by Chili Challis

Let’s just say I’ve been doing stand up for a loooong time. My passion for this art form began in the 60’s while in grade school and has never left me.

I liken performing stand up to a get down blues song and I get to be the harmonica solo. That’s where I go when I step on stage: right to the mouth harp solo…giving maximum effort to bending those notes so they feel the attitude and finishing with a big WAH WAH WAH riff!!! One liner - one liner! Best routine! Applause, laughter, anticipation, mystery, immediate excitement, chaos…and I’m the center. That’s living kids! That’s stand up! Comedy is just a freakin’ part of me man!! I’m obsessed dude!! (Insert your own wacky Dennis Hopper impression here).

Having said that, I truly feel that there is a brand new comedy boom happening. Yep right in the mix of national financial turmoil, war, new elections and such - a powerful original stand up comedy vibe exists. The clubs, theaters and so on I have worked lately seem to be filling up again. I think it’s an easy call as to why too: stress relief is much needed, and stand up comedy has for more than a couple of decades established itself as a good fun night out of endorphin pumping stress reducing laughter. People once again have a real need to laugh, life is coming at them from all sides today and so funny people NEED to deliver like never before.

Comedians need to take heed and go out and make people laugh with original takes on pop culture, funny commentary that LIVES and resonates with people. Polish those bits, quirks, observations and jokes and put them to the use that God intended.

Deliver great material straight from not only your heart but your gut too, your very soul. Study your craft, capture all the experience you can. Help other comics, write your asses off and experiment - experiment - experiment!

Comedy club owners and bookers should get with the program as well. Stop putting undue pressure on new and experienced comics to chose one club over another. Stop applying what in my opinion is ‘restraint of trade’ pressure on comics. Let them work! You need good comics and the only way they will get there is with open stages. And to that I’d say even more open mics and showcases are needed -fair ones of course- NO BRINGERS! It’s NEVER the comic’s job to become a club’s promotions department. All comics promote themselves, that’s a given; but asking them to have six or eight paid guests or whatever before they can perform is crap! I have always said that a problem with stand up is that it was never intended to be big business. It’s an art form that attracted a market and became big business.

It is painfully obvious as of late the job businessmen have done with business in this country - so how about giving artists their crack at doing some business in stand up again?!

We can’t possibly do any worse!