Becoming a stand-up comic

"Seriously, don't make me laugh. I'm swinging here, come on."

I think of myself as funny. In fact, I pride myself on it in a manner which borders on narcissistic.

It also was a future occupation 7-year-old me though we would one get get into, even if he was more in prat falls.

As a younger me made the ranks through elementary school, questions were being posed often asking my thoughts on future occupation. At the time, I still felt that being an artist was definite possibility, but I also had the realization that I very much wanted to get into comedy -- not just acting, but being a stand-up comic.

Despite my lack of knowledge concerning the subject (which mostly came from seeing the opening to episodes of Seinfeld, so when I did tell jokes it was sad observational humor), I still thought I would be good at being a comedian because I felt I was, well, funny. Deep down that’s all you need, right? A good sense of humor -- I had this thing in the bag.

Of course, things have changed since that naivety concerning comedy as a career path. I did some acting in high school, never thinking about pursuing it in college, and while I often played a more humorous role (or at least characters which could have been funny), I don’t think joke-telling will ever be something I could possibly do for cash. At least not realistically.

Instead, today I spend my time trying to be a generally funny member of any group of people I’m with. It’s not always true, I get that and we all have off days (although as co-workers throughout my time in the newspaper biz will probably attest, I can be downright awful on bad days no matter how many jokes I try to make). At the very least, I like to think I can make on person smile a day, and if that’s it I’ve probably done some good.

So, like some of my other stranger career options, becoming a stand-up comic was just not a viable option for me to take. Perhaps in another life I was destined to be on the stage, telling jokes about star Wars and dinosaurs to auditoriums full of college kids, but for now I’ll try to keep my humor and banter to my friends, and all of you who continue to keep my narcissism unchecked as I make jokes about growing up in the ‘90s.