–By Jan McInnis, Comedian and Keynote Speaker
My comedy and keynote speaking travel allows me to do things that I really enjoy. . . like hiking and I try to do it whenever I can. I think hikes are a lot more fun though when the trail is a loop instead of just up and back. You wind up back at your car, if all goes well, yet you’ve gotten to see some new sights along the way, and the journey is a lot more interesting.
I feel like my life has been more of a loop than a back and forth trail as well. There’s been plenty of adventure with the comedy career and I generally wind up back to where things started – only I’m in a better place! When I was ten years old I told my parents that once I turned 16 I was going to “buy a motorcycle, ride across the country to Los Angeles and become a comedian”. My parents didn’t exactly share my “vision” so I ended up graduating from Virginia Tech. The night I graduated, I remember looking at my parents during the celebration dinner at the restaurant and thinking, “now is not the time to announce that I want to be a comedian.” So I floundered around into a few weird part-time jobs (telemarketing sides of beef, overnight-store-inventory-taker, and tour guiding come to mind!) until I finally floundered my way into a marketing career. And while I enjoyed my career, I always felt I had never closed that loop on my budding entertainment aspirations.
Fast forward 14 or so years into my day job, and with a few starts and stops and a lot more floundering, I finally worked my way on stage at a comedy club. I did well that night, ended up getting into show business full time a few years later and the rest is history! Okay, that’s the very, very, very short version! After being a comedian for a few years, I decided I needed to head to Los Angeles, and finally, 2 years ago I bought a motorcycle. The loop was complete, though it was exactly backwards and a lot longer from my prediction of motorcycle, Los Angeles and comedian by age 16. But I did loop back and I even found myself in a much better spot then I would have if I had done this at age 16.
People ask me what the hardest part of leaving my “day job” was . . . was it the unsteady paychecks, the weird hours, the occasional really slimy entertainment person I’d have to deal with, or the fact that I’d be totally, 100% responsible for generating my income? Nope, about the only thing that I was worried about in my new career was the different “accommodations” when I toured. I’d always had jobs where I stayed in nice hotels when I traveled . . . some with mini bars in the room and plush towels that covered your whole body. Many of the sleeping arrangements when you’re starting out in entertainment are a bit different. So right before I quit my day job, I had one last business trip to San Jose where I stayed at the Fairmont. I spent most of that last night luxuriating in their whirlpool tub while sipping on chardonnay – I knew the fall from the Fairmont was going to be rough! And the comedy accommodations did not disappointment. It never ceased to amaze me the places that they found to stick the comics. I don’t mind budget hotels (they saved me when I had to pay on my own!), and in fact a hotel chain would be welcome, but what I’m talking about are places were boarding on illegal. I once spent the weekend sleeping a room in the rafters of the club, with the doors locked from the outside! An there’s the time I had to stay with the club owner in her daughter’s bedroom while her daughter slept on the couch. Weird, weird, weird. And some hotel rooms were just plain run down. These were the ones that we comics used to joke that they had “just moved the body an hour before I arrived.” I’ve slept in my socks to avoid touching some carpets! This was a loop that I wasn’t sure would ever close.
The funniest loop closing was between my brother Dan and my younger sister Brenda. Dan was the only boy with 3 sisters, which meant he had to make up for no brothers by doing extra teasing of us (or being a pest – you decide). . .and he did. During one of our cross-country family trips, he actually spent the entire 6 weeks ordering the exact same thing that my sister Debbie ordered at the restaurant. That will drive you insane! We still laugh about it as one of his “master” accomplishments in pestering. And as a young teen he continued bugging us. He once bought these red, white and blue mirrored sunglasses that were 70’s cool, and then he proceeded to taunt Brenda by putting his face in her face, showing her how cool he looked and making sure she knew that she would never be able to afford glasses that were this hip. And then one day, his glasses disappeared. He complained to mom that he knew Brenda had taken them. He didn’t have proof, and there was no forensics back then, so he had to go by what my mom said; and her verdict was to leave Brenda alone because it wasn’t her fault. End of discussion. 30 years later Dan and Brenda were cleaning out boxes in my parent’s attic when Brenda opened up her jewelry box and found Dan’s sun glasses. As she tossed them over to him, she said “oh, yeah, here’s your glasses, I did take them!” The loop was closed!
Surprises loop closings, like finding your 70’s sunglasses 3 decades later, are the best. Many years ago after working the road in comedy clubs, I started moving into the convention arena. The crowds were more my style (read: sober), the hours were better because of no late shows (when someone asked Steve Martin why he got out of comedy clubs, he said “Friday, second show.” They are tough!), and the travel was shorter – no more 3 months on the road at one stretch. One of my first convention gigs was at a conference in Las Vegas at a hotel whose name I had never heard of. I thought no big deal, my comedy career had prepared me for no name hotels – I once worked at a comedy club located in a Ramada hotel and the club owner was so cheap that when the R fell off the hotel marquis, she changed the name of the hotel to the Amada so she didn’t have to buy an “R”. True! So at this Vegas no name hotel I kind of wondered if these convention gigs might be the same accommodations as the comedy gigs. The clerk was very nice and as he handed me the room keys, for some reason, out of the blue he blurted out “you are gonna like this hotel, it’s just like the Fairmont.” At that moment, I thought “I’M BACK!” I had closed that loop, and it was a nice surprise!
About the Author . . . Jan McInnis is an American Comedian, Comedy Writer and Keynote Speaker who has shared her customized humor keynotes with thousands of associations and corporations. She is also the author of “Finding the Funny FAST; How To Create Quick Humor To Connect With Clients, Coworkers And Crowds,” and “Convention Comedian: Stories and Wisdom From Two Decades of Chicken Dinners and Comedy Clubs.” She was featured in the Huffington Post, the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post for her clean humor.
From a recent client: “Jan did a great job in bringing the right mood to the ‘Celebrate’ portion of our Women in Business Conference. She helped us all find the funny!”
