Michael Kosta
Los Angeles, CA
Male, 30s
I'm Michael Kosta, stand-up comedian (yes, that's what I write on my tax returns). I've performed on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Conan, and Comedy Central, and I tour all over North America and Australia. Ask me anything about life as a stand-up.
I think thanks to youtube there is even more BAD comedy than ever! That being said, its a great way to showcase one's talents to people that haven't seen it. I really hope live stand up always exists because I think its important. My guess is that it will. I mean, did youtube keep people from going to musical concerts or poetry readings? I hope not. Im so glad I started before youtube was totally crazy because I would have felt pressure to put my stand up online before it was ready. Comics are putting there first, second and third set up online and I always think "don't do that! get better first". One of the most annoying things about the web is when audience members record your set and post online. A good club wont let that happen but it still sometimes does. Putting a comics set online without their permission is reay frustrating. Was that too negative?!?!?!
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See above. I also rememeber something I heard Chris Rock say "If ignorance is bliss, whats the opposite?". Comics analyze life. They are very aware and observe a lot. What happens when you see it all for what it is? What happens if you become fully aware? Its kind red pill blue pill theory. I'm not saying comics are jedis or anything but people that truly observe the world, and think to challenge it and question is, often can become frustrated, sad and upset that it is how it is. I know very few religious comics (worked with 2-3 in 12 years of this). Why is that? In my opinion its because comics naturally question things, thats why they are comics. Once you question religion (again, in my opinion) it starts to really fall apart. You can't find as much comfort in it, if any at all. No I am sounding like a sad clown :(
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I'm not sure. I know that when I am scheduled to so a show at 1130pm and Dane shows up, pushes me towards the back and does 70 minutes on stage (without a hello, or friendly convo) and then I go up at 1245pm, I don't usually have the nicest things to say about him. Like everything, it has more to do with ones personal experiences with that person, mine have been few and not very positive.
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$11,121 $49,00 $112,321 Someone who works part time as a stand up could make $5,000 a year, and Jeff Dunam was the highest paid comedian a few years ago with $35 million. Yes, a guy who talks out of his side of the mouth with puppets made $35 million one year. Completely depends.
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Investment Banker
What's a 100-hour work week like?
McDonald's Manager
Were you proud or embarrassed to tell people you worked at McDonald's?
MBA Student
Is business school a party compared to law or med school?
I haven't had too much of that but if I find that a comic and i have a joke that is very similar, I like to always chat with him/her about it. Maybe it was random luck that we both wrote the same joke, maybe it wasn't on purpose, maybe it was stolen... but I let them know. Good comics drop the joke immediately (as would I and have) if something is very similar. If I ever caught someone stealing jokes word for word, yes I would confront them and I would make a big deal out of it. Stealing is completely unacceptable. Here's a great read on an Australian "comic" who stole jokes from two established comedians: http://www.laughspin.com/2011/05/26/videos-comedian-steals-jokes-from-comedians-lee-mack-geoff-keith-on-national-tv/
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Good question. There are topics that a difficult to tackle for sure, but usually the better the comic the more they can get away with. They have the skills to make it work. I have a friend who describes jokes by "level of difficulty", like a diver in the Olympics. A joke about 9/11 a few weeks after the event would obviously have a massive level of difficulty compared to a joke about getting pulled over by a cop and making fun of the police officer (who doesn't clap or laugh when a comic makes that joke?!) Men talking about rape has a high level of difficulty. I once told a Tsunami joke a few weeks after the big one that killed hundreds of thousands of people and it did not go over well. That was a mistake on my part. But I learned and thats how you get better. My apologies to those people affected.
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Any crowd that doesn't know, or didn't know that comedy was going to happen. Sounds obvious but you'd be amazed at how many shows comics do (especially when starting out) where you're at a sports bar during game 7 of the Stanley Cup and its comedy night! Those people are shitty audiences as you'd expect. Texters are the worst because they aren't paying attention and are also distracting others. (see this video of how I handled one texting situation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPtkNuZUBlc). Lastly, and this happens a lot in LA, a crowd filled with agents and talent managers is a nightmare. They don't laugh, they only drink water, and they are always checking their blackberrys (they still have blackberrys). Plus they are wearing suits... arg.
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