Generation X

I am of Generation X. I grew up in a time of pay phones and no internet, well not 'til college at least. We had metal bars at the gym and were taught that working hard leads to sucess and drugs fry your brain, literally. We were tougher, not as tough as the boomers. If there is a problem, we solved it. Thats what Vanilla Ice taught us at least.

I approach my comedy career with these same values; I work hard, I solve problems when I see them, or at least confront them instead of passively addressing them via texts (and I say no drugs). For better or worse, the generation gap with other comedians shows itself with younger comedians who often find shortcuts instead of putting in the time. Conventional wisdom teaches us that you reach a certain amount of time to perfect your craft and then reap the benefits. But recent success has shown many talented comedians jumping the line and finding success much faster with social media and other ways of getting their work to the masses. Older often more talented comics with far more experience are left to fend for themselves and often lose out on opportunities to newer comedians who figure out the algorithm.

And thats not a judgment on work ethic because often times what we were taught as Gen X'ers ultimately was wrong. There is a difference between working hard and working smart and sometimes putting in the hours is not the smartest move. You can probably get more mileage out of a great comedy clip than driving 4 hours to do 30 minutes in front of a crowded drunken bar in small town, Indiana.

The same holds true with conflict. We were taught to address the conflicts head on but younger generations don't necessarily do that. They can address conflict on their own time, behind a screen or sometimes just ghosting the issue altogether. There is a power in that, being done when you are personally done. We see that with people just ghosting dates or even employers. I can respect the power to simply walk away from a conflict instead of addressing it or resolving it, but sadly, I can't do that myself. I guess I am a lawyer at heart. #standup #comedy #formerlawyer #generationx #throwback