I fell in love with stand-up when I was 15 years old after watching Eddie Murphy’s “Delirious”. It blew me away. I was painfully shy as a kid and so terrified, that I never even tried. Weirdly, I never told anyone except my best friend Melissa my secret desire to do stand-up.
I had such a great love of the art that I immersed myself in it: I watched hours and hours of comedy specials and went to shows by myself examining how each comedian performed his or her craft. I knew it wasn’t easy, that making it look effortless and off-the-cuff, took hours and years to master. For the next 37 years I stifled this part of me, something always felt like it was missing.
By 2019 at age 52, after several devastating losses (the deaths of my parents and two close friends, a divorce, and the end of a long-term relationship) I decided that it was now or never. I was tired of being afraid. This desire to do stand-up had been gnawing at me for close to 40 years and it was high time that I did something about it. I signed up for a 6-week comedy course thinking it would be a one and done thing to get the desire to perform out of my system…it was not. The moment I stepped on that stage on the first night of the class, I knew I had finally found that missing piece. Six weeks later we had a showcase for family and friends at a local comedy club. I had over 20 people there to support me including my sister and brother-in-law and my best friend Melissa. I haven’t looked back since. I’ve immersed myself in the local comedy community and I work very hard every day to become better.