Part 2:
I hope that you read part 1 and is still someone what interested. So where was I?........
Oh yeah, we start off in 2010.....
January 2010:
So after having a good Christmas with my family back in Montana and having a good meeting with Jon Dehler, I head back to Hollywood. January 9th was my first night performing at the Hollywood Improv, I'd have to say I was pretty excited. I had only been living in Hollywood for only 4 months and I spent so much time sitting and watching other comics perform there, I'd have to say at this point, this performance was the biggest one so far since living in Hollywood.
I remember that night so well, I can even recall what I was wearing.....purple plaid tie with a black button up and true religion jeans lol. The show was great, I had a fun time on stage and being on that stage....was great, I felt comfortable right away.
That night I got to know another comedian named Matthew Taylor. I have met Matthew Taylor before through some friends but never got a chance to work with him or anything like that. He had moved to L.A from New York maybe about 6 months before I had. He told me he like my performance and invited me to do some of his shows that he books at the Comedy Store Mainroom and at the Ha Ha Cafe. This was a very kind jesture of him, up until then no one has asked me to be on there show unless I knew them personally or straight through a friend.
I like Matt, him and I clicked, he was a go getter like myself, and the type who just goes out and does things on his own and doesn't wait for things to happen for him.
I was still looking to get more stage time so what I did was hopped on go ole Craigslist. I went on there to see if anyone was looking for a comedian or anything like that. I've never used Craigslist to try to get gigs but man I really wanted more stage time and I'm not a famous person or have TV credits so I was trying to get time the old fashion way.....well Craigslist is not old fashion but its the the harder way lol. Anyways I probably replied to 20 ads and I finally got someone to reply. The dude's name was Micheal Q, a Filipino cat, he liked my stuff I had sent online and agreed to give me a spot on his show at the Comedy Store. The set was great and the show was packed, Q was cool as hell and he liked my set and hooked me up with more sets down the road.
Later on in January, I got booked to perform at this all Black Comedy Club in Inglewood,CA called The J. Spot Comedy Club. To be honest, on the day of the performance I didn't want to perform, I was scared to go down to Inglewood because in the song "California Love," by Dr Dre, he says, "Inglewood, Inglewood always up to no good."
Yeah I wasn't real happy about going to a place where its up to no good. On top of that I wasn't sure how an all black audience would react to my comedy, but I was told once by my older brother Quito, "if you are willing to do the things that seem hardest to do, you will go further then the ones who are not willing to do the things they don't want to do."
So I went, and of course I was the only none African American in that joint, I just sat at a table by myself until it was time to hit the stage. I went up and BAM!!! One of my best sets in L.A so far, I had the crowd rolling from top to bottom. After my set all of these comedians started coming up to me and giving me love, the booker for the club gave me another date to perform right away and I got a free drink. It was a great experience and it helped me learn something....that you never know the great opportunities that lie ahead, if I would have pussed out and didn't do that show, I would have never had a great time on stage, never get booked again for more stage time and it helped because the same booker books a weekly show at the comedy store on Thursday so it all worked well.
Yeah getting booked for that show is not career changing to some eyes, but for me I got an chance to go on stage and perform and have fun and do what I love. Yeah maybe there was no big time agent or tv producer but that performance helped me get one step closer to my dreams, a small step forward?...YES...and its better to take some steps then not to take any steps at all.
February 2010:
Yay! It's my Birthday month. This was the month where things started to shift into second gear. For the past couple months I've been working for this start up company called Laughstub.com. This company is like stubhub.com but focused on live comedy. At www.laughstub.com you are able to go online and search for live comedy shows, read bios of comedians, watch videos, know when the special shows are going on and lots more. The CEO of L-stub is the guy who created Comedy Juice at the Hollywood Improv. If you don't know, Comedy Juice is of the best weekly shows in the Country with stellar line ups every week with people you see on TV everyday.
Anyways, I reached out to Scot (the CEO) and asked if he needed help with anything for his start up business. For my time helping him, in return he would book me for one of his Comedy Juice Shows, (Comedy Juice also has shows at The Irvine Improv and The Ice House Comedy Club) I would spend hours in the office doing data entry and stuff like that, not super hard work just took some time to get done. After putting some serious hours in he gave me my first date for the Comedy Juice Show The Hollywood Improv, kind of as a little gift for my hardwork and for my bday.
That night was a great night, hosting the Comedy Juice show was a buddy of mine I knew from Seattle, a cat named Andy Peters and then me right in the 1 slot, after I got off stage, Greg Giraldo hit the stage, then followed by Ron White, Daniel Tosh, Aziz Ansari, Dan Cummings, Jeffery Ross and Bill Burr. It was an awesome birthday present to share the stage with all those comics. At this point this was the biggest performance since moving to Hollywood (I'm gonna say that alot)
I had mentioned in part 1 that I Terry Taylor (owner of Giggles Comedy Club) and I had got into a virbal fight and I had stormed out of the comedy club. Well couple has past and I heard that Giggles Comedy Club was closing down for sure at the end of April. I truly felt bad on how things ended that night back in December. So I decided to give Terry a call and apologize. To be honest, when I called I thought Terry was gonna be mean about it but he wasn't at all.
I call him and he was rather happy to hear from me and actually mentioned he was gonna call me because he also felt bad about things ended. We made up and he wanted to book me for one more headlining weekend before the club closed down. So I went up there and it was a great weekend, a lot of my supporters came out to the show to see perform one last time at the club that started it all for me. I remember that last night was very emotional for me, being back that club that gave me a chance, a place where I really started my comedy career, met good friends, shared a lot of laughs, met some really comedians. The most emotional part came at the last show of the weekend and Terry Taylor went on stage and brought me up himself. I felt very honored to have him do that. Through it all, I give Terry Taylor mad love for really shaping me as a comic...and later down the road as booker. THANK YOU TERRY TAYLOR aka Coach!!
Another big thing blossomed for me in this month, I started my first open mic in my hometown Billings,MT. Not gonna lie, I wasn't sure how this all was going to workout but I know I wanted to do it. The deal I worked out Jon Dehler was we were gonna hold an open mic on the first and second Wednesday of every month and then a contest on the last Saturday with a big contest held in July where the winner gets a free trip to Stand-Up Bootcamp in L.A.
Weeks leading up to the first show Wayne and I we hustling, we called friends and asked them to give comedy a try, got a hold of local media like radio and newspaper. This was a gonna be a hit or it was gonna fail. So I flew into Billings ran around putting up posters, handing out flyers and a bunch of other things that took alot of time I had because Billings doesn't have a whole lot to offer.
The 1st open mic was a hit! 16 aspiring comedians, 176 people watching (sold out), 1 happy Asian Comedian (me) at a venue called Asian Nites and a happy owner of the venue. Drink sales were up, people were happy and the foundation for the stand-up comedy scene was laid on the ground. It was great to see a bunch of local people who have never did stand-up in their life go up on stage and give stand-up comedy a shot. It's not easy going on stage, it takes alot of balls and on top of that writing your own material to make people laugh can be a challenge if you have never done it before.
Later on that week I met with Jon Dehler the owner, and he had asked if I knew comedians in Hollywood with some TV credits who would come up to Billings and perform. We talked and thought it would be cool to have a National Headliner come up once a month and perform. Up to this point there was no real presence of comedy except my homies at Projectile Comedy who does Improv Comedy which is a different from stand-up, don't get me wrong those guys are hella funny and I love watching those fools but there hasn't been comedy at a national level.
Well there was stand-up comedy at this place called "The R-Club," in the Billings Hotel which has stand-up comedy every Friday but the comedians are booked from Dave Tribble aka The Tribble Run. The Tribble Run is knew through the Comedy Community as a hell gig aka "one nighters," they call it a hell gig because you will have one show in one town and the next night have another show 6 hours away and then the next night have to drive 8 hours the opposite direction, you pretty much need an oil change in between gigs. Anyways my beef with the "R-Club," was that they were the first ones I asked about starting an open mic there and they were quick to say no, which I found weird at first because when me and my buddies would put on our own shows in Billings they were always down but I guess they have a new manager so yeah. My point being is this, the comics booked for the shows don't have big TV credits so the comedians on their shows are either young comics working out longer sets to get better or old comics who are bitter and do it pretty much just to get laid and free drinks.
So I decided I'm gonna good quality comedy, comedians who've been on TV, comedians who kill it all the time, and most importantly comedians that the young comics in Billings can watch, learn and perform with. It never has been done before and I wanted to be the one that brings the best comedy to Billings. I have a feeling March was gonna bring some big things...and it did.......
March 2010:
What made March such a crazy month for me was because I had a lot of firsts happen in this month. This was the month I performed on TV with all the cameras and lights and action type of stuff and the first headliner coming to Billings,MT and the first time I seen a meth head clean my apartment.
In February I forgot to mention I went to Las Vegas to audition for a popular TV show, but for legal reason I have to change the name of the show to Schamerica's Got Talents (wink), it was a small audition an invite only. I got the audition through a friend of mine. I went into that audition and did a great job and it seemed the producers loved me. Well in March it turns out they did, because I got a call to and was asked to perform in the "Judge's Round," which means I perform in a big ass theater in front of Sharon Osborne, Piers and Howie Mandel.
They only gave 10 tickets to give out so this being my first time on tv I gave to my good friends, Jeff Dye, John Sanders, The Brothers Clark (roommates) tan-man, Maria, Jeremy Horn and James Karhu. I remember sitting in the holding for 4 hours with a bunch of people. There were all different type of acts, they had a group of dancers who dressed in red full body spandex suits...(you could see there balls it was gross), these little monkey kids who did break dancing (so cute) and just a nuch of weirdos foe sho.
I was like 15 in the line-up and I had 90 seconds to perform in front of the judges and impress them along with the 2,000 plus people that were in the theater. I was eating a tastey crossiant sandwich and trying to focus, well right after I took the second bite I hear in the back ground, "hey we are losing the crowd, put the comedian on maybe he can get them going."
I was like "oh snaps, I think they mean me." So one of the producers says, "hey lukas, you're on in about 12 mins." So I smoked a quick cig and went back stage. I remember taking my first look out at the crowd from back stage and I was like,"Holy Shit thats a lot of people." So I'm sitting back stage and the before me gets the 'X" from Piers and it louder then shit. I remember people keep telling me that the judges are hard on comedians and I thought to myself......and I remember what my mentor had told me before I went on stage, "relax have fun, make the people laugh and don't focus on making the judges laugh...also visualize a standing O."
Now its my turn, Nick Cannon gives me a quick interview and boom I hit the stage........it was the weirdest feeling, I have never experianced this feeling, my heart was beating so fast I pee'd a little. I was standing in front of the judges and they asked my name and where I'm from, I said, "My name is Lukas Seely and I'm from Billings, Montana." Sharon replies, " There are Asians in Montana?" I reply, " Yes, all 7 of us." She laughed.
Then Piers asked, "so why do you think your funny?"
I reply, " because people always text me lol." he says, "ok, lets see what you got."
I start telling my jokes, and right off the bat I'm getting big laughs, the crowd is really feeling me. I throw my last joke right before 90 secs and Boom..............the crowd starts screaming and then.....a Standing Ovation! I haven't received a standing O from people who have never seen me before.....not gonna lie I almost cried because I have never felt this feeling, 2 thousand people standing to their feet cheering me on.....I realized...at this point.....this was the biggest performance I have ever done...in my life!
Piers gave me the Yes, Sharon gave me the Yes and Howie says,"I've been doing comedy a long time now, and I don't know many people who could do what you just did in 90 secs....you get a big Yes and see you in Vegas!" I remember coming off stage feeling like a million bucks, Nick gave me a hug, the producers gave me a big hug and picked me up in the air and man was it awesome. I'd take that over sex any day....well almost any day.
A couple days after my night of glory I had to meet with Ty Barnett (last Comic Standing, Comedy Central Presents, etc..) I wanted to book as the first comedian to come headline my room in Billings,MT. Ty and I knew each other but never really worked together. I was good friends with his good friend Harold Gomez, Gomez would take me on the road with him a lot when I was starting in Seattle, I love that guy. Anyways, I met Ty at a local bar and we chatted about comedy and I was really trying to convince him that Montana would be a great time, after 3-4 drinks I got him to commit. As we are leaving the bar he asked if I smoked the green leaf, I rarely smoke because I wig out when I do, but since I wanted him to come to Billings really bad, I took a couple hits and man......I was stoned out of my mind.
I think I might have freaked him out a little because on the car ride to my place I was making spaceship noises and laughing my ass off. he kept looking at me and asking if I was alright. He dropped me off at my place and said good bye, then I walk to my apt lobby realizing I didnt have my keys to get in....now I start freaking out.....I call my roommates and bagged them to bring me their keys. While I was waiting outside for them I started to get paranoid, I can be in public when I blaze cause people freak me out. This one girl walks up to me and says, "my car needs to be jumped do you have jumper cables?" I replied in a British accent, "no, no, I don't know how to drive and I mountain bikes cause it reminds of mountains." lol she just looked at me and said, "oooooh-kay." My roommates came through gave the keys so I went up stairs and decided it would be a good idea to watch Jurassic Park and all it did was freak me the heck out lol.
Back in Billings,MT and its my show im producing with a National Headliner. I have never put a show together really, like a real show, mostly just shows with friends but not a full production. I remember being so stressed out, trying to make sure posters were out, handing out flyers, setting up radio interviews, hotel stuff and making sure the headliner was treated well. One of the things that helped was being a comedian and thinking of how I would want to be treated and then delivering that to the headliner. Also thinking back of the hay-days at Giggles and remembering how Terry ran shows as far as line-up and who put in time at the venue.
The shows went well, packed crowds both nights, Ty killed the audience and received a standing ovation, people were happy, venue was happy and Ty and was happy. I actually took Ty to my parents house for some lunch so he could have some quality Asian food, he loved it. He told me that he had a wonderful time and would love to come back to Billings again......for him being the first comedian to take the plunge to Billings, I always will remember that and will forever thankful....I plan on booking him for our 1 Yr anniversary show in March 2011.
April 2010:
April was a cool month....well kind of. I needed a headliner for April because I had May booked so I was calling all my headliner friends and finally my buddy Kyle Cease came through. During this time we were having our open mics in Billings,MT and we were growing to about 18 comics from 16 and had new faces come through and I was starting to see some new talent crop out of Billings. It was nice to see this stand-up thing grow in Billings and seeing people with raw talent. The comics were really starting to take this comedy thing seriously, doing open mics, working to get better and getting people to come to shows. I had an idea, I decided that since I'm bringing these headliners in to perform I had asked them to spend an hour meeting with the local comics to talk to them about comedy and how to write and the whole thing. Yes I brought these guys in to perform and provide great entertainment for the city but more for the young comedians learn and possibly grow from all of this.....man I wish I had this for me when I was starting out in Billings, I think I'd be further along if I did.
Again the shows in Billngs were successful, sold out shows, crowds happy , everyone happy.
Back in L.A I get a call one day to host a show at the Hollywood Improv with Dane Cook as the headliner, man was I happy. I know alot people dislike Dane Cook, but I am a fan, he did a lot of things for comedy, because of him more comedians got famous because of the internet. I think a lot of people should be thanking him instead of ripping on him all the time. Regardless of how you feel for Dane he did do a lot of great things. I remember being kind of nervous but at same time just being so excited to have the opportunity. When I met Dane Cook he was such a nice guy and kind. If you haven't seen him live, he really knows how to rock an audience. After the show I got to hang out with Dane, Bill Burr and Jeffery Ross and chillin and shooting the shit, what a great night...up to this point....this was the best show I was on since living in L.A.
April wasn't all fun, one night I get an email from a producer at Schamerica's Got Talent saying these words exactly
" Dear Lukas,
We are sorry to inform you that unfortunately you will not be on this season of Schamerica's Got Talent. We wish you the best of luck in your future and your endeavors. "
That was it, no explaination, no nothing. I was pretty bummed at first because I thought this was going to be my coming out to America but nope. I realize everything happens for a reason but I was confused on why they decided why they would do that. I mean I crushed in front of the judges, the audience loved me, i mean dude...I was signing hella autographs and taking pictures after the show but nope...no nothing. I did learn something from it though, I learned that I can do well in front of cameras and in front of a lot of people which I learned later on that in 2010 I will have to do the same. Oh...and I later figured out why I got pulled from the show, well at least my theory on why....stay tuned......The Part 3, the final part to my first year in Hollywood Review....it gets better!!!
