Have You Ever Bombed So Badly That You Ceriously Considered Quitting?

YES

About 9 years ago, I was having a week of horrible shows in Hollywood. Bombing every night because I did not really know how to adjust to a whole new city with whole new sensibilities. Plus, I was performing on shows with headliners and was often the only non-famous person the line ups. I was messing up my jokes by not adjusting from performing mostly in Chicago. For example, I referenced a suburb of Chicago that clearly nobody understood. I also did jokes about being Iranian, which hit differently in Hollywood because of the large Persian community there. 

I decided after 3 bad shows and 2 mediocre ones, I was gonna close out my comedy career bang and leave comedy and go back to law, which I was practicing full time. I listened to all my sets to see what I can change, called my friend Ross to help me change and punch up a couple of my jokes that I thought could work and prepared for the end, which happened to be a Saturday at the Laugh Factory in Hollywood with the owner present.

As soon as I got on stage, I knew I was mor prepared for this moment that ever.  And it was a near sold out show (with a lot of my friends in the audience) as my name was called to join the stage. My first joke out, fireworks. Second joke out, a burst laughter and by the time I finished my 15 min set, I had three applause breaks.  I remember making eye contact with a fellow comedian in the audience after one applause break and we both were like “what the hell is happening?”  It was surreal.

So I didn’t quit comedy but that was the last time I seriously considered quitting comedy. Until tonight. #comedycareer #standup #blog #bettercallpaul