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It's part of the reality for comedians, when we are not at the level of notoriety where we can continuously put buts in seats. Especially for weekday shows where its a little harder to get butts in seats than say a Saturday. For me, I organized a few tours on my own without thinking about what happens if one of the pieces fall through. Last week, I had a Wednesday cancellation for lack of ticket sales. A lot of people who said they planned to go did not get tickets in advance so the show was cancelled. This week I had a couple cancelations, one in advance and one last minute. The one in advance led to a new opporutnity at a club that I hope to impress. That was a positive development from a negative. The other one was a scheduling issue where the venue booked a live band instead. That's a first. The booker still paid me, which was nice but that money will just go towards finding a hotel. I was on the computer and phone hitting up venues and friends performing in the area and now have 2-3 options to at least get stage time within the 100 mile radious. I have to decide still whether to take one of the show that could lead to more work, but take me out of the way or just go somewhere I can have fun with the other comedians on the show and have a fun show. I really wish I had a manager to help me make these decisions. Please go watch and share my special if you have not already so I don't have these problems anymore. It's called Middle Western, Middle Eastern. #standup #road #comedyspecial 
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Sometimes, non comedy-club venues will ask to do an intermission in the middle of the show. Comedians notoriously hate the intermission. The whole point of the opening acts is to build momentum before the headliner and keep it moving forward. Its building the the finale; the headliner. In intermission is the opposite. It brings the show to a grinding halt. I was able to successfully put an end to that on most shows where I have produced or headlined but recently, there was no way to avoid it. I was headlining a club and the venue needed to make money from drink sales at intermission since the headliner (me) did not sell out the show. I understood but was very worried about it. Ironically, it made the show better. The whole show had started early so many people didn't have time to get drinks before the show or enough drinks to find me and the other comedians very "out loud" funny. After the 10 minute intermission, they had time to get drinks and use the bathroom and they were 100x better than they were before the intermission. Some of that was me, maybe because I was the headliner but I guess the morale of the story is that sometimes you will like something you are against. Or that intermissions are okay. #greeneggs #standup #comedyshow #laughs #formerlawyer  Recently I did a show in a small town where I offended someone. To my knowledge, It's been a while since my material has been deemed offensive by any crowd member, given that I rarely cover ground that is controversial or veer too dirty (if at all). I was selling shirts after what I thought was a very successful show, given the responses from most people in line to buy shirts. I saw the man bee-line to me with purpose and a big smile on his face. He started with a very nice statement, saying "the first ten minutes of your set had me roaring with laughs!" At this point, I assumed he was just gonna buy a shirt or ask for my social media, but then he said "but your marriage jokes got old really quick." I clearly triggered this kind man as he told me how amazing the institution is and how happy he was to be married. The way he approached it, with a smile and without aggression, I reacted as if he was joking but then I realized he wasn't. I was caught off guard. He clearly was offended, which I did not intend and listening back to the crowd response later, it seems as though most fo the crowd liked the joke. (see Instagram for a version of the joke) I can count on one hand how many times in my 12 years of comedy, someone has been offended by my jokes. The last time was someone who thought I spoke too much about Covid (during Covid in a state that did not have restrictions). I perhaps did do 2-3 jokes related to Covid that night, so I can understand how that could be annoying. As to the night in question, I do talk about being single on stage sometimes and as for marriage, I have two jokes about it and on the night in question, I did one joke. One marriage joke. If he saw my special, however, he would be offended for certain! Ironically, my goal with comedy this year is to be more edgy and to talk about "real" issues so I imagine this will happen more and more. #comedy #single #formerlawyer #controversy  Thats a question often asked of me in interviews, conversations or dating profiles. I don't have an answer. I am lucky enough to do something that often doesn't feel like work. I have fun on stage. I have fun writing. I have fun creating. I have fun driving to and from my shows (most of the time). I even have fun strategizing and handling some of the business aspects of comedy (some, not all!). Not much of a work/life balance, I suppose. That being said, I am trying to take more nights off from stand up to do things people do who have conventional social lives. I had the night off last night and was hoping to see a concert or a Cubs game but of course, the Cubs were off, there were no concerts and ...I fell asleep. I didn't leave my apartment for 24 hours. I love reading books and catching up on shows and movies while I work out, when I am on the road. I still have not gone to a regular season Cubs game this year and its been a minute since I went to a concert. When I am not productive, I get very antsy and anxious so its hard for me to engage is social activities sometimes. Last week, however, I was able to partake in one of my new favorite pastimes, which is a post-show cigar with other comedians. I plan on doing the same this weekend. Thank you for reading and hope to see you in North Dakota, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee and Florida this month! #standup #comedy #sociallive #worklifebalance  |
AuthorPaul Farahvar is a comedian hailing from Chicago, Ill. Archives
October 2025
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