The Early Draft

There’s nothing quite as thrilling as watching a brilliant comedian whom the world has yet to discover. It’s like being in on a secret. Ithamar Enriquez is one such comedian. You may have seen him before - at The Second City or perhaps in any number of brief television appearances. Yet, chances are you’ve yet to behold his greatest work: Ithamar Has Nothing To Say, a silent one-man web series produced by Comedy Central’s Key and Peele (along with Maker Studios and Principato-Young Entertainment). Episode 6 of #TheEarlyDraft Podcast sits down with Ithamar to discuss race, failed auditions, and his journey from an out-of-place nobody in the vast Chicago comedy pool to becoming a series creator hailed by press as “a Charlie Chaplin for the 21st century.”

  A note about time: In the past few months, I had begun feeling that perhaps podcasting was a waste of my time. I’ve been getting enough opportunities to perform and send out my writing that it seemed obvious that the hours I spend editing and interviewing could better be used to prep scripts, pitches, etc. After all, I constantly feel the same pressure you do: Move, move, move! You need to get discovered. You’re running out of time! 

Are you making a web series? Stop right now and ask yourself these three questions:  • What’s sticky about my premise?  • How do I make my structure lean enough to produce unlimited episodes?  • How is my series using my comedic superpowers? 

So you’re a standup. And you’re good. You spend your nights doing booked shows and hosting your own shows. But what’s next? How do you get noticed in a sea of equally talented hungry comedians? Episode 4 of #TheEarlyDraft Podcast catches up with NY standup Rojo Perez to discuss the challenges of putting in the work, winning over the crowd, and attempting to break out of the years of anonymity comedians know as “the middle.” 

Rojo Perez is has been featured at festivals like the Bridgetown Comedy Festival and the New York Comedy Festival. He has built a name for himself on the New York indie comedy scene, regularly appearing at The Creek and The Cave and co-hosting the weekly Comedy as a Second Language show at Kabin bar. 

Every Saturday at 9 pm, comedian Jeff Whitaker takes the stage with his sketch comedy group Bad Example, the only group I know of -- outside of Saturday Night Live -- delivering an hour of brand new original sketch every single week. How does this scrappy young, unpaid group maintain such an ambitious output? Episode 3 of #TheEarlyDraft Podcast sits down with Bad Example founder Jeff Whitaker to talk fear, trust, and finding a way to create with your “back against the wall.”

"Animation was a solution to so many of the logistical questions I had been struggling with in staging my weird sketches: 'How can I make a cereal box talk? How do I construct a full-body Sea Cucumber costume in two days? How am I ever going to find a cat, teach it english, and then teach it how to rap?' With animation, literally anything was possible.” - Lynae LeBlanc of Drunktoons.  

It's here.  There first-ever #TheEarlyDraft Podcast.  This episode features Austin-based comedian Vanessa Gonzalez (Follow her on tumblr: buhnessa).  

To this day, I have yet to see a better live performer than Vanessa.  She is a force on stage.  Every one of her performances is a mix of sheer power and control, every character rendered with detail, depth, and a fuck-it-let's-see-how-far-this-goes commitment.  Those of you in NOLA are lucky enough to see her live:

NOV 19th and 20th - 8pm @ The New Movement 

HOW TO WATCH LIKE A COMEDIAN 3/3: Derek Dupuy

HOW TO WATCH LIKE A COMEDIAN 2/3: CHRIS TREW

HOW TO WATCH LIKE A COMEDIAN 1/3: Sophie Lucido Johnson

I'm a comedian.  By that, I mean I write comedy - sketches, web series, standup - that I put it up in front of people in hopes that they will like it and tell their friends "hey, you should check out CJ Hunt." At some point, I hope to get so good and have so many people like my work that I can get paid for it. I think about the things I want: a TV writing job, a spot on SNL, my own show. And these things feel so far away. I wonder if the life of a comedian is one spent constantly on your way. Constantly reaching. Chasing. Coveting the things you don't yet have. Lamenting the things you left behind in your haste. Obsessing about the next level. Whatever that is.  

I'm starting The Early Draft as a study of comedians on their way. Perhaps it's an effort to speed myself along or the opposite: to slow myself down and enjoy the ride.  Whatever the case, I'm interested in the thousands of dummies who have purposely chosen a career spent in-progress. I want to know about the chipping away. The little steps comedians take every day to get better at their craft. I want to know about the giant leaps, the falls, and the happy accidents. I want to know about the many messy drafts of oneself that a comedian goes through before finding his or her "thing."  I want to know how comedians are made.  

So that's The Early Draft: interviews with comedians in-the-making. Some of these will be stars, some of them will be names you haven't heard of... yet.  This started as a weekly column on NOLAvie.com, and will grow into a blog, podcast, and who knows what.