Doing the work, Folks.
I seem to be back at it. I guess I never really stopped. I just don’t think I fully comprehend the life I live. What I do. How I do it. It always surprises me, though I don’t think my process changes that much.
I seem to do comedy most nights of my life. I just do it. It is what I do. Has been for years.
I had a moment the other night when I was at The Comedy Store and realized I had been wandering the halls of that place since I was 22 years old. There were years in between when I didn’t live out here or wasn’t working there that much but the truth is The Comedy Store wired my brain almost 40 years ago.
I can obviously see that I am aging and I am an old man but some part of me has always lived there and still does. I did three sets there on Friday. One in each of the rooms. I did the show run by the door people. I was the special guest but I was a door guy in 1987. I started in that room. The Belly Room.
It just gets me thinking sometimes. Do I do this because I love it and it is my primary form of creative expression? Do I do it because I feel like it’s my job, my duty? Do I do it because I just don’t know what else to do with myself and it’s a compulsive activity? Do I do it because it’s how I feel alive and engaged?
All of the above.
The bigger question is: Do I know how to not do it? I do not know how to not do it. It’s like eating or exercising. I have to do it.
I want to know how to not do it but it's who I am. I wonder sometimes if I have a life outside of the work. I am not sure I do.
I am having a good time working on jokes and stories. I did an hour and a half at Largo the other night, then I did it again at Dynasty Typewriter. It was all pretty much new stuff. Same me, new stuff. I love the exploration and discovery of improvising on stage.
I do need to balance my life out a bit. It’s all work that I love and the rest of the time it’s cooking, organizing, listening to music, playing music, shopping, writing, watching, thinking…hey, wait, I guess I do have balance. I guess I am doing other stuff. It all blends together and is what I am made of.
I talk for a living. I have to feed the engine.
Today I talk to Ramy Youssef about his show Ramy and his experience as a first-generation American-Muslim. Loved it. Thursday, I talk to Felicia Michaels, a comic who was at The Comedy Store when I was a door guy and she’s back there now. Some back-in-the-day talk with her. Great.
Enjoy!
Boomer, Monkey and LaFonda live!
Love,
Maron
Wandering the Halls.
