Special Guest Myq Kaplan
New feature, Special Guest Comedians!
I’m inviting my funniest friends in the comedy business to share their thoughts, advice, and experience with you, and to kick this off I went to one of my favorite funny people. I was thrilled but not surprised when Myq agreed to participate. He is a always saying yes to collaboration and I love that about him.
I asked Myq what he’d say to his younger, beginner comic self if he could go back and give himself one piece of advice, one thing he knows now that he could've really benefited from knowing when he started, what would it be?
“Watch and learn from comics who are different from you, not just folks who do your favorite type of comedy. When I started out, I had a somewhat limited view of what I liked in comedy. I loved people who wrote perfect jokes, one-line magical equations that aligned beautifully with my brain. I still do, AND now I also love physical comedians and story-tellers and political ranters and absurdists and all kinds of comedians that defy the categorizations that my early comedy brain clung to. And while I've certainly learned from comedians who are similar to me in ways, I believe I've learned more by watching comedians who do things very differently than I do, differently than my initial comedy taste buds enjoyed, or thought they enjoyed. Maybe some would call this "getting out of your comfort zone." I say, expand your comfort zone. Try different things. Are you naturally a teller of long stories? Write some monologue jokes. Love one-liners? Write a two-liner, or a seventeen-liner, or a who-knows-how-many-stop-counting-the-liner. Be open. Or become more open than you are. Unless you're too open to begin with, then focus.”
It is so wonderfully Myq-like that he ends his advice with, ‘unless the opposite, in which case do the opposite’.
I asked him if he received any advice when he was starting that really helped him?
“Lots of it. Stick to your time. Be respectful to the other comedians and the audience. Move the mic stand out of the way. Be kind in general. Use the whole stage, the whole space. Get up every night. Take a night off once in a while. Live a life worth commenting on. Yes, you can say whatever you want, but what do you want to say?”
How about really terrible advice? Did you receive any awful advice, and did you take it?
“Probably! A lot of people told me to slow down my delivery. I don't think that that advice is objectively good or bad or anything, because maybe it would be helpful to someone and less helpful to someone else. Maybe it would be helpful to me at one point and less helpful to me at another point. Ultimately, it can be useful to try things different ways. And all advice can be a Rorschach test of sorts. You get to decide what works for you. Audiences will help. But you are the ultimate arbiter of your own work. (Also, I'm reminded of this piece of advice that Doug Stanhope has shared from his open mic days, when another higher-ranked open mic comic named Joey Scazzola told him, "Never give anyone advice because you’re only telling them how to be more like you." Which I think is valuable to consider. And considering that, maybe the only good advice is "you'll figure it out" and "listen to yourself" and "you'll learn by doing" and other things that might not be helpful to someone starting out, but are true. Or maybe aren't! Maybe you won't figure it out. But I think you will.)
Can you share a memory from starting out in comedy, whether it be your first time ever, your first time crushing, your first time bombing, or some other notable early experience?
“There's a famous parable about a Chinese farmer whose horse runs away and his neighbor is like "that sucks" (paraphrasing) and the farmer goes "maybe yes, maybe no." And the next day the horse returns with another horse, and the neighbor is like "two horses! that's great!" and the farmer goes "maybe yes, maybe no." And the next day the farmer's son is thrown from the new horse trying to tame it and he breaks his leg and the neighbor goes "that sucks," and the farmer goes "maybe yes, maybe no." And the next day the army comes to town, drafting all able-bodied adult males, so the broken-legged son is spared from having to go to war, and the neighbor says "that's great!" and the farmer goes "maybe yes, maybe no."
Early in my career, there was an audition for a comedy festival in Las Vegas, and a buddy and I auditioned for it and he got it and I didn't. And I was like "that sucks," and the farmer goes "maybe yes, maybe no." Then, the weekend of that festival, when my friend was in Vegas enjoying the fruits of his win, I performed at a steakhouse in Massachusetts somewhere, and I had an experience that led to me writing one of my favorite jokes at the time, and that felt great. I was like, wow if I had gotten to go to Vegas, I never would have written this very specific joke that I loved. And now, I haven't told that joke in 15 years. And my friend who went to Vegas doesn't do standup anymore.
In the Talmud, there's a story about a rabbi who keeps two pieces of paper in his pocket, one that says "this world was created for you" and the other that says "you are nothing but ash and dust." Both are true statements, depending on the context. I find it valuable to remember one of them when I'm feeling like the other. Head too big? I am a tiny fraction of the cosmos. Feel like nothing? My consciousness is the center of the universe, actually. So, listen to whatever you need at a given time.
There's a book called "Zen and the Art of Stand-up Comedy" by a guy named Jay Sankey. The line I remember most is something like "the show you're doing tonight does not matter; what matters is the comedian you'll be five years from now." And I think that's beautiful and profound and it is ALSO true that the show you're doing tonight DOES matter, because what's happening right now is the only thing that is happening. It simultaneously is the only thing that matters and also will be gone in a moment. Which of those two true perspectives is the most helpful to you right now? Listen to that one right now.
Anyway, so I said that all on stage at an early open mic AND IT BOMBED*.
*OR CRUSHED. You choose. Choose my own adventure.”
What words of encouragement or caution would you like to share with people thinking about trying stand-up, or just getting started?
One time I was talking to a guy after a show, and he told me he wanted to do standup. I asked him why he hadn't and he said he was afraid. I asked him what he was afraid of and he said "I'm afraid that audiences won't laugh at my jokes." And so I told him I had great news for him: there is nothing to be afraid of. Because fear is about the unknown. So go into your first sets unafraid, because you KNOW that audiences won't laugh at your jokes. I mean, some audiences might laugh at some jokes sometimes. But every great comedian started out as a comedian that audiences didn't laugh at that much. So, don't be afraid. Or do be afraid, I'm not your boss. But the great thing about starting out bad is that there's infinite room for improvement. You can't get better unless you start worse. So, you're in the perfect place to start, right now. Do it. Unless you don't want to. But if you're like 50/50 on the fence, do it.
Where can we find your comedy recordings, or your calendar for seeing you live?
Thanks for asking!
You can find my comedy albums on all your favorite streaming platforms. Spotify, for example.
You can find my one-hour special "Small, Dork, and Handsome" on Amazon.
You can find my Dry Bar special "Live From the Universe" (and you can use the promo code MYQKAPLAN for a free month of Dry Bar).
You can see me film my next special in NYC on August 22, 2024.
You can subscribe to my newsletter Arty Har-Hars (for free OR more) on my Substack.
You can follow myqkaplan on social media.
You can listen to my podcasts "Broccoli and Ice Cream" and "The Faucet" wherever you listen to podcasts, and find bonus ones at my Patreon.
You can get my book of jokes illustrated by the wonderful Ramin Nazer, "Heart Brain Art Train."
You can go to my website https://myqkaplan.com/ and find my tour dates there.
You can do whatever you want! Thank you!
Anything else you want to add?
I think we've done it! Thanks for having me, Keith. And thanks for reading, everyone. You did it!
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thanks for having me, keith! happy to be here!