10 Good Things: Letterman, First Take, Roger Federer, and more
Plus: Jerrod Carmichael on why many comedians struggle and a Seinfeld favorite.
💥 Jerrod Carmichael on why many comedians struggle:
They focus on the wrong things. There are a lot of aspiring comedians, for example, who aren’t funny or don’t have stage presence, but they have excellent websites. They have excellent websites and the shiniest business cards and their head shots are impeccable. And who gives a fuck about those things. You know what I mean? They focus on the wrong things. [Comics who succeed] focus on the work. I think that’s all it is: they focus on the work. On the content. On creating something of substance.
💥 Jerry Seinfeld said this is one of his favorite jokes:
A gardener was out tending to his beautiful, magnificent, thriving garden when another man walked by and stopped to admire it. “Boy,” the man said, marveling at the blooming flowers and the perfect rows of crops, “some of God’s best work, huh?” The gardener set down his tools, wiped his hands, looked up, smiled, and replied, “You should have seen it when he was in charge of it.”
💥 “On quitting stand-up” by Michael Ian Black.
There’s a reason so many stand-ups get less funny as they age – they grow content. They made their money, had their families. They’re not running as hard as they once did and it shows up in the work. It’s the difference between Sylvester Stallone and Mr. T in Rocky III. Sad to report, in this analogy I’m Rocky.
💥 Stavros Halkias on trends:
Whenever you’re dictated by trends, you’re unimaginative, and you’re just going to keep doing the same bullshit over and over again. I don’t even care if you have a funny transphobic joke. Truly, I don’t. One of my favorite specials of all time is Patrice O’Neal’s Elephant in the Room. There is a lot of misogynistic stuff on that special, but it’s hilarious, and that’s what a real comic can do: make me disagree with you. If I fundamentally disagree with you, but I am laughing at your perspective, you are an incredible comedian.
💥 Laurie Kilmartin on entertaining strangers.
My hot comedy take- you need to spend years entertaining *strangers*. It teaches you how to reach all kinds of people, and they in turn, with their laughter, tell you what’s funny about you. If your early years are just performing for an audience already knows you (you’re famous, huge on Tiktok), you are missing those years that (painfully) reveal what makes you funny. So you end up copying other comedians instead.
