A Whole Lot Of Nothing

Monday August 17th, 2009 - Lake Villa, IL

I did absolutely nothing today to make my quality of life improve one iota. Bupkus. Zip. Zero. Zilch. Nada. I didn’t even think about it. I had a good old fashioned day off to hang out and waste in any way I pleased. That doesn’t happen often so I enjoyed every minute.

There was no showcase at Zanies in Chicago tonight and Bill Gorgo had to report back to his regular teaching job to prepare for the school year so I canceled comedy class for a week so I could save the hassle of driving into the city. All signs pointed to taking a little time off to recharge the batteries so that’s what I chose. I’m glad I did. I needed a break.

I don’t have any shows booked for this week but that doesn’t mean I won’t be working. Just the opposite. I’ll be working extremely hard at catching up on everything I’ve let get away from me in the last few months and I’ll have all I can handle to make any progress.

A professional comedian wears many hats and the funny one isn’t always the one that’s needed. That’s always our favorite but there’s also the business side of it too. We need to get work and promote ourselves and make travel arrangements and pay taxes. We have to divide our time into segments so we can include it all, even the stuff that isn’t enjoyable.

That’s the hard part. Who the hell wants to sort tax receipts? It’s also no picnic to have to grovel to idiot club owners and bookers for work. Are they ALL idiots? Of course not, but a large percentage of them are, at least when it comes to comedy. They have no clue.

On the other hand, I am an idiot too when it comes to the business side of it. I’ve never had an interest in that and neither do most other comedians. I’ll admit I’m a moron when it comes to finding the best venues and that’s why comedians and bookers have the rocky relationship we do. We’re on different wavelengths and don’t have the same goals at all.

Most comedians either want to be great creative artists or avoid gainful employment by finding something to finance their perpetual party habit. Comedy is the perfect solution as it allows 23 hours of free time between actual work time to fill with any vices imaginable.

Those that are serious spend those 23 hours making their onstage craft better. They look for ways to improve their act but rarely if ever do they work at improving aspects of their off stage life like marketing themselves or learning how to operate a legitimate business.

Bookers and agents fill holes. Venues need entertainment and bookers fill those holes at what often times appears to be random. I still can’t figure out the logic of most bookers as to how they think when they put shows together so maybe I’ll have to change hats now.

None of that was for today though. Once in a while it’s refreshing to take a day and be a bum. I’ll get up tomorrow and start looking for ways to slay the dragon again but for now it feels good to relax and recharge. I already feel a lot less stressed than I did all last week so maybe I’ll pick right up where I left off and get back in a creative groove. I love those.