I found out how to be a successful comedian

I have a lot of fun doing stand up comedy in Lisbon despite all the challenges that have come with it. The opportunities still aren’t very often, and it’s a huge uphill battle to change that. I’m trying to help and encourage as many people as I can to start English nights. There’s a whole new generation of Portuguese comedians out here hustling to put on shows. And they’re doing great. They’re killing it. I’ve been going to as many Portuguese shows as I can to help me learn the language. And I get to meet and talk with all these Portuguese comedians trying to create more opportunities as well. In Portuguese, obviously. I know a couple are planning an English night soon, so that motivates me.

I’ve had people I thought were friends stab me in the back because I had the gall to do shows with the competition. I’m a comedian y’all - I’m not buying into promoter politics. That’s not what I’m here to do. I’m here to make people laugh and have a great time. That’s what I need more of in my life right now. To laugh and feel good. It’s fucked up when people want to see you fail because you’re not exclusive to them. I got a lot of great advice from other people who have experienced this. Apparently, in comedy, this shit is super typical, and everyone seems to have a story. So I have my own stories now too - dope!

Setting up shows myself has been an enormous challenge. Reaching out to venues only to be ignored or denied over and over again is frustrating. I’m going to out bars, hostels, hotels, and e-mailing places. Anywhere. Anywhere that I could set up a mic in front of people. I don’t even care if it’s ten people in the crowd. Or five. or two. I’m just trying to create more opportunities. Not just for myself, but all the other comedians that want to keep performing in English. The more people get to perform, the more comfortable they’ll be. And then they’ll feel like they want to host a night. And hopefully, they continue to work with each other to create a positive and supportive scene out of that growth. At least that’s how I hope it will end up.

I host two English comedy shows in Lisbon now, which puts me in a weird position where the comedians performing think I know what I’m doing. They look to me for advice on their set before they go up. They want feedback. Sometimes I see them all shook up before they’re about to go on stage. And I go over to them to chat and calm them down. I remember feeling like that. It’s been a long time since I felt shook up before a show. But I still don’t feel like I know what I’m doing. A lot of people are looking to me for answers, and I haven’t figured them out myself — fuck.

I would say the two biggest influences for me at this point have been Hugo Rosa and Adam Palmeter. Hugo has been supporting English comedy here since day one. He’s given me loads of insight and helped me out so much every time we do a show. Adam Palmeter was here for a brief time, but we took those two trips to Porto together and had a lot of time to talk about comedy and his experiences. And just watching how he approaches the craft was impressive. But Hugo’s focus is understandably Portuguese shows, and Adam was only around for a month.

But I feel very comfortable in “fake it till I make it” mode right now, so it’s all good. I think I run the shows I host pretty well. And I feel I’ve figured out the right place for me in comedy. I don’t think I have that drive to be a big-time comedian. That’s not realistic for me. You look at how much these people are on the road running around. I fuckin hate traveling. I prefer to hunker down in a place I’m comfortable, and right now, that’s Lisbon. I would love to do shows abroad when I travel, but I don’t want to be going to a new city every night for months on end. That sounds terrible. At least right now, it does. It probably will in the future as well. That’s the fun part about blogging I get to go back and realize just how wrong I was. I’m pretty super duper to the infinity power sure it’s the case tho.

So what do I do with comedy if I’m not gonna be a big star?. Well, I’m doing it. I’m working with comedians. Sharing the few insights I learn from others with them. There’s a lot of people here that I think could take themselves to another level with English comedy. And with English, they can take their act on the road outside Portugal and feel comfortable doing so. They need more opportunities to develop and people there to encourage and help when it’s needed. There will always be new people who want to try comedy for the first time who need some help to get in the right direction. And I think I can do all that - even if I don’t know what I’m doing. Cause that’s what I’m doing right now.

I love it when we finish a show, and the comedians are so excited. They did well, and you can see how fucking pumped they are. They’re talking with people from the crowd and I’m sure they’re hearing a lot of great stuff. And they’re asking me what I thought, what could they have done better, and when is the next show going to be? I love it.

And I would love to see some of them start hosting their English comedy shows in Lisbon. And start traveling. And maybe get big. That’s success for me right now.