Great post. But I wonder if there was more to it than just getting over yourself (as central as this usually is to everything). The fact that these other aspiring comics didn't have real day jobs and you did seems key. Doesn't it mean that they'd staked their lives on this project in a way that you hadn't? For them, networking was a matter of survival, and so getting over themselves was a necessity. For you, it was optional, and you had to face your own ego to do it, again and again. A very difficult challenge.
You're on to something here. The job definitely did play a large part in it and maybe took off some of an edge that other comics had out of necessity.
You always hear comics who made it talk about "I never had a Plan B." But for every one of those there are literally hundreds of others who never had a Plan B and didn't make it, so they get to their 30s with absolutely nothing going on in their lives. I didn't want, or wasn't brave enough, to take that big of a risk. I never tried very hard at my old jobs, but I did enough to get by and stay stable. I'm lucky that I've had a pretty soft landing after giving up comedy.
Great post. But I wonder if there was more to it than just getting over yourself (as central as this usually is to everything). The fact that these other aspiring comics didn't have real day jobs and you did seems key. Doesn't it mean that they'd staked their lives on this project in a way that you hadn't? For them, networking was a matter of survival, and so getting over themselves was a necessity. For you, it was optional, and you had to face your own ego to do it, again and again. A very difficult challenge.
You're on to something here. The job definitely did play a large part in it and maybe took off some of an edge that other comics had out of necessity.
You always hear comics who made it talk about "I never had a Plan B." But for every one of those there are literally hundreds of others who never had a Plan B and didn't make it, so they get to their 30s with absolutely nothing going on in their lives. I didn't want, or wasn't brave enough, to take that big of a risk. I never tried very hard at my old jobs, but I did enough to get by and stay stable. I'm lucky that I've had a pretty soft landing after giving up comedy.
Reminds me if a wonderful quote by a famous comedian:
“I always wanted to be somebody, but now I realize I should have been more specific.” Lily Tomlin