Comedy, I’m hooooooome!
For those of you that don’t know me, allow myself to reintroduce …myself. That’s a character I do called Austin Power-Z. It’s pronounced “Austin Powers” but just with a “Z.” …and the hyphen is to emphasize the Jay-Z reference…
Hi. I’m dumb!
Ok now that that’s settled let me explain. So for the better half of the past decade I’ve considered myself somewhat of an aspiring comedian. For a good consecutive 4 years I was doing stand up, hitting open mics, doing improv, attempting to write/film sketches, doing regular hosting gigs at mics and monthly shows. All this while managing a serious romantic relationship. Between all that, and a full time job (THAT I HATED) I eventually fizzled out.
It was back then during my comedy hay day that I picked up a camera (other than my iPhone) with any intent on being creative or artistic. —not that you can’t do that on an iPhone! —but let’s be serious: you can’t do a lot of stuff with an iPhone that you can do with a camera that can shoot on full manual. If you really wanted to compare, it’d be like a white woman, you simply just can’t even.
For any photography nuts/artists reading this and losing their shit, I get it, you actually can do a lot on a phone and they have great cameras blah blah fucking blah… yes. I know. But also, you know what I’m talking about too. Ehhhh?! <raises eyebrows>
I mean come on buddy. You know what I’m talking bout. Right?! <more eyebrows>
Ok I’m done caring about that.
So there I was about a year or so into standup and maybe 6 months into improv when I hilariously and I unironically thought “man I need to film my sets!” And from that point on I did film my sets. ALL OF THEM.
Every. Single. One.
At first it was with a point and shoot Olympus that I had bought a few years prior to take to Hawaii because it was a waterproof camera. Awesome for shooting underwater pictures but not great for video in dimly lit clubs where the audio is hugely important. The quality was very much 2009ish and this was 2015. Might not seem like a big deal but think about a 6 year technology gap now and it really puts it into perspective. It’d be like having an iPhone 7 now. Gross!
Anyway, it was time to upgrade and my older brother, who is an awesome photographer himself, recommended a DSLR as opposed to a camcorder which I was very familiar with from my skateboarding days a decade and a half earlier. —I’m 35 if you’re curious.
I took his advice went to Best Buy, told the dude “I need a camera and I have ≈$1,000 budget, what should I get?” He said he’d put me in a Sony a6000 with two lenses, a bag, and even offered to tie it to the roof for me. I was sold.
At the time I had no idea what the difference was between a mirrorless or DSLR. I didn’t care I was just excited to have a new camera that I could use for my comedy.
I drove home happy and did what I’d always done when I got a new camera. Immediately take uninspired pictures of stupid shit around the immediate spot where I had just unboxed the camera including and very much limited to the camera box and bag, and my living room. Shooting on full auto mode thinking to myself “yeah this feels like it’s got some good… ummmm… power? —yeah power!”
Eventually I’d show my brother the camera and he’d tell me “That’s awesome man. Here read this,” and handed me a really simplified book/pamphlet explaining the basic principles of the exposure triangle (camera stuff). It was completely liberating.
For decades I had been very intimidated by a full manual camera but after quickly going through the pamphlet and getting a grasp on some of the basics it started making sense and became way less intimidating. Shortly after, my GF at the time and my mom both got me a few books as part of my Christmas gifts and from that point on I was hooked. I read dozens of photography instructional books, started buying/subscribing to online courses, taking classes at a JC close by. I was hooked on learning. …and gear just a lil bit if I’m being honest.
So all the while, I was using the camera for the intended purpose of filming my sets, but also I was doing way more with it. I was learning how to take photos and I was shooting often. Like ALL THE TIME often. I would annoy the shit out of all the other comics but that was kinda just part of my persona and they eventually grew to accept it. Despite the acceptance like the heart of the ocean, the ridicule would go on. Sometimes they’d take a break from ball busting and even pose for me though so that was nice. I’d fuck up the pictures a lot though especially early on when I was still learning the basics. Eventually I’d get pretty ok and other comics would ask me to shoot shows. At the time I didn’t take the time to process and think about what I wanted to do photographically because I didn’t see myself as a photographer but I did know that I liked the “candid” shots of the comics the best.
I carried on like this for years and then when I finally realized how unhappy I was at my work I realized I needed to get out of my soul sucking industry (tax accounting) much sooner than my comedy/writing “career” would allow for. So I shelved comedy to focus (pun intended!) on getting a photography business going.
I had done some research and some trial by fire stuff and quickly realized I didn’t really want to do family portraits or weddings which are really the main money makers in commercial photography. Especially if you’re just getting started. Eventually I’d find family photojournalism and pursue that hard. It was the least cringy type of commercial photography and you can make great money. To be honest it’s not really cringy at all. It’s a total niche but as far as family photography goes, it’s excellent.
I was all set to completely transition out of accounting and into my commercial photography business full time after the April 2020 tax season. I even had a couple clients lined up for after the deadline. One small hiccup though: a global pandemic happened.
Devastated to lose track of my dream and wake up amid the nightmare that was unraveling all around the world I stayed at my accounting job totally depressed. Luckily after a couple months I was eventually mercy fired by my boss and that was the freedom I needed. I’d spend the summer and my unemployment checks chasing history. I was shooting every BLM event I could find. I was shooting/witnessing history. It was invigorating.
I took a self funded trip up to Portland to witness the federal police riots taking place up there. Then I found my indigenous friends protesting the border wall construction just a little east of my home in SD. Then I’d swing by a trump supporter rally. Then I’d swing by a white nationalist rally/Antifa-counter protest where there were constant skirmishes involving fists, bats, and pepper spray. One of the skinheads even pulled a hunting knife just after being maced and thankfully decided he didn’t want to kill someone that day. But to me it all became too much. Not to mention my attempts at picking up photojournalism work or getting into the newsroom at the local paper had failed.
Either way I had watched the protest scene go from a broad support, peace and love movement, to two small groups bent on violence and as a pacifist it just took too much of a toll on my heart. I had to take a step back.
Meanwhile, since the pandemic started I had put together a support group consisting of some of my best friends that I’d made through comedy and we’d hang out on Zoom every Tuesday night sometimes into the wee hours of Wednesday’s. We’d talk about serious shit if we needed to but mostly we would just fart around and do bits just like in what’s known as “the hang,” which takes place in and around comedy clubs, shows, and open mics. At these places comedians hang out and speak in comedy the way only comedians can. By being funny, sharing jokes, challenging others’ opinions, busting each others’ balls —or clams!, etc.
It was totally therapeutic and exactly what I needed. Especially early on during the lockdown when my mental health was starting to really suffer. It not only helped me with my mental state but it also really started giving me the itch to get back on stage (when it would be safe to do so).
So after a long year of masks and lockdowns when I had finally been vaccinated I knew it was time for me to make my return to stand up and start back from square one. Only this time things would be different. I no longer cared about trying to get on shows. I didn’t care about starting from scratch. I just wanted to do bits and push limits on what I can do onstage. I didn’t give a shit about bombing or not either because I was only doing mics.
One thing I did care about though was documenting everything photographically. By this point I had to embraced the role of photographer and have figured out how I like to shoot and what subjects I like etc. Mainly I shoot people which is great because comedy is filled with people and a lot of them are also great characters (or at least working on becoming one).
For the longest time I saw photography and comedy as two separate parts of my being but it wasn’t until now that I realized there’s a lot of overlap. And actually the photography is actually my main purpose for my going out to the mics. As an added benefit when I’m onstage I don’t feel any pressure to have a good set. It’s been completely freeing and it’s been more fun than it’s ever been.
In the back of my mind I’m putting together an act and a way to tie everything together (comedy and photography), but for now it just feels great to be back and I’m enjoying the ride.
It’s only been a few months since I’ve been back and who knows if we’ll shut down again due to the variants and what not but either way here’s a taste of the work so far. Also, I will definitely be writing more about my experiences and observations being back in the scene, so this is just kind of an intro to my project titled Comedy I Love You.
Welp. Smell ya later! (still working on my blog sign off)
-Richard :)
