Happy New Year!

It's the last day of 2008 and I can't but help being thankful for an incredible 2008 and excited for even more incredible 2009!

One final comedy story for 2008: On Monday, I was scheduled for a bunch of shows at HA! Comedy Club in NYC.  I've performed at HA! many times before and always look at the headshots on the wall when I go down the stairs towards the two showrooms.  However, on this particular day, I was in such a rush to get down to the showrooms that I didn't even check the wall.  I started to notice before each of my shows as I waited in the back to be introduced that some of the members of the audience kept looking back at me, like they recognized me from somewhere.  However, I didn't recognize them, so I didn't know where they knew me from.  On the way up the stairs to make a phone call between Show 2 and Show 3, I saw my headshot on the wall and everything made sense!

My headshot is now on the wall of a real NYC comedy club and I can't thank HA! enough for the honor!

Comedy Lessons + Thank You

I've spent every day since graduating from Harvard working on my comedy, whether it be performing on a show (over 150 between July and now), co-producing and booking two shows in Times Square, writing material, working on shows like TMIWeekly.com and ModMyLife.com, and updating things like this blog and my Twitter, and I have to say that these five and a half months have been incredible.  I can honestly say that I wake up every single day thankful to be doing what I love and what I am deeply passionate as my career.

Because I've had such supportive friends in comedy, I received many important lessons about the industry from veterans before I even went pro.  Here are several of the lessons that, having now experienced the industry from the perspective of a professional, I have found are so true and so important:

* Be positive and optimistic.  In a business like comedy, it can be very hard, but it's invaluable not only in terms of your own productivity but in how others interact with you.

* Stay true to yourself.  It's very easy to get lost in this business, which is why you must always stay truth to your ideals and the things you value most.

* Treat your stage time like gold.  When you're on stage every night, sometimes two, three, or even five times a night, there's the danger you begin to hold stage time as valuably as you once did when you only went on stage a couple of times each month or even each week.  By making sure that you ALWAYS make the BEST use of my stage time - regardless of how many times you've gone up that week, regardless of how you've been feeling or how tired you am - you ensure that you develop and grow as much as possible as an artist.

* You should LOVE your audience, regardless of anything - their size, their behavior, etc.  They're the reason you get to do the job you do, so be thankful for them!

* Sometimes hanging out with the comics after the show is as important as doing the show itself.

* Write, write, write.

I'm finally moving into a new apartment in New York City this Thursday, which I hope will enable me to do even more comedy.

Thank you to everyone who reads this blog and to everyone who has supported me and live comedy!

Here's to big things in 2009!