Differences between DC and NY #1: MONEY

So hey, if you live in DC you probably don't know who the hell I am. I just moved here from NYC where I've been doing stand up for about four years. If you live in NY there is a good chance you don't know me either. That's because there are 25 million people in the NY metro area and 20 million of them are "comedians." Nothing fills a pool of comedians faster than millions of failed actors.

So anyway, as the title of this blog suggests, the four of us don't plan on staying in DC for very much longer because, as the adage goes, "if you can make it in dc, you're a fucking liar." At least that's what I've been told. So many of you may be mulling over your possibilities of which city to conquer next. If NYC is on your list, I might be able to provide some helpful insight. If so, it would be the first time I ever provided help to any human being. My karma bank needs a deposit.

The first topic I'd like to cover is money-or more specifically getting paid for your craft. Unless you have multiple TV credits, you will not be making money for performing stand-up comedy within the city limits of New York. It is a clear, soul-crushing fact that you must accept. New York is a "showcase" city meaning that you are performing solely for the privilege of being seen by industry-even though that is a one in a thousand shot. I once got paid $20 by a producer that quickly learned this wasn't necessary and repealed that aspect of his show after three weeks of paying comics.

I'm not saying there aren't ways to make money. They just usually don't involve stand-up. There are plenty of writing jobs, web-content jobs, commercial acting opportunites, etc. where you can actually make some good money. But all of these are just kind of filler to fuel your true passions.

With that being a fact of life for the last four years I was pleasantly surprised when last night, after being in DC for only a week, I was paid $25 for a seven minute set. It might as well have been $1000 by how happy that made me. It was at a show run by Curt Shackleford at the Bethesda Hyatt. After reading his infamous "RULES & REGS FOR NEWCOMERS" I was pretty sure that I was going to be banned in the first five minutes of meeting Curt but he was surprisingly good-natured and I would even go so far as to describe him as "chatty."

The audience wasn't huge but that is something else that I have gotten quite used to doing shows in NY. But that will be saved for another post. I have to go write some actual comedy. As far as money-for-stand-up goes, DC is leaving New York in the dust. Read more!