Celebrating 10 Recent Wins
Gaining Some Momentum in Stand-Up Comedy
This stand-up comedy thing has been a grind for me. It keeps me busy. I’m always juggling tasks and have lots of irons in the fire. Needless to say, sometimes I forget to stop to celebrate the good stuff. Most of the time, I’m too busy making the next thing, fixing the last thing, or overthinking everything in between. But every now and then, it’s good to pause, look around, and say, “Hey, this is actually working.” And while most of my posts here are for others, this one’s really for me. It’s a sort of Note-To-Self post. So, here are a few recent wins I’m genuinely thankful for:
Masterclass/Comedy Camp. I recently had my comedy camp for high school students in our local city approved by the community theater. It’s a 2-day crash course in joke writing, performing stand-up comedy, and figuring out what’s funny and why it’s funny. I really can’t express just how much I’m looking forward to leading this in a few weeks.
Lologetics/Apolojokes. Additionally, my 5-day summer camp for high-schoolers was recently approved by a local college. This camp will connect faith and comedy. The goal is to help students wrestle with big truths in creative & humorous ways. I’m super stoked about this one.
College Comedy Crew. Several weeks ago, I launched this initiative on a college campus. As I wrote about HERE, we’ve had students show up every Friday for nearly 2 months now to make sketch comedy videos. This has been incredible! Also, it’s been awesome teaching my Comp 1 students how to write jokes this semester. 40 of them will be performing original stand-up comedy in class tomorrow.
Festival. I recently got word that I was accepted to perform at my first comedy festival. This’ll take place in SC and, while I await word to hear if I got accepted into a second festival, I’m thrilled to get this ball rolling. Having thought about my comedy goals for the next couple years back at the start of this one, my goal for 2026 was to do more festivals. Check!
Headliner. I reached another milestone recently getting invited to headline a show. This one will be at a theater. (I have another theater show coming up in Feb, too.) Seeing my name on the poster at the top was awesome. I’ve now been host, opener, feature, and headliner. Hard work pays off.
Paid Subs. This Substack has grown into something real. It’s not just in readers, but there are also paid supporters. Every one of you who’s chosen to invest in this space, thank you. You’re helping me keep creating, writing, performing, and building this weird intersection of comedy, theology, and life. If you’re able, please subscribe.
Comedy Contest. While I have another comedy contest coming up in a week, last weekend I competed in a contest and did pretty well. I didn’t win, but I didn’t bomb either, which in comedy terms is a strong night. I was a little nervous because I was the only white guy in the lineup and in the building for that matter It was an all-black crowd and let me tell you, they were an absolutely phenomenal audience. That show, I believe, landed me another gig that may appear on a small network.
Radio. Today, I got to go to a radio studio and chat on-air about joke writing, stand-up comedy, linguistics, and a host of other things. It was a real treat.
Interviews. I’ve been involved in two great interviews. One, just ahead of the Emmys, was with Yahoo! Entertainment. Another with The Wrap, a leading, authoritative digital news organization that covers entertainment and media, is due out in the next day or two. I’ll share on this blog when it’s available.
Podcast. Recently, I’ve had some great guests on my “Messed-Up to Set-Ups” podcast. One of those, post-recording, led to some great conversation and have since turned into follow-up meetings. Another interview, in a similar way, has led a forthcoming co-authored blog post with another comedian, and possibly a future collab on a publication.
There are some other things that, at present, I can’t quite mention, but are also wins. Sometimes saying “yes” really does open doors. Of course, with all these wins, there have been some substantial “nos,” too. That’s just part of it. Overall, however, it’s been a season of momentum. I don’t want to be suspicious about that, downplay it, qualify it, or wait for something to go wrong. I just to be grateful. And I want to say “Thank you!” to everyone who’s supported me in any form in this comedy journey. Because the truth is, if you’ve been following along, whether through reading, sharing, commenting, or showing up to shows, you’re part of these wins, too. Thank you!
More to come!!!
That is a very impressive list, both in volume and meaningfulness. Respect!