Chicago Comedian Paul Frisbie







 
  ADVICE FOR NEW COMICS
I get a lot of questions from people who want to be comics. And I'll gladly talk about comedy all day long. I love it. But it's not a career for the sane or the sedentary. If you're looking for a normal life with a white picket fence and dinner with your wife every night, this may not be the job for you.

Travel
First of all, comedians travel. A lot. When you bring your luggage home you don't unpack it. You re-stock it. And it rarely goes up in the attic. Sometimes it sits just inside the kitchen door.

Keep spare copies of everything you need, in your luggage, all the time. Things like bathing suits and cell phone chargers.  Then all you have to do is refill the consumables like toothpaste and shampoo, and you're good to go.

Luggage
1. Buy good luggage. It's worth the money.
2. Put a 150 watt light bulb in a Tupperware container and keep it in your luggage. Hotels use 60-watt bulbs to save money. If it's a lengthy trip, that dark room will start to get depressing.

Laptop Batteries
Your laptop is your lifeline on the road.  It will play movies.  It will play music.  It will hold tens of thousands of digital books.  It will get you on the Internet almost anywhere, even if you have to use your cell phone as a modem.  It will even let you work on your next book while you're having your oil changed.

Don't carry an extra battery.  Carry two.

Updating Your Passport
Renew your passport in November.  You'll be working lucrative corporate holiday parties all through December and January, so it won't hurt you if the passport office takes its time.  You'd have been stateside anyway.

-- Paul Frisbie, 2004

How to Become a Comedian
 
Paul Frisbie -- Chicago Comedian