Five things I wish I'd known before I started comedy and filmmaking

The very awesome Nate Baumgart invited me to be on the comedy filmmaking panel at his first annual Inside Joke: Chicago Comedy Symposium a few weeks back, and he prompted me to think about five things I wish I'd known before I started comedy and filmmaking. Here's what I came up with.

#1. The quality of your equipment matters very little. Don't wait until you can afford the perfect camera, the best editing software, classes or workshops. You probably already have what you need to get started and the most important thing is simply DOING this thing you want to do. If you have a computer, you have editing software. If you have a digital camera made in the last ten years, you (almost certainly) have video-shooting capability. Writing is writing and editing is editing, no matter how elaborate or simple your technical setup. (I shot the following short with a $100 digital camera, and I still think it's still one of the funniest things I've done so far.)



#2. It doesn't matter how much schooling\training\experience you have or don't have. Of all the filmmakers I know, two went to school to study filmmaking. The (many, many) others, who are also dazzlingly skilled and talented, are self-taught. There are a million tutorials on YouTube that can teach you anything you can't figure out on your own about iMovie, Final Cut, Photoshop, you name it. Libraries are bursting with books about film theory and editing, and a surprisingly large percentage of creative people on Twitter and elsewhere online are willing to help newbies with questions.

#3. Creativity is a group thing (even in the "solo arts" like stand-up comedy). Find (or make) your group and forge strong bonds. You need each other. The more you can keep yourself open to people and ideas and experiences, the better an artist you'll be, and - bonus - the happier a human being you'll be. Find each other, and stick together.

This can be tough for some people, but the rewards are rich for those willing to push themselves out of their comfort zones. I'm a lifelong introvert\quiet person who is most comfortable behind the camera and more than happy to shine the spotlight on those who bask in it. Making friends and being social was a little tough for me when I first moved to Chicago, after ten very quiet years as a dog-walker and housesitter, a job that had me interacting with animals more than people. I accommodated my social difficulties by entering the comedy world gradually in different capacities I felt comfortable in - as a writing student at Second City, then a blogger covering the Chicago comedy scene with The Bastion, briefly as a stand-up comic, and eventually a stand-up producer (at Chicago Underground Comedy, see clip below) and filmmaker.



#4. Stabilize yourself financially so you can be creative. It's hard to transcend daily existence enough to create art when you're scrambling to pay rent and feed yourself. Panic and stress do not soothe the muses. Hang on to that dull but bill-paying day job as long as you can. Definitely explore avenues of getting paid for what you love to do but be ready for some overlap.

If you live in Chicago, sell your car and ride your bike everywhere - you'll save money and be fitter and more energetic too. Shop at thrift stores and neighborhood grocery stores, cook for yourself, have roommates to help cut down on expenses, whatever it takes.

If you can keep your expenses low, you can probably get by with almost any kind of job, and, minding that, try to find something enjoyable and low stress. Work at a fun coffee shop. Be a nanny. (Seriously, parents, stand-ups are the best nannies ever. Imaginative, loving, and very playful. Hire them!) Find a day job that is minimally draining and doesn't hurt your soul every time you punch in.

#5. Do it. Do it, do it, do it. Don't talk about it, think about it, dream about it, and keep it locked up in your head. You don't know what it's really like until you DO IT. Are you scared? Do it anyway. Are you insecure? Join the club, buddy! If you weren't nervous about getting onstage/putting yourself out there, something would be wrong.

Don't sit in your hometown for ten years after college, wishing and hoping and dreaming (oops, was that a little too specific?). Get yourself together, boldly proclaim your desire to be a filmmaker\actor\musician\whatever, and DO IT.

You can stifle a desire like that for as long as you like, but #1 it's not going to go away, #2 the suppression of that desire will cause you a lot of pain and turmoil and #3 the world needs what you have to offer.

That last bit is very important but somewhat difficult for self-critical brainy types to absorb. It's key, so work on it. Realize that it's not selfish for you to want to develop and share your creativity, you actually have a contribution to make to the world with your gift, and your talents are needed. Truly, the selfish thing would be not sharing your gifts with the world.

At whatever level you can start, start doing the thing you want to do, and keep doing it. Volunteer to help with other people's projects, reach out for advice and support, watch people who are further along in your art do their thing. It takes time and just plain hard work, but don't be afraid. Plop yourself on an exercise ball and bounce around while you write/edit/whatever on your computer, make writing/creative dates with friends to work together, read a book about ADD management strategies - whatever it takes for you to develop the habits of a productive creative. DO IT. And keep doing it. You have no idea what opportunities might open up to you, but one thing is for sure - if you do nothing, nothing will happen.

Dan Telfer's dinosaurs and the rewards of a stand-up road warrior

My Chicago Underground Comedy co-producer Dan Telfer has made a lot of headway in stand-up lately. Dan and I started out doing open mics together with our little posse of supportive pals a few short years ago, then we started producing ChUC together, and he's made incredible progress creatively and professionally since then.

Dan was recently featured in this cool feature story in The Onion, which explains how he's struggling with the "the eternal dilemma of Chicago comedians," which is "how far can I go in my comedy career before actually having to leave Chicago?" He's spent a lot of time on the road lately, doing stand-up gigs at clubs in Indiana, Minnesota, Iowa, Michigan, and elsewhere, as well as doing stuff like making appearances on the Bob and Tom Show.



(Even more impressively, he does all of this while being responsible for serious grownup things like a mortgage, a lovely wife, and a painfully cute kid - seriously, I've babysat for the kid. She'll crush you with her cuteness.)

Conventional wisdom - and road warrior comics like our castmember Mike Stanley - says that road work teaches you to adapt to audiences that may or may not be terribly familiar with you, and who likely have very different tastes and cultural leanings than hometown crowds. It's where you learn to play to different kinds of audiences, really sweat it out, and earn your chops.

Dan came back to ChUC from the road a few weeks ago, and he and I and our awesome sound engineer Evan Hydzik (from Big Audio, hire them!) sat on the side steps of the Beat Kitchen enjoying a nice cool breeze before we opened the house and the madness began.

Evan and I were reading The Onion article on Dan and embarrassing him with praise.

"I'm trying to decide what to do with my set tonight," he said, "either a straight set or more crowd work."

"I like it when you go bananas," I said, and Evan agreed. "Cut loose. What do we always tell our castmembers? 'This is your home base, the supportive place where you can try new stuff and experiment a little.' This is the payoff for all those road gigs where the audience wasn't giving it up and you had to work like hell."

So here's the clip. You can hear me and Evan laughing in anticipation, before the audience (and sometimes before the joke) because we know what's coming, and we know what an unusually electrified mood Dan is in. (I still need to find out a way to dampen my laugh behind the mic. I try to lean back but I'm in constant motion and I have to keep the camera pretty close - but then again, come on, when stuff's funny, I'm gonna laugh.)

We've watched Dan polish and refine the awesomely dense and nerdtastic joke "The Best Dinosaur" for quite awhile and I honestly think with this iteration he reached mastery. I couldn't help but think back to some of those early lonely open-mics where Dan banged out early versions of this joke. As you can hear, our audience was wild with appreciation. It was kind of amazing.

Cameron Esposito 4-27-10 at Chicago Underground Comedy

Cameron Esposito 4-27-10 at Chicago Underground Comedy!



This was two weeks ago, when Cameron hosted a show that began with very few audience members actually settled in to our cozy back room at the Beat Kitchen. (Sometimes our audience tends to linger in the front, sipping drinks, chatting with friends, and keeping an eye on whatever hockey or baseball game is drawing attention that night, before gradually drifting back into the show.) You can see Cameron greeting the stragglers as they file in, and generally do a great job engaging the crowd and amping up the energy level for what ended up being a powerful show.

Hosting is not everyone's favorite thing. You sort of sacrifice a regular set and take on the responsibility of punctuating the show, setting the tone, and preparing the stage for your fellow comics. Some people are better suited for it than others. Cameron is always a marvelous host.

Much to her credit, I once saw her hosting (at a non-ChUC show) where one particular performer was a major mood and energy killer. The audience was not digging them, sort of bristled, and quickly stopped paying attention to them altogether. The second that set ended, Cameron bounced back up on the stage, and got the energy to its previous high point within about three sentences. It made quite an impression.

My favorite part of the above set, which friends and I keep repeating to each other:

"Dad, have you met Claudia yet?"

"I'M NOT UPSET ABOUT IT!"

(Here is Cameron's Chilarious blog, on the Tribune's ChicagoNow network, should you feel inclined to learn more about her.)

Chicago Underground Comedy is $5, every Tuesday at the Beat Kitchen, 2100 W. Belmont. Produced by Dan Telfer and Elizabeth McQuern. Video, music, and editing by Elizabeth McQuern.

Beth Stelling 4-27-10 at Chicago Underground Comedy

Chicago Underground Comedy is $5, every Tuesday at the Beat Kitchen, 2100 W. Belmont. Produced by Dan Telfer and Elizabeth McQuern. Video, music, and editing by Elizabeth McQuern.

My pix from The Education Show, 4-29-10, at Fizz in Chicago

Full Flickr set here.

Joe Avella:


Tim Racine:


Jason Economus:


Lisa Burton (with audience member Adam Wolf):


Larissa Zagaris and Dyan Flores:


Bryan Bowden:


Ruby Weapon:

Custom-made hat and scarf from Christine of Adventures in Crocheting

(With a tip of the hat to the dearly departed Fametracker forums, RIP.)

My very awesome friend-I-haven't-met-yet Christine (aptly, her blog is called Adventures in Crocheting) created this beautiful hat and scarf set for me with her own two talented hands!

She offered to knit me something, had no more info to go on than "I have sensitive skin so I like really soft fabrics," yet she managed to choose colors and a style that I just love!

And yes, when I'm all bundled up on my bike, blazing through cold Chicago streets, it kinda makes me feel like a superhero, hence the cheesy pose. Thank you, Christine!

Woodturner Tim Kennedy at Kellar Mahaney Gallery, Zionsville, IN

Another new video project! This one has nothing to do with comedy, although it's definitely about creativity. Featuring Kellar Mahaney's Lolly Schoonover and talented woodturner Tim Kennedy. Video, music & editing by yours truly. Lolly and Tim are both family friends and Lolly's gallery is in my hometown of Zionsville, Indiana, so I put some extra TLC into this one. It's pretty short (2:40) but I think it tells you a lot about Tim, Lolly, and the art they love so much.

The Job Interview - by Bryan Bowden and Elizabeth McQuern

Rev. Jim Fundy has come up with a humdinger of an idea - sexless porn! Written & produced Bryan Bowden, directing, music and editing by Elizabeth McQuern. Featuring Kristen Studard and Bryan Bowden.

Made especially for Second City's 7 Day Shorts. I'm happy to report my parents think this is hilarious, and they watched it five times when I emailed it to them.

Fallout! A Second City 7 Day Short

We just had an awesome ChUC and I'm exhausted but here's our latest 2-minute funny, via Second City's 7 Day Shorts. This shortie was based on the audience suggestion "fallout," featuring Bryan Bowden, Keith Ecker, John Bohan and Chad Briggs. Written and produced by Bryan Bowden. Video, music and editing by stupid old me. Very proud of this one.

Invention - a Second City 7 Day Shorts project

Here's a one-minute short Bryan and I shot last week with Chelsea Devantez, as part of Second City's 7 Day Shorts program. To keep things nice and meta, here's the blog post Bryan wrote about it.

Invention was screened last night at the DeMaat Theater but none of us were there to see if people laughed at it, a situation we may try to remedy. (One problem - the shorts are screened at 10:30 on Tuesdays, and my show Chicago Underground Comedy is at 9:30 on Tuesdays. Boo.)

Before you ask, the sound effect used for the "invention" is my bikini shaver. Believe it or not, it's almost impossible to find a good vibrator sound effect anywhere online. And yes, casting actresses to play my boyfriend's wife or girlfriend is meta and very fun.



Bonus: here's a photo I took of Chelsea during last season's Impress These Apes. Perhaps in homage to Marge Simpson, she pulled that ray gun out of her hair in the middle of her song. It was pretty great.

Hey Dancin'!

Another new thing I did! I was the director on this video. I wish I could say I did the editing on this short-but-awesome promo, but in fact the shooting and editing wizardry is compliments of Mike Tutaj, who is marvelously creative in countless art forms.

A few weeks ago Sarah Rose Graber and the Factory Theater folks had Mike and me come hang out with the cast of Hey Dancin', a new play about a 1986 Chicago cable access dance show, and shoot this promo. So fun.

What? I'm blogging again?

I know, it's been a million years. Or 3-4 months. Especially sad because I missed the fifth anniversary of my very first blog post, way back in February 2005. Anyway, how are you? I've been really busy with a ton of new creative projects, but I hope to start poking my face into blogworld to share info about new plans, new projects, new skills.

Recently I went through about 3 months of Chicago Underground Comedy sets and pulled out little bits for some snappy new 1-2 minute highlight clips, 8 in total. I'll post them below, but if you want to soak in about ten minutes of uninterrupted ChUC awesomeness, enjoy this playlist of all 8 clips, which features every current ChUC castmember (oops, except for Mike Stanley) and a few favorite guests.

Chad Briggs, James Fritz, and Brendan McGowan:


Paul Thomas, Beth Stelling, and Ricky Carmona:


Nate Craig, Cameron Esposito, and Ken Barnard:


James Fritz, Hannibal Buress (currently writing for Saturday Night Live!), and Drew Michael:


Mort Burke, Jim Fath, and Jeff Hansen. Fath gets the award for best Hitler joke.


Prescott Tolk, Adam Burke, and Brendan McGowan:


Ricky Carmona, Chad Briggs, and Dan Telfer:


Prescott Tolk, CJ Sullivan, Mike and Duane:

Chicago Underground Comedy - Halloween 2009 Show Highlights!

Why yes, Chicago Underground Comedy's Halloween show was très formidable, and yes, I did just edit a zippy highlight reel, and skip to my lou, here it is! Six minutes of Chicago comedy brilliance.



Video, music, and editing by me! Featuring Adam Burke, Ricky Carmona, Beth Stelling, Cameron Esposito, Ken Barnard, Nick Vatterott, Dan Polydoris, C.J. Sullivan, Paul Thomas, and Chad Briggs.

Chad Briggs at Chicago Underground Comedy Halloween 2009

It only takes a second to be safe! Chad Briggs' Impress These Apes-winning character, "professional safety expert and accidentalist" D.K. Ediger - at Chicago Underground Comedy's Halloween show last week. Honestly, funnier than any character on SNL right now. Video, music, and editing by me.

Happy Halloween!

Music video shoot with Seth Williams and Andy Metz

Photos by me, full Flickr set here. So my comedy pal Seth Williams and I have been talking about doing a music video for quite awhile, and a few weekends ago he brought his musical partner-in-crime Andy Metz to my neighborhood and we ran around with my cameras, shooting them performing their song "Simpleton" in several locations. We had a great time playing around and being creative, and I'm really happy with the video and photos we ended up with. Of course, this being my first music video edit, it will still take me awhile to refine the final product, but when it's done I will be sharing it here, so stay tuned! Here are a few photos from the video shoot.

My pix from Impress These Apes Season 4 Show 4: Horror Films

(Full Flickr set here.) Last night was the mid-point of the fourth year of Impress These Apes, show #4, and the talent was Horror Movie. The puny human slaves, aka contestants, were partnered up and challenged to complete a 10 minute horror movie. Between crafting their ideas and still doing things like going to 9-5 jobs, most of them were editing up until the wee hours of the morning yesterday, so after the show the crowd dispersed earlier than usual, but their efforts were clearly worth it. The Apes treated us puny human audience members to popcorn and milk duds, and it was an awesome night as usual.

Ken Barnard as Beauty Pageant Host and Jim Fath as Future Human:


Steve Gadlin as Barry Shirley, Paul Luikart as Captain Apehab, and Bryan Bowden as Bushmeat:


Michelle Renee Thompson and Chelsea Devantes:


And their video:


Thomas Wittington and Kelly Beeman:


And their video:


Scott Whitehair and Chad Briggs:


And their video:


Christina Boucher and Daniel Kibblesmith:


And their video:


Bryan as Bushmeat. (Is it weird that I still find him cute when he's being a redneck ape? That's not usually my type.)


And the final moment of terror for the contestants, the announcement of next week's challenge: their biggest performance fear, which they were unfortunate enough to tell the apes during their videotaped auditions. I say it every week: these contestants have major huevos. I wouldn't even be able to handle the audition process, let alone being an Apes contestant and coming up with something awesome every time with 7 days' notice.

Chris Condren at Chicago Underground Comedy October 6, 2009

The adorable, barely 21-years old and already hilarious Chris Condren, last Tuesday night at Chicago Underground Comedy.

My pix from Peek-a-Boo: An Ooky Spooky Halloween Burlesque Revue

The show is at the Greenhouse Theater in Chicago, all this month! Full Flickr set here:

Mr. Bones, AKA Chris Biddle:



Naughty Natanya:





Siren Jinx:





Natasha Minsk:









Dr. Acula:



Very Bond girl-y!

The Onion editor Joe Randazzo at Chicago Underground Comedy Sept. 8, 2009

We were thrilled when The Onion editor Joe Randazzo performed stand-up at Chicago Underground Comedy two weeks ago. Surprise, his comedy was extremely well-written, conceptual, and hilarious. Nnnnjoy.

Chicago Underground Comedy Highlight Reel May-Sept 2009

Woot! Here's a recent video project. Two minutes of hilarity from the last few months' shows.



Featuring Cameron Esposito, Sean Flannery, James Asmus, Mike Stanley, Beth Stelling, James Fritz, John Roy, Ricky Carmona, Chad Briggs, Allison Leber, Prescott Tolk, Joe Zimmerman, and Lola Balatro (Paul Thomas, Jeff Madden, Cork Kangas).