Well it's been a long time since I have updated my blog, so I decided well....good time to update it with my first year in Hollywood. I'm also writing this in hopes that whoever reads this will be inspired to do what it is that they love.
Just a quick recap, I grew up in Billings,MT then moved to Seattle,WA right after college. Spent 5 years in Seattle working on my comedy as well as myself. On Sept. 11th 2009 I packed my bags and moved to Hollywood in pursue of my dreams.......pretty much one year later......this is what happened........
Since the 3rd grade I've always had the dream about moving to Hollywood and becoming a star. Eddie Murphy, Jim Carey, Adam Sandler and Chris Farley were big influences for my career. I always loved making people laugh, it was my thing, my God given talent. I always knew how to make people laugh and I love it. Making strangers laugh is great because you never know what that person is going through and to make them laugh and smile and forget about the bull crap is really rewarding. Taking it to the stage was the biggest thing and always a dream of mine and to do it on TV, that was my only goal when I first started comedy is just to be able to perform on TV so I knew that one day I'd have to move to Hollywood to do it.
I've been stand-up comedy for really about 7 years, I started doing it while attending Rocky Mountain College in Billings,MT. There wasn't a whole lot of opportunities to do stand in Billings, so me and a 3 other guys (Chad Korb, Dan Paul Shafer and Brad Porter) would put on our own stand up shows at a local bar. It was fun and we always had a good crowd but not enough stage time. So I moved to Seattle worked hard at comedy for 5 years and built a great following and met some really people which alot of I consider close friends.
Making the decision to move to L.A was hard at first, because I had went from some Montana kid who didnt know a lot of people when I moved to Seattle, to having a lot of supporters and going out and having people recognize me from my comedy. It was a great feeling, I was performing almost 8-10 times a week and performing on some really awesome shows. I was comfortable with my surroundings and to leave all of that and start over was scary. So to over come my fear of moving I had to do something that scared me also...which is singing karaoke. I suck at singing and it scared to shit out of me to sing in front of people. So I did it...the first song I sang was Nsync's "It's tearin up my heart." I know lame but I like me some Justin Timberlake. On top of that I had people or other comics saying I should wait or that I can do the same things in Seattle then I could in L.A...or the best was, "you should wait til Hollywood wants you, not you wanting Hollywood. I've been asked twice to go to Hollywood and I still turn them down." says some douchy guy who is old but wants to be cool. So pretty much just people trying to scare me before I move down to L.A.
September 2009:
On September 11th 2009 I arrive to L.A not having a clue what the heck im gonna do...but I did know one thing....I wanted to comedy and I wanted to do it on tv and I wanted to perform at the Top Clubs in L.A which are The Comedy Store, Hollywood Improv and the Laugh Factory. I didn't know how I was gonna do it but I knew I wanted to do it.
I didn't even have a place to live when I first moved to Hollywood, lol, I spent two weeks sleeping on a friend's couch who I knew from College...(Thanks Tan-man!) Looking for a place in Hollywood is a mad headache and expensive. Lucky I ran into some dudes that I kind of knew because I did comedy with their brother in Seattle and they happen to be looking for a place in Hollywood at the same time. So me and the brothers Clark found a place in the middle of Hollywood after looking at probably close to 20 different places. Some really cool guys, they come to alot of my shows in L.A and I really appreciate them for that, plus they tell me how good of a cook I am.
So now I have found a place now it was time to figure out how I'm gonna get stage time. When I moved to L.A I knew about maybe 5-9 people. 2 booked a show, the other 3 were comedians I knew from Seattle and a friend/old coworker and Tan Man and some peeps from Billings,MT. My first show was booked through I guy I met a year before when I was doing a show in L.A. A very nice guy, his name was Matt Spivey. He booked for a show at this place called the "M-Bar," a cool little place. It was probably my second weekend in Hollywood so I was pretty stoked, and that night two dudes who are comedy managers and do shit with MTV came out just to watch me because their boss had seen me before in Seattle and they wanted to come see what I was all about.
So its my first show in Hollywood and I pull up to the venue and right away I see movie stars, Jona Hill (Super bad, Get him to the Greek) and John C. Reily (Step Brothers, Talladega Nights) were there checking out the show before, so I was on cloud nine. Then I met the two guys who were there to see me and they were all excited and said they heard alot of good things and blah blah blah. It was a packed room, the audience was laughing hard at the comedians before me so I knew they were hot and ready to go. Now its my turn to hit the stage and ......BAM....I totally eat shit on stage. I was struggling to make people laugh, they were just giggling and so I got more nervous and was rushing my words and I just totally tanked it. I did so bad that the two guys who came to see me didnt say good job they just said, "hey it was nice to meet ya and good luck with everything."
I was kind of down on myself no lie, but I also knew it wasn't the end of the world so...on to the next one. I knew that the places to perform were not an easy cookie to crack and I also knew I had no idea of how to "get in good" with the clubs but I also knew that I'm an easy guy to get along with and I'm good at talking to people I don't know. Matt S, was cool enough to make a couple phones to some people who book shows at the comedy clubs and my first comedy club booking was at The Ice House Comedy Club in Pasadena, CA on Nov. 7th.....we are still in Sept lol so I was like "man, this sucks, I have to book stuff way out in advance. and whatthe heck am I going to do between now and then?"
I have a friend I knew from New York named Maria Shehata who I had met when I did the New York Underground Comedy Festival a couple years back. She had booked a sunday night show at this place called "The Hyperion Tavern," a small little place with about maybe 10-15 people there and half were comics, but none the less I was grateful for Maria to put me on stage and do some time.
When I was in Seattle I spent a lot of time hanging out at Comedy Clubs especially Giggles Comedy Club which is my home club and will always be even though it is now closed. Terry Taylor the owner of Giggles was the first club owner to give me a chance and go on stage. Even though people didnt like him and he liked to tell me I was gay a lot, he was a great guy and he helped me out a lot so I definitely give him thanks for giving me opportunities to grow as a comedian on stage. Hollywood is a different beast, there are so many comedians trying to "make it" that hanging out at the comedy club doesn't mean you get stage time like you do in Seattle. However I learned this.........if I want to perform at a place, why not hang out at that place and get to know people, because just you are not being buddies with the club MGR's and owners, at least I'm there with other comics and I get to see comics who I look up to.
October 2009:
After a few weeks of hanging out at the Hollywood Improv, I stop in on a regular tuesday night and guess who I see?.......my favorite comedian Dave Chapelle....man I was losing my frickin mind, I still kind of get star struck and at this point I was very star struck. I just got done watching his set and everyone was leaving the show room and Dave was sitting by the exit, so cleared my throat and walked up to him and said, " Dave, I know you probably hear this alot but you are like one of my heros and I wanna be your best friend." he looks at me and says, "hey thanks man, have a seat....and do you got anymore of that good smelling gum?" Man I was so excited I couldn't even talk, then Chris Tucker walks in the room and now its me, Chris, Dave and maybe about 8 other comedians just sitting in the showroom and all I could do was just smile and nod my head because I was still speechless. Dude being in Hollywood not even a month and I get to see one of my all time idols....shhh...I was happy.
(Sidenote- one night Maria and my good friend John Sanders were driving to an open mic and we were blasting Miley Cyrus's "Party in the U.S.A" so for the first 4 months thats all I listened to because it fit me so well)
Around late October, I still was struggling to get on stage but getting a spot here or there like if I performed once a week for two straight weeks, I considered that a busy two weeks. Anyways, one day I stop by a comedian friend of mine and we were just shooting the shit and he starts talking about this thing called "Stand-Up Bootcamp" which was thought be a Comedian named Kyle Cease. My comedian friend were kind of poking fun of it and saying its a rip off and what not. I kind of knew Kyle because he is a Seattle guy and he also filmed a Comedy Central Presents and also an hour special. So they show me the website and stuff and they were ragging on it a little so just kind of over looked it and didnt care. So that same evening I head down to the Hollywood Improv to watch Comedy Juice, (Comedy Juice is one of the best comedy shows in the country. it's every weds at the Hollywood Improv and the line ups are crazy, from Ron WHite, Bill Burr, Daniel Tosh, Dane Cook...like all on the same show, its an awesome show)
So I'm at comedy juice and in comes walking in is Kyle Cease who was performing that night and I just thought how weird it was because we were just talking to about him and his bootcamp earlier that day. My buddy John says hi to Kyle and introduces us telling him that I'm a comedian from Seattle. Kyle was very nice and we just started chatting, he brings up that he is doing the bootcamp thing next week and he explains to me what it is all about and tells me I should come do it. Keep in mind it costed at the time $1,000 to do and I didn't have a lot of money.
After Kyle and I had spoke I started thinking to myself that things always happen for a reason, but the problem was that I could either take the workshop and not exactly know what is gonna come from it and at the same time have some friends make fun of me....or I can just not take it and everyone will be happy.....so I went with my gut feeling and I decided to take the Stand-up Bootcamp. The Bootcamp was a 5 day event, and a great experience. Kyle is a great motivator when he speaks and not just talking about how to be funny but talking about getting in the right mind set of things, like not stressing before a show, being positive and shit, ya know healthy mental staff like Tony Robins. Then he would bring in National Headliners to talk to us about techniques, how they started, the do's and donts of comedy. One of them was comedian Louie Anderson, he gave real awesome speech, he didn't sugar coat anything and was very real, and very real guy he is.
I learned a lot at bootcamp, things that not every comic will tell you and things that every comic should say. I met some connections through bootcamp that really helped me in my first year. I also understood that even though I learned some things, I have to put it into action if I want to make this thing work. So off to the races........
One thing I learned, well I've always kind of knew it but just helps when someone breaks it down fo ya, is that if you help people without excepting anything in return......you will always go further in life. This made me think and figure out how can I help people.
November 2009:
So, around mid-November, I get a call from Auggie Smith, Auggie is a Billings, MT Native who moved out of Billings and also became a comedian. I kind of look up to Auggie because he was a Billings guy like me and went out to pursue his career in stand-up comedy. He travels all over the country making people laugh and he has been on Comedy Central and a bunch of other stuff. Anyways he calls me up and asks me to open up for him back in Billings,MT. This couldn't have came at better time. I was struggling for money and needed to pay rent, living off the bare essentials so this helped alot.
After the one of the shows I was talking to local people and one guy mentions to me that he would like to do stand-up comedy but there is no place for people to try to be a stand-up. It made me think to back in the days when I lived in Billings and it was hard to do stand-up and BOOM...it hit me.....this could be my opportunity to help people. So I told myself I was gonna find a venue and start an open mic for stand-up comedy in Billings,MT.
For Thanksgiving I decided to go to Seattle because my parents were flying up there and also because I was seeing someone in Seattle so I decided to spend two weeks up there. Since I was up there I figured to do a bunch of shows at the comedy clubs. In the books I had booked a one night at laughs in Kirkland where I would headline and make some good money and then also I would perform at Giggles Comedy Club my home club.
When I arrived at Giggles comics and other people were giving my shit for doing the bootcamp, which is fine, I mean everyone has their own opinions and even though they don't really know what its all about I just brushed it off. One night I was at Giggles and the owner was giving me shit about headlining at the other club and we were going back about this and that and then I finally got pissed off and yelled at Terry and told him to go fuck himself and left the club. I knew that the wasn't a good way about going about things but I was mad, I don't get mad often but when I do I blow up son! In the end I still felt bad about how it went down at least I had sex that night so that was a bonus...just sayin
December 2009:
I'm starting to meet more people in the comedy scene in L.A, getting up on stage at The Comedy Store which was nice, My good friend John Sanders who I knew from the comedy scene in Seattle lives in L.A and produces a show at the Hollywood Improv once a month on a Saturday. He was cool enough to book for a show in January at The Hollywood Improv. I was so stoked because I have spent months at that club and would always visualize myself on that stage. I woud see so many big name acts on that stage and I wanted to be up there with them.
One day I get a call from Louie Anderson, which was kind of crazy, he gave a really good speech at bootcamp and I loved his work on his cartoons and his HBO specials. Anywhos he calls me to let me know he is now apart of Stand-Up Bootcamp w/ Kyle Cease. He called to introduce himself whatnot because I was helping Kyle with bootcamp stuff, like answering phone calls from people interested in bootcamp and doing just little work for them because I like helping. Louie Anderson is such a nice guy, he asked me if I needed help with anything because the work I was doing for Kyle was free..(it was my decision to work for free because I was gonna get help with getting on stage and to me getting on stage is worth the money in my account.) so I just said I needed help getting on stage so Louie said he was gonna see what he could do to help me.
I tell ya one thing, I realized one thing, I'm so focused on comedy that I don't go out clubbing that much anymore. I go out and drink and get wasted but going to clubs was and is not on my top list. I mean I do a little bit but not a whole lot. My theory is that if I bust my ass for the next few years, I'll be able to go out all the time and party with the finest, but for now I'll party here and there. Same thing with women, I mean as much as I would like to have a GF and share things with doing my journey its just not on my to-do list....I mean there are some I would like "to-do" but its not my focus, its not what drives me, what drives me is my family, my parents who risked their lives so I could have a better one, for my friends who believed in me from the very beginning and supported from thick and thin, for my fans who love coming out and watching shows and supporting, and to my Asian brothas, I know it sounds cheesy but I'm trying to just rock this thing so me and my Asian Brothas become a hot item in this country. And to all the ones that said I couldn't do it, that drives me, the ones who doubt me and think that just because there are alot of comedians out there and that I'm just another one...pttt, yes there are a lot of comedians out there but not of all of them are working as hard as me, when they walk up at noon I'll already be up for 4 hours making phones, sending emails, working on stuff to help me get to the next level. I came to Hollywood without an invitation but I plan to stay at the party and let everyone know I'm here to blow shit up.
So back to December, I call my close friend Wayne Wilcox, I told him I had an idea, I shared with him my interest in starting a stand-up comedy scene in Billings,MT, and asked if he would like to help me with it. At first he was like, "comedy in Billings?" but being a great friend he is, he said he had my back. So we started brainstorming on venues that would be good for stand-up comedy. There were some places I've done comedy before so he hit those places up first but none of them were really hip to the idea and didn't think having a local comedy scene would worth it.
Then I made a call to a friend from highschool and a big supporter of my comedy, her name is Rachel Dehler (Johnson now). I made her laugh so hard one time she actually pee'd her pants no joke. Her father is this big casino mogul in Montana, he owns a bunch of casinos and sponsors the local minor league baseball field called Dehler Park. Anyways he has this venue just west of Billings called Asian Nites, I know very ironic, but I had performed there before so I thought I'd call Rachel and let her know about my vision in bringing comedy to Billings and creating a stand-up comedy scene. She totally loved the idea and made a phone call to her father and in less the 6 hours I received a phone call from Jon and we planned to meet in Billings over Christmas break.
Late December Wayne and I met Jon at a Mongolian Grill. When you see Jon he looks like a big teddy bear, a very humble guy and nice as hell. We sat down and I shared my vision with him and without any hesitation he was down. We were so excited we started planning and decided to launch our first open mic on Feb 3rd 2010 at Asian Nites.
What a great way to end the 2009 year, at this point I really felt like great things were to come in the 2010 year and boy was I right.......to be continued.........
