Made to Schtick

Last updated: Feb 11, 2026

I recently read Made to Stick by brothers Chip and Dan Heath. It has a ton of great insights into why some ideas are stickier—more memorable—than others, and how we can take our dumb ideas and make them stickier.

The authors discuss how the stickiest ideas are often Simple, Unexpected, Concrete, Credentialed, Emotional, Stories—SUCCESs for short. Not every memorable story contains every attribute, but most contain at least a few.

Which got me thinking: Could I apply their advice to comedy?

I think so.

Simple
The Heaths write that “if we’re to succeed, the first step is this: Be simple. Not simple in the terms of ‘dumbing down’ or ‘sound bites.’ You don’t have to speak in monosyllables to be simple. What we mean by “simple” is finding the core of the idea.”

The same principle applies to jokes. If an audience is thinking about your joke, they’re not laughing at it. Often when I write new material, my first instinct is to make it clever. But clever isn’t really funny. The audience might think, “Oh, I see what she did there…” But that’s not gonna make them laugh. When’s the last time a double entendre made you shoot milk out your nose? In general, humor that works in The New Yorker doesn’t work on stage.

The simpler I keep my jokes, the stronger they’ll hit.

Unexpected
Jim David once told me “a joke is just a sentence that ends in a surprise.” For example, Dating is hard, especially when you’re like me…married. The word married is unexpected; it’s what makes the line funny. If you can see a joke coming, it’s not funny. Dating is hard, especially when you’re unattractive doesn’t have the same zing.

Concrete
Good stories, the authors write, are also concrete. They often involve real, tangible examples. When Nordstrom wanted to teach their employees that Nordstrom was all about customer service, they didn’t just say, “Listen up, we’re all about customer service.” Customer service isn’t concrete. It’s a concept, and might mean different things to different people. Instead, they told stories with concrete examples. They told their employees stories about one associate, who, during a particularly bad blizzard, warmed up a customer’s car while they finished shopping. That’s concrete. That’s customer service.

Comedy can benefit from this too. There’s an old idea that says you should write jokes a caveman would understand. A caveman wouldn’t know what “egalitarianism” is—is that even a real word?—but chances are he’d know what a girlfriend is. Or a mom or dad. He wouldn’t know customer service, but he’d know about snow and cold.

Listen to some of your favorite comedians and pay attention to how often they use concrete examples. Listen to Jim Gaffigan compare his wife’s tumor to various fruits.

Credentialed
The credentialed part may not sound applicable to comedy, but I’d argue it is. It’s important for the audience to believe that whatever you’re saying could conceivably happen. If the audience is too busy wondering whether what you’re saying is even real, they’re not laughing. For example, it’s unlikely I would be dating given that I’m married, but it technically is possible, so the audience isn’t wondering how it could realistically work. But if I started saying “Dating is hard, because I’m an alien,” that changes things. Now they’re thinking “what the hell is this guy talking about?”

Emotion
Emotion isn’t absolutely necessary for a good bit, but I think a lot of the good ones have it. The more emotional stakes a bit has, the funnier it is. A comic I know had a bit about hopping in a cab in Puerto Rico. He asks tells the cabbie, “We want to go where all the locals go.” And he ends up back in the Bronx.

The last time I heard the bit he’d changed it. Now the bit starts with him and his wife arguing about where to go on vacation. She wants to go to Miami; he wants to go Cuba. Finally he puts his foot down. So they go to Cuba, hop in a cab, and ask to go where the locals go. They wind up in Miami. Same joke, just emotionally richer. Now it’s a story—which we’ll get to next—about a guy who wants to go somewhere on vacation. His wife wants to go somewhere else. He raises the stakes by putting his foot down, which makes him out to be an asshole and creates tension in their marriage (and, more importantly, in the bit). They go where he wants to go, but, lo and behold, they end up where she wanted to go all along.

Stories
Not absolutely necessary, but I think helpful, is the storification of a bit. Humans are hardwired to think of their environment and communities in terms of stories, which make them a powerful way to convey information. There’s a reason most of the Bible is comprised of stories, and why Jesus spoke in parables. Morals are suuuuuper boring to learn, but hide them in a story and we are riveted.

Same with a good bit. I can say Dating is hard, especially when you’re married. Or I can start with that and continue with a story about my wife and my date night and the trials and tribulations of planning it, getting there, ordering food, and then consummating it at the end of the night. With sleep.

Buy the book on Bookshop.org or Amazon.

Anyway, that’s my two cents on applying Made to Stick' to comedy. Hope it helps! If you have any questions or comments, drop them in the comments below.

My Voiceover Setup (New for 2025)

Updated July 22 2025.

I recently setup a new voiceover booth and setup at home. You can read about my previous setup here, but suffice it to say my new one blows the old one out of the water. And the kicker? The mic I’m using is older. [As of May 20, 2025, this is no longer true… update below.]

Here’s a walkthrough of the new setup.

COMPUTER

Apple 16” MacBook Pro. I’m still using a MacBook Pro, but I upgraded in 2021. Now, I know 2021 is ancient for a laptop, but I splurged and got the M1 Max chip and I haven’t complained once about any perceived slowness. I do lots of video editing in DaVinci Resolve and have yet to notice any slow down.

SOFTWARE

DaVinci Resolve V20. Speaking of DaVinci Resolve, this is one area where I made a huge switch. In my previous setup, I used Adobe Audition for a DAW. But I’ve since dumped Adobe and moved to DaVinci Resolve. I just couldn’t stand paying the monthly subscription! The crazy thing is that, technically, you can use the FREE version of DaVinci Resolve to do almost everything you’d need to do as a voice actor. I opted for the paid version, which is a one-time payment of around $300, because I wanted some of the fancier features on the video editing side of things.

Source Connect. Source Connect is the industry standard for live directed sessions. I don’t like it. For starters, the website is confusing to navigate. It’s also really expensive. They also have two versions of the product, versions 3.9 and 4.0, and they’re not operable with each other. I have version 4 but most of that studios I connect to have 3.9. Source Connect allows you to create a “bridge” to connect the two versions, but it only lasts for 90 minutes. And in order to get the full 90 minutes out of it, you have to manually 15 minutes. But you can only add 15 minutes when you have 5 minutes left in the session… So it’s super fun to be in the booth and tell the engineer, the producer, and sometimes the client, “I’d love to record the next take, but I gotta go feed the meter.” Unless you’re booking several Source Connect sessions a month, go for the two-day $25 license. This is especially helpful since some clients opt for Zoom because they don’t like working with Source Connect either.

Moving on.

MICROPHONE

Sennheiser ME66 with K6P (no link because it’s old). Here’s another big change. Last time we talked I was using the Shure SM7B. But when I recently got back into doing voiceover work, I watched some YouTube videos on mics and noticed some of the people were using shotgun mics. I have a shotgun mic, I thought. And a halfway decent one at that. I used the ME66 exclusively on a recent project I did and really liked the sound, so I started using it in my booth. I LOVE IT. And the crazy part is that I picked this thing up suuuuper used on eBay for $50 years ago. On my wist list are the Sennheiser MKH 416 and the Neumann TLM 103. But until then, the ME66 will do just fine.

UPDATE!!!

Sennheiser MKH 416. I finally bought it. And I wish I’d gotten it earlier. It sounds SO SO SO different and SO SO SO much butter than the ME66. It’s the industry standard for a reason.

RECORDER / AUDIO INTERFACE

Sound Devices MixPre 6 II. Before I was using a Zoom H4N Pro. But now? I’m in love with the Sound Devices MixPre 6 II. This little guy is small enough to fit inside an on-set sound guy’s bag, but clean and quiet enough to be act as an audio interface. It’s also got tons of gain for gain-hungry mics like the Shure SM7B (which, I’m not using much anymore). It’s not entirely “out with the old and in with the new” though. I still use the Zoom H4N Pro to record multitrack audio recordings of comedy shows.

A Smile You Can’t Look Away From

Updated August 26 2025

“Cut!” the Assistant Director shouts. “Let’s take 5!”

I’d just finished the close up shot and the guys needed a few minutes to reset for the wide. A PA escorts me off set and into a holding area ostensibly to keep me safe, but realistically to keep me out of the way. I tend to get curious when lights and cameras come whizzing by. How many watts is your light? An Arri 35, huh? Can I see your f-stops?

“Do I have time to grab a quick bite?” I ask. I’m not even hungry, but breakfast was so good I wanted a second helping. Avocado toast and chia seed pudding with fresh fruit? What could go wrong?

The commercial is for Lumineux’s toothpaste, which, as the commercial says, gives you a bright, healthy looking smile people can’t look away from. This gag is that it’s so bright, the camera man can’t stop zooming in on my mouth.

Because we were shooting such a tight shot of my mouth—it sounds creepier than it is—the guys rigged up a teleprompter with a live feed from the camera so I could see myself, or rather, my mouth.

I walk off set and am greeted by the warmest smile I’ve seen all day, including my own.

“You are hilarious!” the brand director says as she gives a huge hug. “I keep seeing this guy as a recurring character!”

Had she stopped at “hilarious” I could have died a happy man. As someone who spends an inordinate amount of time trying to be funny, that’s high praise. But then to add a hug? Like a real, wrap-your-arms-around-another-human-being kind of hugs, and not one of those tap-the-back-shoulder-two-times kind of hug? That’s just too much. I blush.

“It’s so much fun up there,” I say. “Thanks so much for having me.” Wait, did she say '“recurring character?”

I quickly eat another chia seed pudding, head back to set, and stand on my mark.

“Picture’s up!” That’s set-speak for everyone can see what’s on camera; let’s get ready!

I look into the monitor. “Uh… Can we take another five? Also, does anyone have toothpaste?”

Another Great H&R Block Video

Director: Bobby Webster
DP: Kat Westergaard
HMU: Vera Stromsted

Reading List from Stockdale’s Foundations of Moral Obligation Course

Last updated: January 13, 2026

This is the reading list from Jim Stockdale’s and Joseph Gerard Brennan’s Foundations of Moral Obligation course they taught at the Naval War College. I took it from Stockdale’s Thoughts of a Philosophical Fighter Pilot, one of my favorite books on contemporary Stoic philosophy. My intention in posting this list is twofold: one, I’d like to read many of these books and will use this post as a reference; two, maybe others would like to read some of this stuff too.

Many of the books below are affiliate links which means if you click the link and purchase the book, I’ll earn a commission at no cost to you. Some of the books are out of print and/or difficult to find. Also, many of the oldest texts can be found in ebook format for free, so if free ebooks are your jam, be sure to look in your favorite ebook app.

READING LIST

Week 1: From 20th-Century Technology to the World of Epictetus. The Meaning of Moral Philosophy.

• J. B. Stockdale, "The World of Epictetus." Atlantic Monthly, April 1978.

• A. Koestler, Darkness at Noon.

• R. A. Gabriel, "The Nature of Military Ethics."

• M. Walzer, "Prisoners of War."

Week 2: The Book of Job. Life is Not Fair. The Problem of Evil.

• The Book of Job. Old Testament.

• A. Solzhenitsyn, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich.

Week 3: Socrates. Doctrine and Example. Civil Disobedience. Can Virtue be Taught? Soul and Body.

• Plato, Euthrphro, Apology, Crito, and Phaedo.

Week 4: Aristotle. Happiness as Living Well and Faring Well. The Moral and Intellectual Virtues. Courage as Balance and Endurance.

• Aristotle, Nichomachean Ethics.

• J. Conrad, Typhoon.

Week 5: Kant and Hart. Ethics of Moral Duty and Civic Law. Motives and Consequences. "Ought" and "right." The Meaning of Natural Law.

• I. Kant, Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals.

• H. L. A. Hart, The Concept of Law, chapters 8 and 9.

Week 6: Mill. Morality as Social Utility. Justice and the Greatest Happiness Principle.

• J. S. Mill, Utilitarianism and On Liberty.

• F. Dostoyevsky, Notes from the Underground, part 1.

Week 7: Individualism and the Collective, I.

• R. W. Emerson, "Self-Reliance."

• J. P. Satre, "Existentialism Is a Humanism."

• A. Camus, The Plague.

Week 8: Individualism and Collective, II.

• K. Marx and F. Engels, The Communist Manifesto.

• V. I. Lenin, What Is to Be Done?

• F. Dostoyevsky, "The Grand Inquisitor" from The Brothers Karamazov.

Week 9: Science and Values. Does the Universe Have Meaning or Purpose?

• J. Monod, Chance and Necessity.

• H. Smith, Kamongo.

Week 10: Return to the Beginning. Epictetus. The Stoic Ideal and the Ethics of the Military Officer. Philosophy as Technical Analysis and Way of Life. Wittgenstein and the Ethics of Silence.

• Epictetus, The Enchiridion.

• L. Wittgenstein, Tractatus (selections).

• N. Malcolm. Ludwig Wittgenstein: A Memoir.

• Plato, Phaedo (rereading of opening and death scene).

• J. B. Stockdale, "Freedom," Parade, June 29, 1980.

Books on Comedy

Last updated: February 21, 2026.

If I were starting out as a brand new comic in 2026, these are the seven books I’d read, in order of importance.

The New Comedy Bible, by Judy Carter

I've been doing stand-up for almost ten years and I still reference this book. If you take nothing else from this book, learn how she structures jokes:

A JOKE consists of two parts: a SETUP and a PAYOFF.
A SETUP is a TOPIC + an ATTITUDE + a PREMISE.
A PAYOFF is an ACT-OUT, a TURN, and/or a MIX + a TAG.

Here's her Neal Brennan example:

SETUP: It’s weird (attitude) when they talk about the economy on the news (topic) because they make it seem like everyone is rich (premise).
PAYOFF: They’re like, (act-out) ‘Global economic meltdown… is your money safe?’ ‘Uhh…you mean the $43 in my checking account? It should be okay.’

Mastering Stand-Up, by Stephen Rosenfield

Rosenfield approaches writing setups and punchlines from another, though equally helpful, angle. He discusses the importance of creating rolls as well as performing with emotional fullness:

To clarify what I mean by emotional fullness, let’s take a look at an excerpt from Louis C.K.’s piece on playing board games with his kids (this excerpt precedes the “Monopoly” material we looked at in chapter 7). I’ll indicate in parentheses the feelings that underlie his setups and punches.

Setup and punchline 1: (Annoyed) It’s boring having kids. You have to play kid games. You have to play board games. Little kid board games where you go . . . (making the monotonous sound of a game spinner twirling). And you go tick, tick, tick.
Punchline 2: (Making the same monotonous sound again.)
Punchline 3: (Trying to hide his frustration from his daughter) You got a six, honey.
Punchline 4: (Acting out his daughter’s slow and methodical counting and moving of her game piece) One . . . . . . . . . Two . . . . . . . . . Three . . . . . .
Punchline 5: (Openly frustrated, he points to where his daughter’s game piece should go) It’s here. Just go here. It’s just . . .

Finding Your Comic Genius: An In-Depth Guide to the Art of Stand-Up Comedy, by Adam Bloom

I liked Bloom's thoughts on what he calls "boom mic moments," those moments when comedians talk about other jokes or shows while on stage.

Even the biggest comedy nerd on the planet who’s seen that bit of material before and can quote it word-for-word doesn’t need to be reminded of that fact. So, the people who haven’t seen it before certainly don’t. There’s no point whatsoever in reminding your audience that what you’re about to say is a recital, because no single laugh (or two or even three) will justify causing that big a “boom mic moment”.

Also, I found his bonus chapter on corporate comedy helpful. I use everything in that chapter when I talk to corporate comedy clients.

Comic Insights, by Franklyn Ajaye

I love comedy. I love jazz. So when a fellow cruise ship comic told me there was a book written by a comedian who Bill Maher described as "the jazz comedian," I bought it. Comic Insights is less about the craft and more about the art of stand-up. From the author's own mouth (pen?):

This is not a joke primer, but a philosophical approach to developing material that will help anybody who wants to be a comedian unlock his or her true comedic essence.

Ajaye features a ton of interviews with comedians. I found myself identifying with a lot of the reasons why other comics got into this line of work. When I was alone in my dark, windowless cabin on the cruise ships, this book reminded me why I got into this job in the first place.

The Comedians, by Glyph Nerteroff

A great read on the history of comedy.

Seriously Funny, by Gerald Nachman

A deep dive on the beginnings of stand-up comedy as we know it today, focusing on the comedians of the 1950s and 1960s.

Comedy Book: How Comedy Conquered Culture, by Jesse David Fox

This last one's more about the current state of comedy vis-à-vis culture.

How to Roadtrip

Last updated February 12, 2025.

This is brief write-up of some of road trip tips.

Packing

Pack light. Or at least lighter than you think. No one’s going to see you for more than 20 minutes at a time. They’re not going to know that you wore the same snazzy t-shirt and sweatpants combo yesterday. And if you’re driving across the US, chances are your outfit is the fanciest thing they’ve seen all week. The less you pack, the less you’ll schlep into your hotel every night.

Pack modularly. If you need to pack for different climates, different occasions, or different activities, pack the different stuff in different bags. In 2022, Wiff and I drove from NYC to San Diego to watch my brother make Chief in the Navy. We packed roadtrip clothes in one bag, and Naval ceremony clothes in the other. That way I didn’t have to carry a suit and tie into every dumpy hotel we stayed in along the way.

Driving

Pick your long poles. Pick a few must-see spots and plan around them. In the above trip, our long pole location was San Diego, but we didn’t care where we stopped along the way. Knowing we were always going the right direction gave us the flexibility to be spontaneous.

Set a drive time limit. Over the years our roadtrips have evolved. In the early days, we’d drive 18 hours to make it from Tacoma to Irvine or 12 hours to from NYC to Chicago in a day. But those long drives can get tedious. It’s no fun pulling into a big city and not wanting to go grab a drink because you want to blow your brains out. On our last few trips, we’ve set a daily limit of 4-6 hours. This is partially because we' have an old dog and endless hours in the car can be hard on her, and partially because we’ve wanted to see more of the towns we stop in.

Dining

Early on, when we wanted lunch on the road, we’d hit up whatever fast food joint was just off the highway. It was convenient, but the daly routine of Taco Bell, Applebee’s, and catastrophic diarrhea got tedious. Now, we’ll grab a salad and half sandwich at Panera or stop at a grocery store and make our own salad. The Paneras and grocery stores tend to be a few miles off the highway, which initially annoyed me, but now the 10 minute drive off the highway is a welcome change of pace.

On longer trips, we’ll bring our Yeti cooler for snacks wine and it’s amazing.

Apps

Route planning: We’re Apple Maps people and have never had an issue. It’s ETAs have always been accurate, and the directions almost always align with Waze and Google Maps, which we’ve tested a few times over the years.

Music: Apple Music and Spotify.

How to eat and drink in Rome

Last updated: January 20, 2025

My three rules for eating and drinking in Rome:

1. Don’t do inside if there's someone standing out front* beckoning tourists to come inside.

2. Don't go inside if there's a giant menu out front in English.

3. Don't go inside if there are pictures of the food on the menu.

* They're called acchiappini, Italian for catchers.

Wine Shops:

The Italian wine in Italy is better and cheaper than Italian wine in the States. I grabbed a new bottle every day from the wine store around the corner and to take up to my room. Those were some of my favorite memories of the whole trip.

• Antica Bottega Dei Sapori. My daily stop. It's just a grocery store, but a really good one. Decent wine selection. Nothing to write home about, but it was around the corner from me.

• Bernabei. REALLY good wine selection. A few locations around the city. I know of Bernabei in Testaccio and Trastevere. There could be more.

For cocktails:

• J.K. Place Roma. Hotel bar. Great cocktails. Really good shareable small plates. They bring SO MANY FREE SNACKS with your drink orders. You can basically get a light dinner for the price of a cocktail (not super cheap, at €24). My parents stayed at this hotel and raved about it.

• Terrazza Borromini. Rooftop bar at the hotel where I stayed. Depending on the season, it might be partially enclosed and heated, but you can still get outside to enjoy the views. I had breakfast here every morning, so can't comment on the cocktails, but another friend highly recommended it for drinks.

• Hotel Eden. I didn't make it, but a friend I trust had this to say: "If you find yourself at the top of the Spanish Steps, it's one of my favorite bars with the most amazing sunset views.  It's the bar on the top level of the Hotel Eden."

For food:

• Bar del Fico. My first stop after arriving in the city. I had the gricia and it was really good. There's a photo of me on the wall there. If you see it, snap a photo and send it to me, would you?

• Pirò. Really good seafood.

• Armando al Pantheon. It's good. But don't cry if you can't get in. Tough to get reservations because Stanley Tucci ate here once.

• Matricianella. Solid choice. Great carbonara and cacao e pepe.

• Da Peppo Al Cosimato. I haven't been, but our local food tour guide recommended this place.

• Hosteria Grappolo D'oro. I haven't been, but our local food tour guide recommended this place.

• Spirito Di'Vino. I haven't been, but our local food tour guide recommended this place.

For street food in an area where there are zero tourists...

• Mercato Testaccio. Walk down from Campo dei Fiori to work up an appetite—it's a beautiful stroll mostly along the Tiber—and then putz around the market. You can grab suppli, arancini, and other Roman street food.

For gelato

• Giolitti. Go here after the Mercato Testaccio. The place has been in the family for over 100 years and they've been serving gelato for at least 50. Most authentic gelato experience, i.e., no mounds of gelato, no toppings, just really great flavors. I think they have another location... I think just north of the Pantheon?

How to Host a Comedy Show

Last updated February 21, 2026.

This is a brief write-up on how to host a comedy show.

Get them to behave as a group

Your primary objective is to get a room full of individuals to behave as a single group. To do that, get them clapping/wooing together three times. If you get the audience laughing and making noise right from the start it will make them feel less self conscious about laughing and making noise later.

“How’s everybody going tonight?”
”Wooooo!” [1]
”We can do better than that. How’s everybody doing tonight?!?”
”WOOOOOO!” [2]

You might think this is hack, but no one cares. The audience wants to have fun. The comics want a hot room. Management wants everyone to buy more mozzarella sticks and Chard.

Talk to some of them

This may seem counterintuitive given the “behave as a group” note above, but getting to know a few specific audience members will help draw people out of their shells. It’ll also create organic openings for you to make some jokes early in your hosting set, which gets everyone used to hearing the rhythm of jokes. And…it’ll get people clapping together a few more times. Here’s how I do it:

I start with general topics, like geography.

“Make some noise if you’re from out of town!”
”WOOOOO!” [3]

Single out someone who clapped/wooed and talk to them. You don’t have to make a joke, but it will help get them laughing organically.

”Where are you from, sir?”
”Mississippi.”
[to audience] “Give it up for Mississippi…” WOOO [4] “Is this your first visit north of the Mason-Dixon Line?”

And you’re off to the races.

You could stay on geography—”Anyone else from out of town?” “Anyone from another country?” “Anyone from a Union state?”—or you could move on to other general topics. You can steer the conversation toward a topic for which you already have material. I have material on being married, so that’s where I go next.

“Make some noise if you’re married!”
”WOOOO!”
”How long have you been married, miss?”
”22 years.”
”Give it up for 22 years!”
”WOOOO!” [5]
“To the same person?” or “What’s the key to making it 22 years?”
”Open communication.”
”That’s a good one.” [Now I segue into material] “For my wife and me, it’s having a nice even division of labor. At home, I make all the jokes, she makes all the money…”

Next you could talk to someone else, you could pivot to other material, or you could…

Cover house rules

Depending on the club, you may need to cover some house rules. I frequently host at Bananas Comedy Club, and they don’t have any house rules. Once, I hosted at a club that gave me an entire single-spaced page of house rules to cover. Don’t ask if anyone is celebrating a birthday. Do talk about our drink promotions… It was a challenge to remember everything on the list, but I needed the money.

In general, remind people to keep their phones in their pockets, on silent, or better yet, off. Remind them that heckling is disruptive and passé. When I host at Gotham Comedy Club, I’ll tell them that we’re taping these sets.

“We’re taping the show tonight. Some comics send these tapes in to get spots on late night shows. I’m sending mine to my mom as proof of life. ‘How can we make these tapes great?’ you ask? Laugh. That’s it. If you like a joke, laugh; if you don’t like a joke, laugh harder.”

When covering house rules, I find it helpful to insert a joke, hence the proof of life line.

I will update this page as I think of other topics. I’m already thinking I need to add a troubleshooting section… How to handle hecklers, what do to after a comic bombs, etc.

If you have any questions, feel free to drop them in the comments below.

New Commercials (H&R Block)

Last updated: January 18, 2026

[For other commercials, click here.]

“Hi, Liz!” I said. The Zoom callback started and I put on my best Book Me smile, one part hope, and two parts desperation.

She squinted behind oversized glasses. “What are we looking at here?” As a casting director she’s probably seen some strange auditions. The way she said it told me she hadn’t quite seen this.

I was in the middle of another job, dressed as Ebenezer Scrooge. I was also in heavy prosthetic makeup, not the ideal situation for a callback for a “Secret Tax Prep Company,” as the breakdown had called it.

“Oh, uh…I didn’t have a chance to moisturize this morning…hahaha…haha....”

The director spoke up. “I…I dunno if I can send this to the client.”

“Oh sorry. Seth said he told you guys that I’d be on set today dressed as Scrooge.” Seth is my agent’s assistant, and was the one who coordinated the meeting.

Liz paused a moment. “He did not mention that.”

“But, you know what,” the director said, “why don’t we run it a few times and let’s see if it’ll work.”

Maybe he wanted to see me for the role, or maybe he wanted to help me save prosthetically aged face, but I appreciated him throwing me a bone. We ran the scene a few times, adjusting the direction with each take. “This time say it like you’re telling someone a secret.” “This time, like you can’t wait to tell your friend about it.” “This time, better.”

That evening, my agent emailed. “Can you send in another tape? They just want to see you out of the prosthetics.”

So I sent in another audition. The next day, another email from my agent. “Hi! Hope you’re having a great weekend! I’ve got a booking for you!”

I finished patting myself on the back this morning, just in time to see the three beauties drop.

⬇️ (This is me during the callback.) ⬇️

But wait, there’s more!

As of April 2, 2025, H&R Block released another commercial. Watch it here.

Our dog’s nightlight

Last updated: February 13, 2025

My dog, Bailey, is mostly blind. She’s never been fully diagnosed as “blind,” but she’s run into walls full speed and whined at the foot of a lamp enough times to make us think, her vision’s probably not 20/20.

Her blindness makes finding the water bowl in the middle of the night a bit tricky. The bowl is right beside our bed, so she wakes up Wiff whenever she clacks around looking for it. As soon as she turns on her iPhone flashlight, Bails finds the bowl and starts drinking. It’s all well and cute, except it’d be better if Wiff didn’t have to wake up in the first place.

I decided to make a motion-activated nightlight setup.

I bought the Eve Motion for the motion sensor. It’s small, battery operated, and easily connects to my Apple Home, a requirement for my setup.

I bought a cheap low level plug-in LED and used a smart plug I had laying around.

Then I setup a Home automation so that, when the Eve Motion senses Bailey approaching the water bowl area, it turns on the smart plug, which powers the LED. Once it stops detecting motion, it waits for one minute and then turns off the smart plug. Also, the automation itself only runs from 2 hours after sunset to 30 minutes before sunrise.

One week in and this thing has already saved Wiff several middle-of-the-night wakeups. Money well spent.

Smart Phone. Dumb User.

Last week Wiff and I went to Birdland to see Bill Charlap. I would have added “the great…” before his name, but that seems a little overdone. I mean, yeah, he’s great, but do we need to keep saying “the great so and so” whenever we introduce someone great?

Of course, there are people whose names contained the words “The Great.” There was The Great Santini and The Great Gatsby. And all those historical figures: Ivan, Alexander, and Catherine all shared parts of their name but no relation. Charlemagne too; literally “Charles the Great.” I suppose whenever they were introduced it must’ve contained their full epithet.

And what defines greatness these days? I don’t know how or whether greatness these days is different than any other days. And who defines it?

Wiff and I were in Birdland watching the show [which, btw, was great], when I noticed the two children sitting at the table to our left. They were not watching the show. They were watching their phones. The entire time. I only know this, because their phones were as bright as the stage lights, despite illuminating something not half as interesting. [Or great.]

They also didn’t clap. I can forgive not clapping after a musician solos. Maybe they're not part of the jazz cognoscenti and don’t know that one applauds after each musician’s solo, despite the fact that the applause steps on the next musician’s solo. That’s okay.

What’s not okay is not applauding once.

When even come to the show?

They acted like they were in their own private dining hall just killing time while “the entertainment” played.

It got to be so annoying, that I did what any well-mannered jazz show audience member should do: I whipped out my phone so I could take a great picture of them.

Bananas

This is my fart face.

This week I worked at Bananas Comedy Club, a new club for me. I hosted five shows, one for Collin Chamberlin, a NYC-based comic from Pittsburgh, and four for Mary Lynn Rajskub, an LA-based comic from Trenton, Michigan. I’m not sure why where they’re based or where they’re from is important for the purposes of this entry, but I’ve already written it and am too lazy to hit delete.

To get out ahead of the “how’d you book that?” question… On Tuesday night, an agent called me and said a mutual connection had referred me to him and asked if I was available to host a show Wednesday night and then four more over the weekend. Wiff and I had plans for Wednesday night, Valentine’s Day, but she was fine canceling because a) she supports my career and, b) she wouldn’t have to fake a headache.

There’s kind of a joke among some comics that we’re all just waiting for The Industry to knock at our door. Ninety nine out of a hundred times it’s pure fantasy. But this agent’s call on this Tuesday night was the one time out of a hundred where the fantasy was real.

I mean sure, the shows were in a hotel conference room. And sure, the hotel was in New Jersey. But it was work and I had a blast doing it. The shows were bananas. The audiences were the apeshit. And it was an honor to monkey see monkey do that club.

How to Get a Commercial Agent in NYC

Updated March 9, 2026.

📣 I’m putting together a Ultimate Guide to Self-Tapes Masterclass. If you’d like to be notified when that launches, click here.

Here’s the brief story of how I found a commercial agent in NYC who’s helped me book a ton of great work with great clients like Carl’s Jr / Hardee’s, Autodesk, Regeneron, Get Your Guide, Travelers Insurance, FILO, Prudential, and FanDuel. (Check out my commercial reel here.)

1. I created a profile on Backstage and started self-submitting to low-paying gigs ($200-$500) to build out my resume and get experience. Those gigs included GFuel, AT&T, Quadrant Homes, Westy Self Storage, Ask Mr. Franchise, Porch and Patio, Magyar Bank, Downs Ford, Hilltop Nissan, Sovereign Global Advisors, At Leisure Licensing (I wrote that script too), Interactive Brokers, and a handful of others…
   

2. Someone told me to get on Casting Networks. I did, and started booking background work on movies like The Goldfinch and TV shows like Billions. I hated it. But there was a silver lining: one of the actors on the Billions set told me about Actors Access. There, I booked some featured background work on Evil Lives Here and a lead role on a TV pilot.
   

3. A fellow comic told me to take Brooke Thomas and Mary Egan’s On-Camera Commercial Intensive class—which I’d HIGHLY recommend. At the end of the class, they gave us a list of agents and told us to mail—yes, mail—them our headshots and resumes. If you take the class, tell them I say hello!
   

4. One of the agents I snail-mailed, Jerry Kallarakkal of A3 Artists Agency (formerly Abrams), happened to be doing a meet & greet at Actors Connection. I signed up for it. During our meet & greet, he liked my read of the sample script and invited me in for an office visit.
   

5. A few weeks later, I went to his office and signed with A3, and have been with them for the past 6 years.

Update: February 2024

In February 2024 A3 ceased operations.

In May 2024, the casting director I’d booked the Autodesk gig with—Mary Egan-Callahan, of the aforementioned Brooke and Mary—emailed me and asked who was repping me since the A3 shut down.

I said no one.

The next day she introduced me to CESD. Two weeks later I had a Zoom with Kirsten Walther and Maura Maloney, and the following week they sent over my first audition.

They’ve since booked me with Naadam, Goldbelly (twice!), H&R Block (twice!), Lumineux, Stitch Fix, Sprite, Clear Captions, Memorial Hermann, Hill’s Science Diet / Pet Supplies Plus, McGovern Auto, Perdue Chicken, Old National Bank, and, depending on when you read this, a whole lot more.

Update: May 2025

In May 2025, I signed with Billy Collura and Anita Reilly in their VO department, and booked gigs for Seamless, Estee Lauder, and bet365. I couldn’t be happier.

World Series of Comedy 2023 - New Orleans

Want to watch the live stream?

1. Click here.

2. Select LIVE STREAMS.

3. Find Comedy House New Orleans and select LIVE STREAMS.

4. Select Thursday Mar 23 - 9pm Eastern

5. Select NO DONATION* to watch the show for free.

6. Enjoy the show!

*If you choose to donate, I get 20% of the donation. If you really want to help fund my career, you can donate here.

Inspiration

I was planning my set for my spot tonight at Gotham Comedy Club when I wanted to take a break. Or procrastinate. Whatever. The point is, I starting planning the clubs I wanted to hit as part of my “Drive By” plan, which makes me sound more like a Type-A Crip than an enterprising comic. I was checking out the lineup at NYCC, came across the Good Eggs show, and saw a name I hadn’t noticed before.

This preamble is going somewhere, I promise!

The name was Matt Ruby. His bio mentioned his newsletter, which I immediately checked out. And then spent too long reading. Turns out it’s GREAT for procrastinating. Anyway, where I’m going with this is reading other people’s thoughts on comedy, the industry, the jokes, etc, makes for great motivation. At least for me.

Seeing that he’s got not one but TWO weekly newsletters is inspiring.

Which I guess is why I decided to write this on my blog.

Anyway.

That’s all for now.

Chow,

Anthony

New Commercials

Last updated: February 13, 2025

(Looking for the H&R Block commercials?)

A new batch of national commercials just dropped for Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s. I’m so so proud of these. It helps when you get a director as funny as Chris Werner, a co-anchor as funny as Oriana Lada, an agency as creative as 72andSunny, and a production team as hard working as Schrom. The whole team did an incredible job. Especially me.

In case you don’t watch TV, you can check them out below.

Oh! And I’m especially proud of my first Spanish-language commercial. I’d like to thank my seven years of Spanish language classes for preparing me to say “Planeros unidos” on national television. You can watch that one at the bottom of this page.

Carl’s Jr.

Hardee’s

En Español

World Series of Comedy

I was selected to be part of The World Series of Comedy’s festival. You can buy tickets for the live show or streaming.

1. Click here.

2. Select LIVE or STREAMING.

3. Select Loonees Comedy Corner - July 20-23.

4. Select Friday 1.

5. Use code GIVE for discounted live tickets.

6. Enjoy the show!

I love the first of the month.

This is an edited transcription of my Morning Pages entry from September 1st, 2021.

The first of anything gives me so much much to look forward to. The first day of school. The first date. The first dance. The first day of camp. So much to anticipate. It’s like a blank slate.

There’s something about a blank slate. Nothing to hold you back. No baggage. Pure possibilities. You can do whatever you want without fear that you’ll upset your status quo. 

I wonder if that’s why we have rituals celebrating firsts. Weddings celebrate the start of a couple’s new life together. Matrimony gives them a reset button to wipe the slate clean. That’s why they throw a big party. “Hey! Remember when we were terrible people? Neither do we! Let’s drink!” 

Brides wear white, the clean slate color. Though nowadays no bride is a “clean slate” in the original, virginal sense, white still fits because it’s a new beginning for their marriage. Plus who doesn’t look great in white?

Birthdays are a reset. So what if you barely showed up for your 37th year. Now you’re 38! You’ve got a whole new year to make something of yourself! New Year’s celebrates the closing of one year and the opening of the next. Maybe that’s why we’re so happy on New Years. Because we’re all closet optimists, who can only see a year of possibilities, blind to all the negatives, including the hangover tomorrow morning. 

Even funerals are a sort of reset. If you believe in the afterlife, you could see it as a complete reset. “I didn’t make much of this life, but thank god I can start fresh in heaven! It feels a bit hot… just me?” Even if you don’t believe in the afterlife, it’s still an acknowledgment of an end for the funeral attendees. They must let go of the deceased. They must drop the baggage they held on to while the deceased was still alive. What good is a grudge if the person you’re grudging against doesn’t know it? Or if they’re in the afterlife, they can’t do anything about it?

Endings allow us to change direction. On August 31st we say “not a bad month” but on September 1st we can say “…but this month’s gonna rock!” We need a way to acknowledge life’s ends, the rock bottoms. Only then can we start our ascension towards the surface. Without hitting rock bottom, we are still falling. Think of how stressful it is when you’re in debt. That feeling of “will I get out from under this?” That hopelessness influences your decision making. “I have to keep this terrible job, even if all roads lead to a dead end.” That’s why there’s bankruptcy. Or, if not a job, perhaps a marriage.

Divorce is an acknowledgment of marital rock bottom. A matrimonial bankruptcy. There’s no ceremony for divorce, although I imagine the two parties have their own ceremonies, involving heavy drinking, casual sex, or both. Something to wipe the slate clean so we can begin anew.

In divorce and bankruptcy, both parties admit it’s over, and in doing so are able to carve a path back to rightness. Bankruptcy allows the debtor a chance to wipe their hands of their failed business and create a new one. Same with divorce and its religious extension, the annulment. “This didn’t work. But better luck next time!” 

Although both the divorcee and the bankrupt face additional challenges in forging a road back. We shouldn’t stigmatize either event, though it would also be unwise to glorify it. Both the divorcee and the bankrupt suffer a decrease in their worthiness; the divorcee may find it more difficult to secure a mate and the bankrupt may find it harder to secure a loan. This ensures that people don’t jump to that last resort without some sort of thinking or work to prevent it. 

But we shouldn’t demonize the divorce or the bankruptcy. They are good. They are cathartic. We must acknowledge the end in order to begin again. Chris Rock said that Lorne Michaels told him, “You can’t make an entrance if you never leave.” Shutting that door means you can open another. That is hope. And that’s the feeling I have at the beginning of every month. I hope you do too.

It’s Okay to be Stupid

I really don’t want to be one of those people who says, “How is it July already?!” Whenever I hear that I want to scream “that’s how time works!”

But everyone knows that. We all understand how time works. I think we say “How is it July already?!” because we’re giving ourselves a free pass to be stupid. Just for a moment. And just to make a connection with people.

As always, for the sake of argument, let’s assume I’m right [I am], and that exposing one’s stupidity can make a connection, and let’s also assume that you want to make a connection with another human, and let’s even assume that another person wants to connect with you (this is a stretch for some of you).

Given all that, why does it work? How does it work? Why does telling an embarrassing story, or sharing a secret, or revealing your feelings endear yourself to another person? Because it’s real. And it takes courage. And both of those things are rare.

Whenever a character does something brave in a movie, especially in the name of love, I get a little choked up. When Tony Stark gives his life to save the universe in End Game, or when Hugh Grant drives to his aide’s family’s house and reveals his feelings, or when the little boy in the same movie does the same thing—I only watch Love Actually and Marvel movies—each time I see those moments, I tear up. Because they show us what it’s like to be a good human. These characters risk everything and grow as humans.

Which is so rare! When’s the last time you did something like that? Granted, if you pulled a Tony Stark, you’re probably reading this in the afterlife. But even then, when was the last time you spoke from your heart, were vulnerable, were brave?

For artists—and I would argue for regular humans, too—this should be a daily occurrence. We must put ourselves out there. We must be vulnerable. Because creating something from nothing takes courage. That little part of you, the little voice that whispers, “wouldn’t it be funny if...” or “let’s tell a story about...” is where the magic comes from. So you have to show it to the world.

And then of course be ready for people to tear it to shreds in the comment section.

But commenters aren’t brave. Ridiculing, critiquing, reviewing, that’s the easy part. It’s not courageous to tell someone their performance sucked. It’s not brave to write a yelp review.

Which is why art is hard. Writing is hard. Comedy is hard(est).

The reason art exists, the reason we love movies and TV shows—and especially comedy since it’s the hardest of all the arts (I might be biased)—the reason all these things exist, is to remind people what brave is. To show them they can be courageous. To paint a path that says, “you, too, can be do this. You, too, can make sacrifices. You, too, can be Iron Man.”

Without those reminders, we’re just regular people. And regular people just watch movies and roll their eyes at people who say “How is it July already?”