Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Competitive here too? fuuuuuuuuuuuu

It never fails: I always wind up being hyper-competitive in something that I do.  I blame my self-worth as a child being defined by how much I can win at whatever sport I'm playing in whatever sport-season.  Most of the compliments I received when I was younger revolved around winning or competing in something.  Don't get me wrong, I know how messed up this is, but it's a tough conditioning to shake.

One of my peers in stand-up has been far more proactive than I have about getting his face out there, and as a result has been invited to do stand-up in New York venues, and has been meeting popular comedians, there.  It feels like he is starting to take off, and all I'm doing is pithy shows in Baltimore and DC.  I need to step things up, here.

This comic's name is Ben Rosen, and I have performed alongside him twice.  Prior to even doing stand-up for the first time, I went and watched all the videos of prior performers at Magoobys, just to see what my competition was like.  He was the only one that I was remotely concerned about at the time.  After performing next to him twice, and drinking with him once, we established a tacit rivalry.  In that we both started cold-turkey and were immediately accepted into the Baltimore scene as rising talent.

I want to be better at stand-up, because it is what I want to do.  More than that, though, I want to be better than Ben Rosen.  I think I already am, I just have to make more people think that, also.