If You In It For The Money.....You Might Wanna Reconsider....

Hey, let me tell you something many comedians will not tell you. If you are getting into stand up comedy for the money, then you might wanna rethink this thing. PERIOD!!!

Yes, the business of stand up comedy is a money maker, don't get me wrong. There are thousands of comedians that make thousands of dollars a year and you have never seen them on television or have heard of them. But, these are the comedians that have been in this game a long time. They have regular clubs that they play on a regular schedule. This is not always the case for comedians just coming in the game.

Very few comedians come into the game and start making money that they can use to support themselves, let alone a family. Just ask some of the guys that have been in the business awhile. I got a friend of mine that had Mike Epps sleeping on his couch for months before he made enough money to move on (not picking on Mike, he just came to mind). It take time to build a reputation, do a lot of shows and start getting booked on a regular.

I have met a few comedians that have went from working a regular job to be self supporting in less than 2 years in the game. It is not easy. People don't tell you this up front, but I will. "I don't care how funny you are....you can have the 3 magic words that will make whole audience pee on themselves and fall back in it....."Don't quit your day job, just yet!!!!" I am not trying to douse your dream I am just trying to tell you what nobody told me about the comedy game.

In most cases, you will spend more money in the first 1-2 years you are in the game running to open mics and doing guest spots, then you will make, before you start getting booked on a regular and making decent money for your craft. Don't give up. But this is real. Especially these days.

Right now the comedy game is saturated with what I call "Joke Tellers", these are people that are new to the game and have not developed who they are and what they want to do in the comedy game. They perform at open mics and get guest spots on shows. This is fine, this is where they need to be for at least a year, until they start to figure out who they are and what they want to do in this comedy game. They will spend a lot of money (if they are hungry) going to open mics, buying bar food and giving other comedians rides. They will also spend money on paper, pencils, tape recorders, video recorders, auto repairs, clothes, shoes and the list goes on and on, but they are still "joke teller". At the end of 6months to a year, they will look back and see how much money they have spent just working on the craft and how much they have actually made from show performances. I will bet you my favorite hat, that it does not add up, in most cases not even close. It takes time, in the real world.

If I had it to do all over again I would only change one thing. I would have saved more money before I jumped out here into this dog-eat-everything world of comedy.

You see my situation was different (and we all have a different story about how we got into this game). I have had the comedy bug all my life, but I never thought of if a serious means of income. When i first got into the game, I was only in it for a short period and got out because I got the wifetimatum....Give Up Comedy or Give Up The Family. So, I missed them terribly. Not really, just kidding. I gave up comedy and began a career. Well, years later, I found myself divorced (go figure), so I got back in the game. I quit a career as a successful insurance agent to pursue this thing, but only after my kids were grown and fending for themselves(I needed someone to borrow money from).

I quickly went through my savings running up and down the highway, doing open mics and guest spots and just knowing that I was gonna get discovered. Well, as funny as I thought I was, i was not funny enough for someone to take me under their wing and help me to the next level. My ace in the hole was, I had 2 of my own weekly shows in St Louis that helped me meet a lot of talent along the way. I then landed a job at the comedy club and worked my way up to management. This was a big help. This was like going to comedy college at Phoniex Online. I got a fast pace learning expereince from "A" list comedians of all geners of comedy. I got lucky. I was performing 4 or 5 nights a week with 2 shows on Friday and Saturday, plus my own stuff that i was booking. I hit the comedy warp accelerator of learning. Not only did I learn on stage, but I learned about the comedy business as a whole. This gave me a very different perspective of this comedy game and how the money is made.  (I have been in 5 years and no one has still not taken me under their wing, but I am further along then some comics that have been out here 10 years or better).

If you are an opener/host on a 3 man show, here is a way to get where you are at in the comedy game in perspective. Stick around after you get paid for the weekend of work. If you are lucky you will see what the feature is getting paid and what the headliner is getting paid for the weekend of work. You might vomit on yourself. But the beauty of it is, the headliner has been where you are now and they remember it well. It is like they got steak and you got Ramen Noodles and Spam scraps.  This is how the game goes.  Plainly, you do not have a name that will put asses in seats.  The people are not coming out to see you, yet.  Sure family and friends come to support, but they aren't supporting enough to warrant more pay.

The facts are, simple. You are going to spend a lot of money working this thing. Yet, you can't help it. It becomes a part of you, but you gotta pay to play this game.  It's like being a professional bull rider, yep you gotta put up some money to ride that thing in the rink that might kill you.  This game of comedy is the hardest thing that you will ever do in your life, but it can be one of the most rewarding things, next to raising kids that actually belong to you.  You will threaten to quit almost weekly, if you don't then you are doing something way wrong.

There will be shows that you will drive 600 miles round trip and make $50 for all your efforts. I tell new comedians and entertainers, that this thing is 90% business and 10% talent and the money cut is about the same, but it is worth it.

Back when I first started doing comedy. There was no money for the opener or the special guest spot. You got a drink and some chicken wings if you were lucky, yet, actually you were just glad to get the stage time. I came up with Lavell Crawford and Ced The Entertainer (Lavell remembers me, Ced, not so much I am sure), but I watched these guys destroy a room and walk out with only $50-$100 for their effort back then. Now they guys are getting $25,000 to $100,000 for their weekend. It is amazing and yes, it is something to aspire too.

A comedian name Greg Warren, gave me a piece of information that I will always remember.  He told me that "it will be 5-7 years in this game before you actually start to talk about what you want to talk about on that stage.  He was right, but that is another blog.  

I will say it again. If You In It For The Money.....You Might Wanna Reconsider.....I am not saying quit, I am saying that I hope you have a lot of patience, a good paying job or somebody that has your back financially, cause it about to get expensive.

Don't give up on your dream.....It belongs to you!

PEACE

Vernon E. Davis, II / Longhorn The Comedian

www.LonghornComedy.com