2014

Since there are never too many posts about New Year's Day about people's resolutions on social media, and because I know you are just dying to hear mine, I thought I'd throw this post together. You are welcome.

I introduced myself to 2014 by performing at Latitude 30 in Jacksonville, FL. I did a 30-minute set as a feature for my friend and headliner of the evening, Jersey. It wasn't technically supposed to be 30 minutes, but I was on a roll, everyone was having a great time, and Jersey had more time to comb his chinstrap.

I had a good time and got to talk about comedy and whatnot with some new acquaintances, all the while wishing I was home and already in bed (because I am so cool, a new year can wait until morning to see me). So it was a great night, needless to say.

Copraphilia

What a shitty, shitty few years Hollywood has been having. Billions of dollars in revenue from movies that appeal to 15-year-old boys high on energy drinks and lacrosse rapes have effectively drained all of the blood from intelligent storytelling by rendering it impotent, with very few exceptions notwithstanding. Don't believe me?  Here's a list of things I just pulled off the top of my head.

• Johnny Depp has played the same character six times now (Jack Sparrow x4, Tonto, Mad Hatter). 
• Arnold Schwarzenegger looks like my grandfather and the world hates him now.  
• The Expendables is a profitable franchise. 
• Twilight and Hunger Games are blatantly redundant.
• Sequels and remakes that beat their own concepts to death consistently still dominate at the box office, despite their quality.

I'll address those points specifically, as well as rant about how goddamn horrible we are as a species. 

The Lowly Comedian

During the long drives on a recent comedy mini-tour, I had a lot of spare time to reflect on what I think it is to be a comedian. Generally speaking, of course.

When I started doing comedy, it was right after my son was born almost three years ago. I was in my sophomore year of college. I was working a full-time job in medicine. I had no time to spare, yet a critical need for release or risked dying of a stress-induced aneurysm. And by that, I mean a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Forgotten Butt-Wipes: My First Comedy Tour

I was recently invited to go on tour as a featured comedian for my friend Jersey, the headliner for the tour. I was completely stoked to do this because, in my head, it legitimized me as a performing comedian. I have worked for a few years on honing my material from the wildly disorganized, wordy, humorless malignancy that it was, cutting away at it over time. Eventually, it became the wildly disorganized, wordy, somewhat-funny malignancy that it is today that makes some people laugh.