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speaking and performing before live audiences, which is the backbone of the comedy profession.

At the same time, he accelerated his college studies, and earned his bachelor's degree in seven semesters. He was graduated at age 19, and had already sent resumes and samples of his professional-quality work throughout the media and entertainment business. At first, all he could get were one-night stand-up gigs or infrequent freelance writing jobs. Then, after only six months out of college, a producer saw him do his act at a comedy club and hired him as a full-time assistant writer on an afternoon TV talk show. The pay was low, but the real life exposure was invaluable and beginning to pay off.

Let me pause here to emphasize what this close relative has often told me. If you're just starting out, and you believe your open-mike stand-up routine will get you a comedy sitcom and millions of dollars, forget it. Once in awhile, a comedian will get a miraculous lucky break, but chances for almost all new comics run from nil to zilch. The advice is to get any kind of show business job you can, preferably one where your writing skills can be used, and you can make a decent living during the day.

Even if you must take a job as a janitor at a TV station to pay for your rent and groceries, you'll use your time there to soak up the culture of show business and those who work in it. And you'll still have your nights free to improve and improv your skills at comedy clubs, whether the pay is $25 a night or zero. A comedian is like an athlete, and his conditioning is working whenever and wherever he can to develop and improve his on-stage mental muscles.

My close relative continues his career in stand up, and although he isn't a major star yet, he works at it whenever possible. His secret to success, if it is one, is that stand-up comedy is now his avocation. He took that junior TV writer job in his first post-college year, bounced around to other shows, until today he's a well-paid writer-producer on one of the top late night TV comedy shows. He uses his stand-up performances to try out new material, observe the reactions of the live audience, and then comes away improved as both comedian and professional comedy writer.

Learn more about this author, Ted Sherman.
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