On Comedy and Entertainment in General

Janeane Garofalo says, "Obviously I'm a narcissist, but at least I have the decency to hate myself."
That sentiment is missing in many young comics. When I see them take to the stage I recognize a sort of profound arrogance that wears on me. They don't know anything, and they don't have enough life experience to justify even being confident, let alone arrogant.
Also, to tie this point in with another observation, I don't think that anyone is qualified to render a so-called DEFINITIVE piece of advice to anyone when it comes to entertainment. I started in filmmaking when I arrived here, and I have seen decades-old veterans of filmmaking INSIST that they are correct about something then have it blow up in their faces or someone else's face. The most successful directors-- Scorsese, Copolla, etc.-- are also the most humble. They will give bits of advice to filmmakers, yet in the same breath they admit that the things that work for them and are comfortable for them will not necessarily work for many other people.

The last time I did stand up a couple of days ago the crowd had thinned to two people. I was seated near the stage, so I couldn't see that the crowd of mostly comics was mostly gone. If I had known that there was almost no one other than the host and another person I would have declined to even take the stage, then the show would have ended. For me personally a crowd of less than 4 people is utterly worthless because I cannot test my material on such a tiny sample size (STATISTICS!). So I half-assed a half-set of material then walked off the stage. The host seemed as if she was put off. "Dude, JUST GO FOR IT. Why didn't you just go for it?" I responded, "It's two people. Who gives a shit? I can't test material on two people." I said "who gives a shit?" matter-of-factly, yet she is one of the aforementioned young self-loving narcissists so she probably interpreted it as a slam against her. She said (valley girl voice and annoyed valley girl facial expression) "it's just yooouuuu staaaanding on a staaaaage speeaaakiing... whooo gives a shiiiit?" Then she dropped the microphone and walked away slowly for effect.

I didn't counter her argument because I try to keep relations with other comics smooth. A part of me wanted to say, "Excuse me. How old are you?" When she responded, "23" (or whatever) I would have said, "then shut the fuck up." WHICH IS NOT TO SAY that I don't respect the opinions of people who are in their early twenties, but it is to say that no one is qualified to insist that they are right about a piece of advice in entertainment, let alone a 23 year old. A tiny crowd is pointless to me. Maybe it holds value to someone else. Great. We can all coexist.





And again... shut the fuck up.