SHECKYmagazine is not Dr. Phil!

by Brian McKim & Traci Skene on November 30th, 2004

Just got an email into Like We Care:

I just found your magazine online through Yahoo and thought that I would write. My brother moved to the New York Area in November of 2003 to live his dream of becoming a professional stand-up comedian. Since his relocation we have had a falling out and do not speak to each other, but I am interested in finding out how he is doing. I do know that he has frequented the following clubs in NYC (HA! Comedy Club, New York Improv, New York Comedy Club). If possible, I was hoping that one of your writers or editor’s might be willing to do a piece on him so that I could find out from a non-biased person on how he is doing.

My Brother’s name is Mike Milton

Sincerely,
Scott Milton

We run this letter in the spirit of the holidays, in hopes of reconciliation. But, since an alarming number of comedians have had a “falling out” with one or all of their family members, we fear it will touch off an avalanche of letters that begin:

Dear SHECKYmagazine:

My (brother/sister/son/grandson/other) moved to (NY/L.A./Vegas/Chicago/London/Toronto) to pursue his dream of becoming a standup comic. Unfortunately, we had a falling out…

If we don’t hear from Mike or from anyone qualified to accurately (and in an unbiased manner) assess his progress, we’ll tell you this: While we think it’s nice that you want to hear an update on your brother’s pursuit, we can say that if he were doing anywhere near good, you would have gotten an “in your face” letter by now. (At least that’s what we’d do!) Seriously, though, the first year of any comic’s New York adventure will undoubtedly be an interesting one and the way he measures his relative success might only be understood by another comedian. (Non-comedians tend to only understand “sitcom,” fame, gobs of money, etc.) We fear that your attempt to contact him is merely a desire on your part for an “I told you so” letter. We advise you to just get an address and wish him well– without any investigation into his income or his status. (Hey… Maybe we are Dr. Phil!)

And, if this is merely Mike Milton himself using an anonymizer-type program to disguise his identity in a tawdry attempt to have us “do a piece” on him, we are simultaneously impressed and horrified.

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