Monday 4 March 2013

Meant To Be

I did an interview for TV when I was in Prince Rupert.  I was asked the usual questions, plus I was asked how did I know I wanted to be a comedian or something like that.
I told the story about being on vacation on Vancouver Island and when I spent the day in Victoria then rode the bus back to Sooke at the end of the day.  I watched the people as they boarded the bus after a long day of work.  I said the people looked defeated, and they did.  One lady leaned forward and rested her head on the seat in front of her.  These people just weren't tired, they were dead.  That's when I decided that this is not for me.  I've tried holding a regular job, it just doesn't work for me.  It kills my spirit.  I said in the interview I would rather do stand-up comedy and live below the poverty line (which I do) than to work at a job that crushes my spirit.  I could never be happy at a job.  I could never wake up and be happy to commute to work.  
Besides, I'm not qualified to do anything else.  It's difficult to explain to a potential employer all the 'gaps' in my resume.  I went to university and I tell people I went to become a lawyer, but the truth is I went to university to get off of welfare.  I had no idea what I wanted to do after I graduated.  Then I kinda stumbled back-asswards into stand-up comedy.  And after the first couple times doing it, I knew this is what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.  I can't even think of a job I would want to do.  I've found what I'm supposed to do with my life.  I'm not religious, but you know how some people say that God has a plan for us, well, I was meant to write jokes and tell them on stage.  I enjoy it.  And I think I'm pretty good at it.  People go their whole lives not knowing what they were put on this Earth for, not me, I know I was meant to be a comedian.  The world needs plumbers, but I find it hard to believe there are plumbers out there saying they are doing what they were meant to do.  If there are, good on them.  
I was asked by someone recently if I had any hobbies, and I had to think about it for a while, and I don't.  I have no hobbies.  But if you write and tell jokes for a living, why would you need hobbies? People have hobbies to distract them from their everyday lives.  There are certainly things I enjoy doing when I'm not doing comedy, like riding my lowrider bicycles, but I'm always thinking of my career, and working on jokes.  It might not look like I'm doing anything, but I am actually working, even now.  I don't even think of stand-up comedy as a job.  To me it's fun.  I've never thought of quitting.  Why would I?  It is the most fun thing in the world, to make people laugh at something you created while lying in bed at 3 AM, that's awesome.  Having people laugh at something you've said onstage is satisfying.  I doubt plumbers have the same degree of job satisfaction.  
I've talked with friends that have regular jobs and they also have hobbies, creative pursuits or whatever.  Some of them write in their spare time.  How do they know they're not supposed to be the next Margaret Lawrence, or Jackie Collins, or J.K. Rowling?  They're too busy making a living at their job to pursue what they enjoy.  This is going to sound trite, but life is too short to not do what you enjoy doing.  I enjoy stand-up comedy, actually I love everything about it, which is why I've made it my life, not just a way to make a living.