Comic Strip Marathon: Post #17 Comedy advice from Pete Dominick

Just as I finished typing that last update, Pete Dominick switches gears completely and decides to talk about how some people watch comedy shows and think maybe they should do it. So Dominick offers tips and guidance. First, he says that most comedians wish ill on each other’s careers, and when they ask how another comic is doing, they really want to know what’s going on with your career (not how you’re doing personally) so they can hope it fails or try to audition for the gig you’re working toward. Dominick talks about how age and looks play differently in the industry (he claims 27 is seen as too old to start comedy and if you’re bald, like him, good luck with that, too, getting industry folk to look you in the eyes). And yet, when he got his gig hosting a show on Sirius Satellite Radio, he said he got tons of dates performing stand-up — despite being no better or worse as a performer than before he got the radio gig. "But that’s how this business works," Dominick tells the audience. "It’s f#%&ing insanity."

Dominick also decides to heap praise on fellow stand-up comedian Ted Alexandro, whom many in the audience had just seen earlier this morning. "He is an aberration," Dominick said of Alexandro. "He is such a nice and humble and honest person."

Where is all of this coming from?

"I could be up here crushing with my act, but I do that so often," he quips. "So I thought, why don’t I give you some behind the scenes." So there you go.

Sean L. McCarthy

Editor and publisher since 2007, when he was named New York's Funniest Reporter. Former newspaper reporter at the New York Daily News, Boston Herald and smaller dailies and community papers across America. Loves comedy so much he founded this site.

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