Why do you still do standup?

by Brian McKim & Traci Skene on April 29th, 2009

Why does the MSM still express surprise when a comedian continues to do standup after success in other media… or success in standup itself? (And they also like to ask those who strictly do standup why they haven’t ventured into other areas!)

“Stand-up is my most comfortable place to be,” Mandel says. “It’s the only place I don’t have to hit a mark and I don’t have to memorize a script. I go wherever I want to go. It’s like a primal scream at the end of the day, and I love it. It’s one of the constants in my career. I started with it, and when it comes time for me to go out, I will go out with it.”

Howie Mandel, quoted in the Las Vegas Sun.

“It’s a blast,” he said. “It’s my favorite thing. If that’s all I did, I would still enjoy it– just getting on stage and making people laugh is worth it.”

“What makes it worth it, honestly, is the letters and e-mails I get from fans– anywhere from people who are dying from disease to being crippled from something to troops fighting in Iraq to losing a loved one. I get tons of that stuff. And they always talk about what I do getting them through a certain point in their lives. They laughed, and that’s why I do what I do.”

Dan Whitney, aka Larry The Cable Guy, quoted in the North Platte (NB) Telegraph.

Standup, despite the endless protestations of those who do it, never appears to be a worthy enough pursuit for our friends in the media. They scratch their heads and continue to dust off the question in countless interviews.

Then, there’s this:

“The thing is, I want to enjoy my life outside of work. I’ve been on Jay Leno‘s show several times and they call him the hardest-working person in show business. The last things I want to be associated with are the words ‘hardest-working person in show business.'”

Daniel Tosh quoted in the Sacramento Bee.

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