Replying to @mariaslate… 🤷🏼♂️ But Thank You, Dallas 💗
You know, the wildest part of this job is how subjective it all is.
You can craft a joke for weeks. You test it, you hone it, you find the exact right word to make the punchline land. You can perform that joke for a thousand people, and 990 of them will laugh, connect, and share in that specific, electric moment of “I know exactly what you mean.”
And then, there will be the ten.
The ten who are offended. The ten who “know a funnier way to tell it.” The ten who just want to inform you that they, personally, did not care for it.
And that’s what the internet is: a giant microphone for the ten.
That’s what the shrug emoji is for. It’s the only sane response. 🤷🏼♂️
Stand-up comedy is not a spreadsheet. It’s not an algorithm. It’s a deeply human, incredibly vulnerable art form that relies on a thousand invisible variables. It’s the vibe in the room, the sound system, what happened in the news that day, whether the couple in the front row is on a great first date or a terrible last one.
You put your entire personality, your weirdest thoughts, and your deepest insecurities on a stage under hot lights and ask people to judge them. In real-time. It’s a ridiculous way to make a living.
Online criticism is one thing. It’s static. It’s a comment from @mariaslate, who might have seen a 30-second clip out of context, filmed on a shaky iPhone from the back of the room, while they were waiting for their pizza to heat up. It’s noise.
But then… there’s a night like Dallas.
Dallas was not noise. Dallas was music.
I wish I could bottle the feeling of that room. From the second I walked on stage, you were there. You were locked in. You weren’t just a crowd; you were a partner in the show. You were smart, you were quick, and you were willing to go on the weird journeys with me.
That’s the magic. It’s not about just getting laughs. It’s about a connection. It’s that moment a new, untested bit lands harder than you even thought it would, and you can feel 800 people all “getting it” at the exact same millisecond. That’s the high. That’s the thing we’re all chasing.
That is the absolute antithesis of a shrug. That’s the pink heart. 💗
You can’t capture that in a clip. You can’t explain it in a tweet. You just had to be there.
So, to everyone who wasn’t there and has an opinion… 🤷🏼♂️
But to Dallas: Thank you. Thank you for showing up, for listening, and for being one of the best crowds a comedian could ever ask for. You are the reason I do this. #standupcomedy
