I started when i was 17. I got a good head start, skill-building wise, but I sometimes think I missed out on a lot of “Life” that I could be drawing from now. Try to go to college and get some knowlege. If you don’t do that, make a deliberate attempt to read a lot and educate yourself, so that you don’t just become a siv for American pop culture.
If you spend all your time on stage talking about the cover of People magazine, you won’t go far, you won’t last, and you’ll be bored before you get good. Take advantage of the head start you’re giving yourself by stopping as often as possible to live your life, explore America and grow as a person.
When you go to some shit town to do a one-nighte...
The first rule of improvisation is “agree” always agree and say “yes” … when you are improvising this means you are required to agree with whatever your partner has created … so if we’re improvising and I say “freeze I have a gun” and you say “that’s not a gun, it’s your finger” our improvised scene has ground to a halt … now in real life you are obviously not going to agree with everything everyone always says but the “rule of agreement” gets you to at least start from an open minded place … start with a “yes” and see where that takes you … as an improvisor I always find it jarring in real life when I meet someone who’s first answer is “no” …
I stopped blaming the world for my problems. You can only walk around so long being like, “Chicks, man. They’re psychos.” At some point you realize that you’re the common factor. I wasn’t exactly the easiest person to be around. I’m not the most sane person. But until you sit down and talk to somebody about your issues, they’re foreign to you. I realized I was pretty fucked-up.
No matter how bad things get, if you make yourself say "thank you for everything just as it is" it makes it better- even if just from making you laugh from the irony
Don't be afraid of life the way I was. Get married, start a family, you'll be fine. I waited way too long to do it and I have a lot of regret about that. It'll be the best thing you ever do.
If you want to do stand up, just do it.
Broad City is fun and I'm excited for the second season.
Eric Andre is weird and talented and the show is insane and not for everyone .
Chozen is one of the easiest jobs that I have in my life.
I developed my delivery through trial and error and performing over and over.
I will destroy you in NBA 2k14
All is Lost Starring Robert Redford is not a good movie
Good comedians to check out Lil B, Don Rickles Michael Che, Jerrod Carmichael, Sean Patton, W. Kamau Bell, Bridget Everett, Nick Vatterott, Jon Laster, Kara Klenk
To all of you that didn't have a question and just wanted to say something nice, thank you.
The best advice I ever got was from Rodney Dangerfield, who when I asked him a question about something in comedy, just looked at me for a second and then went, "You'll figure it out."
That's why I wrote to you, not to tell you to change anything about the way you do things, but just to tell you to take it easy. Nothing you do matters as much as you think. Your greatest achievements aren't yours at all, they're accidents and jokes. You're a puppet, the universe does the work, and it gets the most done when you're moving the least. Surrender, flow, relax. Don't be hard on yourself, don't put pressure on yourself, life is just a chain of experiments and results, and you'll be perfect when you're dead.
[Are you a healthy comedian? - Louis asked this question to those in the "Alt Standup Comedy Google Group"]
I know a lot of you out there have a diet that consists of Hardees and Taco Bell with the occasional frozen buffalo wings heated up in the condo microwave, and that your exercize regimen… doesn’t exist. Personally, one of the reasons I chose standup as a life is because it allowed me to lie on a floor for several hours eating lard and crying, only having to pull myself together for an hour a day or so. But if you want to have any longevity as a comedian, or if you want your brain and body to provide you with any consistent creative flow, you have to eat somewhat right and do some ex...
My advice is work hard to accomplish your goals, stay humble and try to empathize with people who hurt you. Because you will be hurt by friends, family, partners and it will feel very intense because you're young. Think about how awful high school was and how it felt as though it would never end and you never even think about it now - I think our twenties will be like that too.
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1 get on stage as much as you can 2 do the comedy that would make YOU laugh 3 ask yourself WHEN would i laugh if i was listening to myself? if the answer is "i don't know" then neither will the audience 4 hang with people who don't tear you down or break your spirit 5 listen to the greats, let them influence you, then shed them when you find your voice 6 don't be a dick!
I got started in comedy writing because i would write serious things and people laughed. My advice is growing up exactly like me with my brain and body.
I do have advice. Fill a page every day with notes on possible sketches. Don't write 'em up yet...just make notes and try to expand on them. Then, the next day, look back at your notes and take a run at one of the sketch ideas. That distance can help, and too often young writers just dive in to writing a sketch (or feature, or spec tv show, etc) without first picking their best idea or taking the time to find the best angle in.
You will probably be copying something you think is cool. At first, I was just trying to be loud. My early stand-up was stupid and goofy and loud. A little immature. At 21, you think you know a lot of things. At 25, you think you know a lot of things. At 46, you think you know a lot of things. Turns out, you never know anything.
getting paid does NOT make you any better at standup, trust me. i wish it did. it's all about getting as much stage time as possible. it took me 2 years - my first gig, i got paid $20 and i drove 8 hours to do it. worth it.
advice: get onstage, however possible. there are no shortcuts. you need to put in the time.
some things don't change. You need to get on stage as much as possible and vary your stage experience as much as possible and not quit and take care of yourself and always question why you say the things you say and enjoy yourself. The context of history and technology just is what it is.
you gotta deal with like a decade worth of bullshit before you start seeing the fruits of your labor. Just avoid negative people and keep writing and perfecting your set. Throw out jokes that don't work. Keep the ones that do work.
Louis CK