I thought about deleting all of those old posts from the election. It occurred to me, because my website is evolving. With the work I’m currently engaged in on behalf of Ccilu USA, its partnership with Soles4Souls, the YES, BRAND Podcast and my other creative pursuits, I’m doing more writing and less standup comedy. Political satire is certainly evident in my Twitter feed. But I’m trying to make this site a more balanced hub for all of my interests and pursuits.
However, deleting articles just because they’re dated is silly. Some of the articles offer insight into where we were 6 months ago, or more. They aren’t really dated – I just wish they were.
But it’s time for a new post.
Having been heavily engaged in social media these past few months – more so on my clients’ behalf than for myself – I need a break from hash-tagging, tagging, and the game of tag in general.
This isn’t a backlash post, though. It’s a breather post. I love my work, and for the past few years, in fact, I’ve been loving what I do. This newfound happiness was hard won, because in order to find my way I had to take a leap into the unknown. For me, it was a leap into comedy. 2013 marked the fulfillment of a foray into standup comedy that began in 1991, when I did my first-ever set, at the Comic Strip. That night, the late talent manager and booker Lucien Hold had agreed to give me five minutes late into the night. As I was about to step onstage, Eddie Murphy dropped in. The Strip was Eddie’s home club, and Lucien told me, “You can follow Eddie.”
There are several ways one could interpret that statement. Lucien meant it literally. I did indeed follow Eddie, and I can say that for those five minutes no one was tweeting about Eddie having just dropped in, no one was posting to Instagram. Twitter and Instagram didn’t exist. Literally. No one really listened to me, either, because for all practical purposes, I didn’t exist. I did a couple of impressions/bits involving Mickey Rourke and Jerry Lewis. The impressions were fine, the writing wasn’t there yet. Shortly thereafter, I returned, with better writing and a character named Sonny Swing. I was off to a pretty solid start in standup in NY, performing at the Strip, Comedy Cellar, Broadway Comedy Club, Caroline’s, and Standup NY…
What happened after that is a long story, or a short one, depending on one’s economy with words.
Suffice it to day that all those years later, in 2013, I had the opportunity to return to standup. And it inspired me to find ways to combine lessons old and new, in new pursuits in my native worlds of advertising and entertainment, employing humor and pathos in the service of storytelling.
Here’s to the #newpost, and whatever the #future holds.
By the way, the featured image from this post (me in Amsterdam) is several years old. But I like it. And not everything that’s old should be deleted.