again, at least as a hobby. Do stand-up comedy again.
It made you so happy then, why not now?”Well, fuck. I forgot about that. I forgot how much I loved
comedy. I forgot how much joy it brought me.
I decided to try it, do some open mics. Basically, open
mic is some shit that anyone can get up and do.
I thought about it, and I prepared, and I got ready. I got
up and did mve minutes, and I got a ton of laughs. It was
amazing. I went back the next night, did the same mve-
minute set, but with some improvements. It was even
better. People loved it.
Now, don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I was bringing the
house down and people were in tears at my brilliance,
throwing roses on the stage, and screaming my name. ͳat
shit didn’t happen for at least ten more years
But open mics are tough. Most of the people suck and
aren’t funny, and the crowd can get annoyed and become
hostile. To get any laughs at an open mic is really good. And
I got laughs. People liked me. They enjoyed it.
It was like, the smallest thing, but it was so profound for
me. I had known this at mfteen, that this was my calling, and
I had quit. And now here I was, telling my stories and
hearing people laugh at them and feeling that rush again.
I started doing lots of open mics, getting my comedy
chops back again. And the more time that I spent on
comedy, the more the bleeding stopped. ͳe stomach pains
stopped. The crying and depression stopped.
I don’t know how or why, but all the bad shit stopped.