Welcome back to The Weekly Joke, the newsletter where your votes matter like hanging chads in Florida!
In this episode:
What makes comedians successful? Is it timing, charisma, fear of real jobs?
Theeee Weekly Joke - let’s go!
Bad Boys - watcha gonna do?
Marlon Wayans talks son’s transition
Matt Rife takes a break
This Comic of the Week has ties to Bachelor Nation - Juggling jokes and roses!
What makes comedians successful?
Photo courtesy: Me, bitch. No, seriously, someone I don’t know took it at The Parachute Show, a backyard gig in Los Angeles.
Since diving into comedy, I’ve pondered: Are naturally funny people (the class clowns), clever writers, or dry humorists the best for comedy?
Well, listen up, class! You don’t have to be naturally funny to succeed in comedy. There will be a quiz later. Here’s what I’ve learned as a young whippersnapper comic:
Perform regularly
Aim for weekly (if not daily) shows. Now stop honing your shot on Call of Duty and start honing your comedy skills and hit some open mics.Write daily
Jerry Seinfeld is attributed the “don’t break the chain” productivity hack - do something everyday when working to succeed at something. He would write jokes for five hours a day. Guess I’ll need to cut down on naps and snack breaks.Take a course
Jumping on stage cold turkey is tough. Many comics, like Anjelah Johnson-Reyes and Fortune Feimster, started with classes.Leverage social media
Aren’t you proud of my fancy word, “leverage”? Andrew Schulz turned to YouTube when big comedy outlets ignored him, and now he’s one of the biggest names in comedy.
Welcome back to The Weekly Joke, where I drag you into my wild world as a comic. You get to vote on which jokes I bring to the stage and absolutely slay (or, you know, bomb spectacularly).
1. The Weekly Joke
Two weeks in a row, the Harrison Butker joke lost, so I'm pulling it from the lineup. This week, you get two new jokes to vote on! But first, an update on last week's winner: Growing up Catholic was interesting… I was an altar boy...
I didn't fully form last week’s winning joke, but I did write something and perform it. The reaction was modest—just one or two laughs. But hey, it was a bar gig with only 13 people, so that's not too bad. The comedy world is weird like that. One night you're in a swanky comedy club, the next you're in a bar with bad acoustics, eight people, and three of them glued to their phones 😂. Any who, here’s the audio:
On to this week’s mayhem!
Joke A: Technology has normalized creepy sh*t…
Joke B: The music industry is so toxic…
Where do you imagine these jokes will lead? Reply to this email and let me know!
2. Word on the Street
The Bad Boys are back
Will Smith and Martin Lawrence are back for Bad Boys: Ride or Die, the fourth installment in the series. We all know they should’ve named it Bad Boys 4 Life, but they owned up to the mix-up—and my comment on their Instagram post went viral 😂.
I got to chat with them about the movie for Cinemark. Super cool life moment! I’ll share the video when it goes live.
Marlon Wayans discusses son’s gender transition in new comedy special
Marlon Wayans said he talks about it but now how you would think. “Not their transition, but my transition as a parent, going from ignorance and denial to complete unconditional love and acceptance. And I think there's a lot of parents out there that need to have that message. And I'm dealing with it. It was a very painful situation for me.”
That’s a wise man right there.
Matt Rife canceled two comedy shows hours before performing
I just saw Matt a few weeks ago at the Netflix is a Joke comedy special at the Hollywood Bowl. Mans needs to slow down, doing 40+ shows a month is wild, even for a 28-year-old!
3. Comic of the Week
This comic has ties to Bachelor Nation for all of my reality TV fam out there. She was given the “final rose” as she said during her show on Saturday by former Bachelorette Gabby Windey.
(Cue the dramatic announcer voice) And now, drum roll please...the Comic of the Week is Robby Hoffman!
I saw her set at the Desert Ridge Improv (Phoenix area) and she crushed it FOR AN HOUR. She also crushed men during her set 😅
4. Career update
It’s been quite the journey since I started stand-up comedy nine months ago! I’ve performed in bowling alleys, coffee shops, bars, and yes, comedy clubs too 😜. Recently, I even opened for a comic, which I mentioned a couple of issues ago.
I went from performing once or twice a month to now at least twice a week. I’m loving it…and coming up, I’ll be performing at a House of Blues venue (Anaheim) for the very first time! My career is going strong, and I’m only going to start performing more and more each week.
