Comedy Coaching

Why coaching?

As an 11 year standup veteran, I love teaching newer comics the ABCs and sometimes DEFGHIJs of the comedy world. Whether you need help getting booked on shows in your city, get into comedy festivals around the country, you want to learn to book tours, need tips and tricks for affordable and sustainable road life, help constructing longer sets or punching up bits, or money management skills, I can help.

Comics message me every day asking to do my shows or with some other favor or advice they would like, and 90% of them immediately make many mistakes in their approach. A natural teacher, I yearn to help them fix these things, which will increase their chances of success with the next person they reach out to. I also find fulfillment in teaching people all the things I wish I’d known starting out, or when I was 1 or 2 or 5 years in. Coaching is for you if you don’t have the time to go to 4 open mics a night for 7 years or simply want to quickly level up your comedy game.

What makes me a good coach?

I’m one of Louis CK’s regular openers, and have also worked with Maria Bamford, Tim Dillon, Bobcat Goldthwait, Eddie Pepitone, Ryan Long, Brian Simpson, Joe DeRosa, and honestly so many comedy heroes I can’t even think of them all right now. Tony Hinchcliffe once had me do his little panel. I did my first open mic on February of 2014 and was headlining local shows within the year, headlining indie shows on the road shortly thereafter. I now have a comedy agent. I’ve been in more festivals that I can remember, including many I’ve headlined or at least been paid for. I have spreadsheets of most cities in the US (and some outside) and am well connected at just about every level of comedy.

What do I offer?

15 minute quick fix - $50

With 15 minutes, I can teach you easy ways to improve the clips you’re sending bookers and the messages you send to them, direct you toward festivals worth your time and money and teach you how to improve your chances of acceptance, and I can connect you with the bookers of shows you’re ready for in Austin, NYC, LA, and many other markets.

30 minute adjustment - $80

With 30 minutes, I can do two of the following:

-Everything above

-Give you notes on your performance and jokes/bits in a clip that’s up to 10 minutes long

-Teach you how to book your own tours so that you can do longer sets outside of your city, whether for you that means 20, 30, 45 or 60 minute sets

60 minute workshopping - $150

And with 60 minutes, we can do any or all of the above more thoroughly and you can also ask me anything. I have advice on just about every aspect of the comedy world.

Ongoing coaching and workshopping is available, at $120 per hour session after an initial hour.

Ready to Level Up?

More on why me:

For a few of my earlier years, I hosted a podcast called Leading the Blind in which I asked more experienced comics for all the advice I could get out of them. I’ve also been learning as I go by trying all sorts of things out myself, and at this point I’ve developed a lot of best (or at least better) practices with merch, fan contact info gathering, making life conducive to your standup career, producing, and booking and marketing your own shows.

Specialty:

One of my specialties is helping comics develop the skills of crowd work and handling hecklers. I’ve produced heckling and crowd-work themed shows for many years. I started those shows to acquire the skills involved, and I quickly learned how to make crowd work and heckler-handling some of the most fun, easiest and funniest parts of the night.