Chicago, IL
I never planned to be a comedian. I wanted to be an engineer… or an architect… or a graphic designer… or a fireman. I don't know. All I know is that I was working 50 hours a week in a retail store and it sucked. I had gone to college twice and quit. Once for engineering which sucked and once for art and that didn't suck as much but it still kind of sucked.
Some friends of mine were taking classes at a place called The Player's Workshop of the Second City, an improv training center that carefully incorporated the phrase "Second City" into its name even though it wasn't really part of the famed theatre and company "Second City". I started going along and it didn't suck. A year later we formed a sketch comedy group called The Department of Works. We did shows around Chicago. The group included Kevin Ervick, Keith Srutowski, Ed Furman and Matt Walsh who gained notoriety on Comedy Central's Upright Citizen's Brigade and The Daily Show and then Andy Dick begged us to let him join. Andy later went on to NBC's Newsradio and other infamy and despite the fact that he still owes me money, has stopped taking my calls. Oh, and there were a couple of girls in the group, too.
The five original guys all lived together in a large apartment in Chicago. We ate, drank and slept comedy. It was a great time but like all good things finally came to an end. After two years we broke up but still remain friends to this day.
During the last year the group was together, I had started doing open mic nights and actually served as the warm-up act for our second show, The Three Dollar Show. When the group broke up I simply continued with that. I was working a day job but performing nearly every night in comedy clubs. A lot of late nights in the clubs led to a lot of late mornings at the store. Eventually I got fired for my tardiness. I had gigs lined up for several months and the weather was just turning nice, so as I walked out of the store on a beautiful May morning, pink slip in hand. I thought I would take the summer off and just do comedy and look for another day job in the fall. That was 20 years ago.
Since then I have been paid to travel all over North America doing something I really enjoy and feel that I am good at. I have performed in large clubs with all the amenities and in seedy, gin joints with Mr. Microphone sound systems and coffee can spot lights. I have been on television and in a couple of movies. I know some famous people and sometimes people actually recognize me on the street. While there have been some lean times since then, for the most part, it hasn't sucked.
Oh, and Andy Dick still won't take my calls.