedian. In other words, be funny, but learn how to throw your voice, buy a bunch of dummies, steal his material and change every damn thing and you’ve got it! I wonder if that lady sees a public speaker and tells them they’re awesome, but they can’t quite pump up a crowd like Hitler. “You’re great at talking about marketing, but you need more arm thrusts, fist clinching and sprinkle in some anti-Semitism!” Thanks, worst complimenter ever!
First of all, bahahaha. Secondly, my stage persona is usually compared to Bo Burnham or Justin Bieber.