February 2010
You are browsing the archive for February 2010.
Familiarity Breeds Contempt (from me)
You guys remember this? How about this? Oregon Trail? Original Nintendo? That cartoon about the turtles? That one commercial? Familiarity can be a powerful smokescreen in comedy. You reference something from your childhood, the crowd starts laughing in recognition. But when you step offstage, the crowd doesn’t think “That guy was hilarious!” They think “I [...]
The First Law of Stand-up Comedy
I learned about the First Law of Stand-up Comedy before I even wrote my first joke. Patton Oswalt, no doubt reciting from memory for the thousandth time, told an interviewer that the best way to become a comedian was to get on stage. Just do it. Over and over. Et cetera, et cetera. Since reading [...]
How you folks doing tonight?
Hi there everyone, and welcome to my new website. So just what kind of site is this, exactly? The Long Drive Home is my best attempt to distill my experiences as an aspiring comedian into a series of essays about comedy and the creative process. I want this site to be more than a bunch [...]
