Comic Bible Magazine Questionairre

Comic Bible Magazine recently asked me to answer some questions about comedy for possible use in their publication. Here are my responses: Most inspiring thing ever told to you by someone in the business: I read a lot of comic interviews and a quote from Finesse Mitchell has always stood out in my mind. It's on the top of a list of comedy related quotes I keep on my phone: "If you're out there getting your hustle on, follow your dreams. Don't waver. Just keep going. Cause you never know where it's going to lead you. You never know." I love this idea because it provides motivation to work hard today no matter what kind of results you happen to be achieving at the moment. The future is a big unknowable mass of possibility. Who is to say which individuals will capitalize on the opportunities available? The future is up in the air. All you can do is keep your nose to the grindstone and see where your talent and grit lead. You may not be able to control external forces but you certainly can do your best to be in a position to be positively influenced by them. I also like Whitney Cummings' advice: "Don't have a competitive mindset with other comics. Just work on your material." Such a simple idea but it's a great guiding mantra while you're grinding it out every day. Just get better. When did you realize that comedy isn't all fun and games and telling jokes -(a goof off job) and that if you wanted a career in comedy it involves work? Before I took the plunge and moved to New York from Atlanta a friend of mine gently nudged me to understand that great comics perform all the time. They don't do an open mic or two a week and hope for the best. They are constantly working and writing and performing. So when I moved to New York and started to spend more and more time with other comics I noticed that they were performing every night and working really hard. I realized that to succeed I had to work at least as hard as the people ahead of me. That's when my focus and resolve really gelled into place. How much of comedy is business? If you define comedy as making other people laugh then comedy can be completely divorced from "business." People across the country make their friends laugh all the time. The comedy business deftly commoditizes this universal element of existence. So defining comedy as an art form that people pay to see is when business becomes a significant, driving force. Most serious comedians don't want to perform for free forever so the business aspects of comedy become of critical significance to them. So at this professional level I'd say over 50% of comedy is business. You have to develop an exceptional, funny product and then find the right buyers for it. Those buyers might be comedy club audiences, road bookers, or industry representatives. Getting super funny while tying in to these revenue channels is the art of the business of comedy. Danny Palmer "Danny is an on the rise comic in NYC who has been passed to perform at several top clubs around town and has participated in four festivals thus far in 2012. In April, he was nominated for Best Stand Up at the Los Angeles Comedy Festival. To contact Danny about booking him email dannypalmercomedy@gmail.com. You can also type in "Danny Palmer" on YouTube to review his act." Twitter: DannyPalmerNYC YouTube channel: dannypalmer