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October 5, 2007
Punching In to Punch Lines | Joselyn Hughes
By: Sara Benincasa
Resident dayjob inspector Sara Benincasa finds out what comedians do to pay the bills while their comedy careers take shape. In this edition of Punching in to Punch Lines, she chats with comedian Joselyn Hughes.
Tell me about the job or jobs you do when not performing onstage.
Well I do a couple different things. First, I baby-sit, which I also call my "realizing-procreation-isn't-right-for-me-job." I also wait tables. Pretty ridiculous, but common jobs I guess.
Do you ever glean material from your non-comedy job(s) for your standup?
Absolutely, but most of it's so specific it's hard to relate to people. I would kill with a nanny and waiter crowd. Babies are mini humans that are pretty basic and sweet. But the madness people create around them is so unbelievable. Did you know, according to some new aged nonsense you're not supposed to tell a kid "good job" anymore because it turns them into "praise junkies" and they won't be able to live a normal life without people constantly encouraging them? Most of my possible nanny-extracted material is very "kids say the darndest things!" And since that whole market has been cornered, I'm out of luck. But it is really fun to be around kids. Waiting tables is a little more understandable. We all eat. I do a couple bits about it. But you don't really know the seething hatred you acquire for the public unless you've done some kind of service work. It's kind of fun to just wait on all of these weirdoes and watch their behavior but I think all people should have to wait tables at some point in their lives and get a perspective on the correct way to treat other humans.
Does your family support your desire to do comedy, or do they think you should be working at Goldman Sachs or something?
Yeah. My whole family thinks we're funny. We hang out and just laugh. My mother gives me hilarious pointers about how I can improve my stand up. I get bits emailed to me from various family members. A lot of forwards with hack jokes that they think I'll love. My mom's number one joke is to see someone wearing camouflage and talk about how she can't see them. She thinks it's hilarious. I always was a weird kid. I think they knew I'd do something unusual. When I started taking improv classes in Chicago, I think they thought it would pass. But then I started stand up and got really into it, then a bit of worry probably set in. But they never let it show. I don't think they always understand it, especially when they visit and I'm doing a show with nine audience members, but they support me. Besides, my two brothers have completely normal lives, healthy relationships, and nice cars. Takes the heat off me.
What about wasting time during jobs?
Well, the kid naps for three hours a day. That's writing time for me. Or nap time. I talk on the phone while we stroll around the hood. We eat snacks in the park. It's not a hard job if kids don't stress you out. Kids are so easy and entertaining; I just have fun with them. To a grown person, the whole day would kind of be a waste because it doesn't make any sense, but if the little person wants to watch ferry boats for an hour, I'm okay with it. More time for text messaging. Waiting tables? Waiters all have the same sense of humor at work after being treated like garbage by the same stereotypes on a continuous basis. We all just sit around and chitchat. Sometimes about our personal life, sometimes about how much we hate the dude at table 73. So it's a lot of unifying hate. But not in a scary, waiter-supremacy kind of way. We have fun there and get along well. My favorite thing to do is judge people I wait on and guess their subsequent mannerisms. People are a lot more predictable than you'd like to think.
Let's say you were barred from being a famous stand-up comic by some declaration of the gods--BUT you could be extremely successful at whatever other job you chose. What would you do?
Well, other than not believing in God(s), I would say if something real happened and I couldn't do it, I'd pursue music business. I got a degree in Music Business and know some really great people within it. My only other favorite thing to do outside of comedy is going to see concerts. I would love to be a road manager for a band and get to feel that insane energy the crowds put out every night. And I'm really into large tour buses and groupies so that's a big reason too. Have you seen what they can do with those things these days?! (Not the buses, the groupies). Buy me a couple Jacks on the rocks and I'll tell ya all about it.
Posted by The Apiary at October 5, 2007 12:48 PM