Alot of people ask me who my influences are, and it's one of those questions, that I can't answer in a sentence or even multiple paragraphs.
My parents were very good about exposing me to comedy at an early age, and helped wet my pallete. I believe my first exposure ws early Saturdy Night Live, Weird Al Yankovic videos, and records of Bill Cosby and George Carlin.
I remember the first live comedy show I ever saw was George Carlin at the Brady Theater in Downtown Tulsa. It's a historic venue, and I one day hope to grace the stage there. I also saw Weird Al Yankovic there too. He has a hard dick for Tulsa, he shot UHF there. A hilarious flick, which featured Victoria Jackson and a pre-Seinfeld Micheal Richards.
I started out with Weird Al, Cosby, and Carlin, all guys I aspire to be compared to. I'll just rattle off the rest of my influences:
Chris Rock, Bring the Pain changed my life.
Doug Stanhope, his bit about anti-depressents and OCD saved my life.
Dave Chapelle,
Norm MacDonald,
The guys from Tough Crowd: Jim Norton, Nick DiPaolo, and Patrice O'Neal
Maijia DiGiorgio,
Rick Shapiro,
Jim Gaffigan,
Joe Rogan,
Tom Green,
Ron White,
Craig Robinson,
and Phil Hendrie, the funniest man on radio, ever.
I've also been motivated by guys/gals I do or see shows with here in LA.
I love making a room full of people laugh, but when I get one of these guys to just grin, I get that funny felling in my heart. It's that endorphin that makes chasing that dream one step closer to reality.
Gene George,
Jason LaCour,
Charlyne Yi,
Evaldo Garcia (Canibal),
Dan Bialek,
TJ Miller,
Angelo Bowers,
Chris Putro,
Chuck Bartell,
Josh Adam Meyers,
Mustafa Ahmad,
Thai Rivera,
Jay Dee,
Lizzy Cooperman,
Jamar Neighbors,
and
Mack Lindsay.
Not all of these guys/gals are my friends in real life, but they are guys/gals who consistently kill me, and I wanted to share a little of what makes me tick.
Neither of these lists are exclusive and always fluctuating, but I just wanted to let you know some of the cats I respect, and I hope you follow their careers, as well as mine.
My road trip to success would be boring if I was the only one in the car.
Hey you, I saw Carlin at the Brady too. Jeez, when was that? Middle school? I remember thinking I was laughing so hard I could quite possibly shit myself.
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