Getting Up One More Time

I have been a comedian for 20+ years working every dive in America from Maine to Florida, From Virginia to California and it finally hit me while working the comedy club in Madison, WI, “After 20-years in this business, I’m still working comedy clubs for a bunch of drunk 25-year-olds who think they know everything, they don’t even respect themselves, much less anyone else, the only laugh when I use a vulgarity, the shout out obscenities at me, they thump cigarettes at me; it’s like I’m up there for their amusement, not their entertainment.”

All this was going through my head as the MC was introducing me. I was headlining the room and as I walked towards the stage, everything it takes to be a successful comedian left me, my attitude, my willpower, my drive, my timing, my ambition, everything was gone. And it didn’t come back.

I had an awful set that night and because of it the club gave me a bad report. And because of the bad report, my agent, whom I had been loyal to for 20-years, dropped me like a hot potato. He sent me an e-mail that read, “My decision is final, don’t call or write back.” That’s it. No second try, nothing; so much for loyalty. Now I have no work.

I went home, got on the computer and started searching for other venues to do my act in and I came across Christian comedy. I though, “That’s an oxymoron. You can’t be a Christian and a comedian at the same time. Comedy is the anti-Christ of entertainment.” But I found out that it’s just clean comedy that the entire family can enjoy; parents, grandparent and children can sit together and laugh and not be offended.

So I wrote a clean act and started promoting it to churches. All I got back were rude letters from preachers who know nothing about Christian comedy.

So I tried corporate humor. And again, I got shot down by every agency I sent my promo to. That was three years ago. And still today I’m getting shot down every time I try. Every church is either sending me rude letters or not responding at all; every speaker agency I send material to decides not to use me for whatever reason. It’s getting to be rather depressing. But then I remembered what my daddy once told me, “It’s not how many times you fall that counts, it’s how many times you get up”.

Well, I’m getting up one more time and brushing myself off and hopefully, this time will be the right one.

I’m telling you this as a lesson and the lesson is; never give up. Your opportunity may just be the next time you get up. If you quit you will never know if you could’ve made it or not.

I truly believe that my break will come in due time, but if I give up trying it will never come. And I will never know if I could have made it or not.