Wednesday, December 7, 2011

The Hella Gay Comedy Show Write Up

If anyone in show business has ever done press work, then they know how the press can cut the fat from the article to make it more meaty and a better read.

Here's the link to article:

http://www.eastbayexpress.com/ebx/hella-gay-hotbed/Content?oid=3061868

That's the chance you take with doing an interview with an independent news group, they do their best job to capture your work unbiasedly and then present it to the masses for consumption.

Before the, "Hella Gay Hotbed" , article came out, I was talking to my mom last week about what was covered and she said, "I hope it translates well" , and you know what, it did.

There were some other points that I made that I wished were quoted but when you're doing a professional interview, you can't very well say that during the interview like, "this is what I want covered and it better be in there" , because that would be tacky.

But thinking back on our hour long interview session, there were some key points that I was trying to get across that didn't come up in the article.

*Our best performers for the last 4 Hella Gay Comedy Shows have been the transgendered comedians, leading the way were Tammy Powers, Hard Violet, Cassandra Gorgeous, and Morgan.

*I had to pull a gay comedian from the Hella Gay Comedy Show because he was harassing a trans comedian at another comedy club and the trans comedians was pissed because she thought we're all *LGBT* supposed to stick together and have each others back, and you know what, she is absolutely right, so that's why I bumped that gay comedian from my show. Personally, I've been in her position before so I understood exactly where she was coming from. A while back I was under the guise that all LGBT comedians were supposed to stick together but that all came crashing down when I met people who are only out for themselves. So I made a decision a long time ago to be one of the people who supports other comedians, gay or straight, and to stay away from the self absorbed types.

*There were parts in the article that made me come off aggressive which is mostly true. That's not my personality at all. I was talking to a friend earlier and was saying, "this is what is probably feels like to be Kate Gosslin" . That woman does not play around, she has all those kids to take care of and she manages to do it all with a positive proactive attitude. Now this is how I can relate to Kate. I don't have a comedy manager, I am not represented by any agency, all the press, bookings, and money I have made from stand up comedy has been from the hard work I put into it myself, and I think after all these years of having to do it myself, it's made me a hard person, especially with dealing with people because I don't have time for bullshit. See look, there I go again. I wish I could be one of those comedians who have management and did everything for me, I'm sure that must be nice.

*There were also parts in the interview that made me sound like a greedy shrew and I'm not that at all. Some comedians were under the illusion I was pocketing large amounts of money from the ticket sales. I will say this again, 90% of the crowds who came to our shows were comp'd or got free tickets in some way. The 30$ - 100$ I did manage to make from door sales I kept as a reimbursement because there were a lot of expenses that went into the show such as flyers, press cards, decorations, etc. Again, nobody was working for me, I was doing all this shit myself. If I would have just sat on my ass and did nothing to promote the show, we would have had half of many people or less if I wasn't such a good hustler. My main goal for the Hella Gay Comedy Show was to create an LGBT audience so that's why I went after so many LGBT social groups and offered them free tickets, since they are the base market for this demographic, I thought that was a great idea to do and still do. The flipside, with all the comps I was giving out, I knew I wasn't going to be making any money to pay the comedians accordingly because with all the comps I giving away I knew there was very little money to be made from the ticket sales so that's why I got the La Estrellita Cafe to give the performers a free drink ticket and appetizers.

*This is my contribution back to the Bay Area. The Oakland SF Bay Area really is its own bubble with so much great talent everywhere. The crowds here really are the best and the most supportive.

*I had to chuckle when Rachel caught me ordering my Egg Nog frapp at the Cafe Madrid because I was like, "I'm sure I asked for whip cream" .


xoxo

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