Standing Up Again
It’s been a while since I’ve written here, but it’s been quite a wonderful few months.
The week of July 17th was probably the best week of my life.
In 6 days
I did 8 standup shows in 5 cities with SNL’s James Austin Johnson and Andrew Dismukes
Held, the non-profit of which I am the founding Executive Director, raised $50,000 at a fundraiser comedy show featuring those two (and myself)
We brought in another $50,000 in grants and expanded contract work
I drove 1,000 miles for all of the above
I got to catch up with Lillian, who Held helped get housed earlier this year
For those of you unaware, I did standup for about 5 years. I started in Nashville. I went up for the first time up at Spanky’s Sports Bar (behind the Wal-Mart on Nolenseville Pike, you know the one). At the second open mic I met James Austin Johnson, a college senior at the time, who I immediately thought was funny in a way no one else was.
I took nine years off from doing standup. In May of 2012, I approached graduation from Duke Divinity School and planned on becoming a pastor.
I told people I didn’t want to devote the time to doing standup, which had truth on some level. But I also didn’t want to have to try (and possibly fail) at standup. Pursuing it because I wanted seemed frightening and becoming a pastor actually easier. I also had a job lined up.
So the night I graduated divinity school, I got in the car, drove to Charlie Goodnights (the old one) in Raleigh and did about 7 minutes of standup opening for my friend Nate.
Nate has gone on to have quite the career. You can see him at your local massive huge arena. That night we performed for about 30 people after a table of 5 got kicked out.
And then I just didn’t do standup for 9 years.
About a year ago I decided to go back up because I wanted to put on a show as a fundraiser for Held.
Since then I’ve fallen back in love with it again. Something I have learned was just how nervous and tense I was on stage at all times. I did a good impression of someone that was comfortable, but I never had fun.
The last few months I’ve talked with my therapist about why I went on stage the first time and what I experienced up there now. I’ll spare you, but I’m actually enjoying myself on stage and being relaxed allows me to have a fun time and I’m really proud of the work I’m doing.
I plan on recording sets and doing the whole social media and instagram thing soon. If enough people would like to see me live, perhaps I’ll go do that.
Let me know if that’s something you’re interested in and maybe we can figure out a venue and getting a crowd out and such.
Held Profiled in The Assembly
The North Carolina publication The Assembly recently profiled Held and our work with the homeless.
I felt a bit nervous about the piece coming out as the last time I did anything that got any press, it did not go well to say the least.
I don’t care to address it here because it was six years ago, most people have forgotten about it, and I have moved on. Unfortunately, the internet seems to be forever. I made some mistakes that were then poorly handled by my employer and what I still believe were personal failings became professional and quite public within less than 48 hours.
I’ve tried to make amends where I can and feel I need to, but mostly have tried to just move on and live the best, most caring life that I can.
The work that we get to do at Held makes me extremely proud, and I’m grateful for the Assembly writing about it. It has already lead to more supporters and will help expand our work to get more people like Lillian housed.
That’s about all I’ve got for now. I would at some point like to write more here and am trying to figure out what that will look like.