Too Far For Too Little

Wednesday December 16th, 2009 - Gaylord, MI

It is flat out major league COLD up here. Some of the locals were telling me that this is not only the coldest place in the state, they get the most snow too. Great! My little Toyota just barely turned over and I haven’t seen another one since I’ve been up here. Everybody drives big American four wheel drive gas sucking tuna boats, but I can totally see why.

I should be used to bookings like this by now. My whole life has consisted of having to be in places like Duluth in December and Austin in August. It’s always the very worst of conditions, but that’s when the work is available. Now, I’m starting to get a little picky.

These kinds of gigs just aren’t profitable at this point in my life. I came up here to visit my friend Tim, and I’m glad I did. He’s always worth the drive, and I’m glad to have gas money for the trip, but as far as career planning goes it’s time to totally reinvent myself.

Tom Dreesen was talking about it at lunch on Saturday. He said he still loves the shows but absolutely hates getting there. We all related to him and thinking about my drive back tomorrow makes me shudder. It’s going to be long and boring and I hope it doesn’t snow.

Now it’s a matter of evolution. I’ve got a few things going locally in my ‘squared circle of Uranus’ which includes Chicago, Milwaukee, Madison, WI and Rockford, IL. That’s a very nice cross section of America and I think I can pull down a living working mostly in that particular region. There are millions of people within an hour from me. Why travel?

This is a theory I’ve had for a while, but now it’s time to make it a reality. I don’t want to be spending my golden years in a car driving to do shows in Gaylord, MI for 40 people who have no idea who I am and don’t care. I need to pick a region and build a client base.

Of course I’d love to be in L.A. or Las Vegas but I think my ship has sailed as far as the warm weather places go. I can still do gigs there, but moving there and claiming it as my own doesn’t seem attainable right now. It would take too long to get myself established.

I’m already entrenched where I am now, and I like it there. Chicago is a great place and I’m one of the top standups in town, even though improv is king. Milwaukee is my home town, and I really think this one man play can build a following. I’m going to focus on it at least for 2010 and see if my feeling is correct. If it is, I’ll have more reason to stay put.

Madison, WI and Rockford, IL are close enough to garner attention. There isn’t all that much going on comedy wise in either town, but they’re populated and could be very good sources of corporate type work if I make myself known. I know media types in both of the towns and it would be wise to hook up with their convention and visitors bureaus as well.

Working hard is not as important as working smart. I’ve been all over the place over the years and maybe if I’m lucky I’ll put ONE year together when I do everything right. 2010 could just be that year. Or not. Maybe I’ll screw up even bigger, but at least I have a plan.