SHECKYmagazine loses its mind! ! !

by Brian McKim & Traci Skene on July 16th, 2005

Just got the following from an avid reader of SHECKYmagazine.com:

Well, it’s official– you’ve lost your mind.

To hear you say that comedians should not earn a living wage DISGUSTS me. Those of us who consider ourselves “professional” comedians would gladly trade a 50 percent pay increase for 94 percent of our profession if it meant that the other 6 percent wouldn’t be able to continue making their non-livable wage. ARE YOU CRAZY? Who wouldn’t take that deal? Any group of people in any profession would jump at that. If you don’t believe me why don’t you put up a poll and ask REAL comedians?

Apparently you consider yourself an open-miker because that seems to be where your priorities lie. What do you have against experienced “professional” comedians reaping the benefits of their profession? Why is your priority on the nonprofessionals? And anyway, why should squeezing open-mikers make anyone ‘nervous’ if the best these amateurs can hope to achieve is to earn a non-livable wage?

If you don’t respect your own abilities as a professional that’s your business but those of us that do have confidence in our talents in our chosen field expect to compensated fairly.

Apparently you think comedians are just a bunch of children who should be thankful that people are willing to pay money to someone else to watch them perform.

Why don’t you print this and let the comics decide if you’re out of your fucking mind?

Tony Daro

We went back and forth with Mr. Daro in December about this very subject, privately, in email, at the height of the NYC Comics/Owners dispute. The email debate ended, with both parties agreeing to disagree.

Or so we thought.

We have our ideas about economics and market forces and how they should work or be allowed to work. Mr. Daro has his. We’ve linked to articles that spelled out Mr. Daro’s philosophy; we’ve always let it be known where we stood. Until now, we’ve always thought it was a difference of opinion, now, however, it appears that we’re “out of our fucking minds.”

Where Mr. Daro goes horribly wrong is when he implies that neither of us are professional comedians. He also seems to think that we pay too little attention to NYC comedians… and far too much attention on open mikers. What he fails to realize is this: Each of us (both the male half and the female half of the staff) are, to use Mr. Daro’s own words, “experienced ‘professional’ comedians reaping the benefits of (our) profession.” And we’ve been that, each of us, for more than 20 years. Yet, we still remember, with startling clarity, what it was like to break into this business, to learn the craft. And most of our favorite comedians started out (as did 99 per cent of standup comics) as “open-mikers.”

Somewhere out there right now is the next Mitch Hedberg– a fry cook or a temp worker or a dog walker– whom Mr. Daro would gladly throw under the bus so he doesn’t have to sully himself by crossing the George Washington Bridge and do a college gig or an Elks Club or (horrors!) a suburban comedy club. So entitled is Tony Daro to a “living wage,” that he enthusiastically slams the door shut on any who might come in his wake and try to scramble onto a NYC stage and endeavor to learn this craft for free or for gas money or for glory. Had some of those who came before him been equally enamored of negotiations and regulations and fees and dues and memberships he and many of his contemporaries probably wouldn’t be comedians. Had those who blazed the trail before him had the same selfish, myopic and bitter view of the world and the business and the art and the lifestyle of standup comedy I daresay that Mr. Daro and myself and my wife would not today be engaged in the most fascinating profession in existence.