Comedian Stories: Tales From the Road in Under 5 Minutes

Unique comedy stories from an unknown comedian who’s made her living telling and selling jokes for over 2 decades. From bombing to working with celebrities, and performing in weird venues Jan tells you the inside scoop on being a true working comedian, and she does it with stories in under 5 minutes. She also talks about selling comedy material to everyone from the Tonight Show to guests on the Jerry Springer Show Each podcast ends with a “lesson learned” take-away tip that is appropriate for everyone, even if you’re not a comedian.

150 Bits of Advice 01/07/2021

150 Bits of Advice Today's podcast is my 150th episode. I'm doing a quick look back on some of the episodes and encouraging you to listen to them. I'm also reminding you of a second podcast I'm co-hosting with comedian Frank King titled Over Fifty and F'ing Funny - interviews with working, non-famous comedians. /episode/index/show/comedianstories/id/17449652

Burning Lunch 12/31/2020

Burning Lunch This episode on "Burning Lunch" is a quick story on something that happened many moons ago and still kind of mystifies those of us involved today. It happened over a year while I was doing 40 comedy shows for one group. We asked ourselves, What makes a good lunch, and why would you not like a sandwich for lunch? As we kick off the new year, give some thought as to what things from 2020 you can burn and feel good about it. /episode/index/show/comedianstories/id/17372288

Comedy Firsts 12/24/2020

Comedy Firsts Sure comedians remember things like their first time on stage or the first time they worked with a big star. But sometimes the firsts in comedy are things that are even bigger than those. In my podcast this week, I talk about 3 comedy firsts that I vividly remember that impacted me and kept me excited about my new career. And they aren't firsts that you usually think about when going into comedy. Take a listen. /episode/index/show/comedianstories/id/17312003

Weird Questions in Comedy 12/17/2020

Weird Questions in Comedy Yes comedians get asked weird questions. Probably because people aren't used to meeting comedians, so they just blurt out stupid questions, but also I think that people hat since we talk about ourselves on stage, people think we're okay with answering pretty much any questions off stage. But that is not really true. Here's a few of the weird questions I've been asked. /episode/index/show/comedianstories/id/17226548

Golfing and Cops in LA 12/10/2020

Golfing and Cops in LA Golfing and cops usually don't mix, unless you lived in my neighborhood. The place I called home when I first move to LA was pretty dicey, and full of cops. This week I'm telling a quick story about my run in with the law when all I wanted to do was golf. /episode/index/show/comedianstories/id/17128817

Last Comic Standing Audition 12/03/2020

Last Comic Standing Audition All you've got to do to get famous is get on one of those shows like Last Comic Standing, and do really well - right? Well maybe or maybe not. Here's a short story about my auditions for these kinds of shows. Yeah, this episode went over 5 minutes. . . and I could have stretched this to 2 episodes, but I didn't. Enjoy this peak into comedy competitions. /episode/index/show/comedianstories/id/17041025

Holidays on the Comedy Road 11/26/2020

Holidays on the Comedy Road Not spending the holidays with your family because you don't want to kill them with a virus is one thing, but missing family get-togethers because you're working on the road as a comedian is totally different. In this episode, I talk about a couple of depressing, memorable times where I missed holidays with my family in order to do comedy. /episode/index/show/comedianstories/id/16956197

A Bad Comedy Bar Gig 11/19/2020

A Bad Comedy Bar Gig This is a really short episode today but this story has just stuck with me. A lot of bar gigs were hard for me, and this one just kinda summed up all of those bar gigs. When you go through stuff like this, and still do stand-up comedy, you know that you really want to do stand up comedy. /episode/index/show/comedianstories/id/16867721

Prop Comics 11/12/2020

Prop Comics Prop comics are entertainers who use props; anyone from stand-up comedians to magicians, hypnotists and the like can be considered prop comics if they include humor in their act along with something visual. There are good and bad things about being a prop comic, and I've worked with a few in good and bad situations. Here's a couple quick stories. /episode/index/show/comedianstories/id/16772873

Comedy Zoom Event Tips 11/05/2020

Comedy Zoom Event Tips Performing comedy in front of zoom may be one of the hardest things to do. But as a comedian and keynote speaker it's something I HAVE to do now. So I've come up with 5 quick tips that have helped me do comedy on zoom SUCCESSFULLY. Hopefully these will help you regardless of if you're doing comedy or just giving a quick presentation. /episode/index/show/comedianstories/id/16673090

Comedy at a Gay Men's Comedy Show 10/29/2020

Comedy at a Gay Men's Comedy Show Yes, I've done my comedy at a resort for gay men . . . and it went great for ME. Not so great for the other 2 acts. This week's podcast is a short story about that show and what I learned. /episode/index/show/comedianstories/id/16589294

Customizing Comedy in a Comedy Club 10/22/2020

Customizing Comedy in a Comedy Club Writing jokes for specific audiences is so much fun because you learn about the group, and the jokes usually help you connect right away! When you're working comedy clubs, you can't interview the audience ahead of time, but you can still do a little customization. Here's a few tips I've picked up along the way for customizing a comedy show . . . or any event really. /episode/index/show/comedianstories/id/16495970

What doing hundreds of radio shows has taught me PODCAST 10/15/2020

What doing hundreds of radio shows has taught me PODCAST Being live on hundreds of radio shows is a learning experience for sure, and one that has helped me even today with my virtual comedy events today. I'm not sure I learned from every show, but there were lots of strange experiences. Like the time they booked me and my clean comedy at the same time they booked a guy talking about swingers. It was too funny. Listen to my short podcast on some of the radio shows I've been on. /episode/index/show/comedianstories/id/16390559

Comedians Who Won't Stop Joking 10/08/2020

Comedians Who Won't Stop Joking Some comedians don't know when to stop with the jokes! Maybe you know someone like this who isn't even a comedian! But for me, I feel like we don't have to be "on" all the time - it's annoying. Here's a quick podcast about a couple guys I know who just can't stop with the jokes. /episode/index/show/comedianstories/id/16310636

Baby Boomer Comedy Show 10/02/2020

Baby Boomer Comedy Show Our Baby Boomer Comedy Show is a hit! Or at least it is a hit give or take COVID. I'm sure we'll be performing it again in theatres soon, but this week's podcast focuses on how we got started with the show and a few of the hurdles we had to jump to get it up and running. /episode/index/show/comedianstories/id/16223135

Cable Access and Comedy 09/24/2020

Cable Access and Comedy If you were around in the 70's and 80's you might have heard about a nifty type of programming called Cable Access. The cable companies were new, and as such they were required to allow anyone to put together a TV for free using their equipment for free. In my podcast this week, I talk about working on a couple of these cable access shows. They were kind of goofy, but fun. And we got to use professional equipment at no charge. Can you imagine companies letting you do that today? My podcast is produced every /episode/index/show/comedianstories/id/16133258

Changing My Comedy Act 09/17/2020

Changing My Comedy Act How often does my comedy act change? That's a question that comedians get asked a lot. In this episode I talk about writing new jokes versus using the standard jokes for my act. /episode/index/show/comedianstories/id/16034336

Comedians and Acting Podcast 09/10/2020

Comedians and Acting Podcast taking ur money pt 2 /episode/index/show/comedianstories/id/15950222

Celebrations at Comedy Clubs 09/03/2020

Celebrations at Comedy Clubs People go to comedy clubs all the time to celebrate, birthdays, weddings, even winning a million bucks. True! Here's a few stories of times when I've been on stage when some celebrations were taking place. I always tried to participate fully in the celebrations, even when they were annoying. /episode/index/show/comedianstories/id/15859331

Small Crowds in Comedy 08/27/2020

Small Crowds in Comedy Is it better to have a small crowd or a big crowd at your comedy show? In today's podcast, Jan talks about how comics treat small crowds differently, and what her experience has been with small crowds. Listen in and see if you agree! /episode/index/show/comedianstories/id/15766301

Designated Driver in Comedy 08/20/2020

Designated Driver in Comedy Being the designated driver is a nice thing to do, but sometimes you get taken advantage of! I learned this on several occasions when I showed up to the gig with a car, and the other comic needed a ride. I'm still happy to give rides, but now I put some limits on it. Here's a couple quick stories of getting and receiving rides. /episode/index/show/comedianstories/id/15676421

Finding Your Passion 08/13/2020

Finding Your Passion Many keynote speakers and motivational people will tell you to, quote, find your passion! But that's hard to do! Sure some of us have found it, but you might not really know what your passion is. So instead, I have a couple of quick tips on how to find your passion organically, without all the searching. Enjoy today's podcast. /episode/index/show/comedianstories/id/15586754

Working with Big Name Headliners 08/06/2020

Working with Big Name Headliners I've worked with some big name headliners, which has given me the opportunity to watch how they treat other comics and the audience. Some are great, and some are not so great. Here's a quick story about 2 big name headliners, and the differences I saw. One of them was great, and one of them was not-so- great. /episode/index/show/comedianstories/id/15496697

A Comedy DEAL . . . for ONLY $3500 07/30/2020

A Comedy DEAL . . . for ONLY $3500 Comedians are offered all sorts of "deals" in comedy in order to get booked. Some deals are great, and some are less-than great. Here's a quick story about a time that I was offered a GREAT deal . . .for $3500. Would you take it? I was amazed that they even had the guts to call me with this "deal." Once I got over being stunned, I came up with a plan. Check out what I did, and no, it wasn't mean. My podcast is produced every Thursday and includes a clip of my clean comedy live, a short story under 5 minut /episode/index/show/comedianstories/id/15402344

Comedy Fans 07/20/2020

Comedy Fans Everyone has fans, and even unknown comedians like me have a few. And I'm a fan of other people's work as well. But what happens when people don't appreciate having fans? Here's a short story about a few times that I've reached out to people to say I'm a fan. /episode/index/show/comedianstories/id/15290465

From Comedy Shows to Keynotes Podcast 07/16/2020

From Comedy Shows to Keynotes Podcast Moving from doing only comedy shows to doing humor keynotes that had comedy and a message was hard. I was used to constant laughs and now I was going to add in some more serious stuff to make a keynote. I talked to my buddy Frank King and got a great transition line, and then I practiced a lot. Here's a quick story about how I went from doing only comedy shows to doing keynotes that had humor plus a message. /episode/index/show/comedianstories/id/15207335

Comedy Condo Amenities Podcast 07/09/2020

Comedy Condo Amenities Podcast I've talked about comedy condos and how they, sometimes, weren't that great. But in this podcast episode, I talk about some of the things that were good about them. Many of the club owners tried to make a nice accommodation for us comedians, so that we could arrive at the comedy show fresh and ready to perform. /episode/index/show/comedianstories/id/15133007

Booking Excuses 07/02/2020

Booking Excuses Today's episode is about the reasons people use to NOT book you for an event. I do understand that my keynote and comedy may not fit for everyone, but getting feedback on why it wasn't a match is sometimes really hard. Listen here for the most over- used reason for not booking a comedian or keynote speaker - it's annoying! /episode/index/show/comedianstories/id/15047237

Being a Corporate Comedian 06/25/2020

Being a Corporate Comedian Corporate Comedian is not a new term or an old term. It's a made-up term that I made up. And I've been a corporate comedian for over 20 years. On today's episode, I share a quick story on how I came up with the name and why I came up with it. /episode/index/show/comedianstories/id/14954396

Reasons to Use Humor, part 3 06/24/2020

Reasons to Use Humor, part 3 . People love that joke because they can relate to it. And this week I'm talking about the reasons you should use humor in your business and personal communications. Today's tip – use humor because it gives you an instant connection with others, and it makes you approachable. Don't you love that ah ha moment when people "get" your humor? It's an instant connection, and that's what we're looking for with people– whether it's a client, coworker, new friend, or staff person, you can both get on the same page with a little humor. It also lets others know that you are approachable. Don't you feel like you can talk to someone who's using a little humor? It's usually to our advantage to let people know they can talk to you . . .and humor helps with that. If you're enjoying these episodes, please give me a positive review and 5 stars here on Alexa. Thanks! That's it for this episode. Take care and enjoy your journey. /episode/index/show/comedianstories/id/14845796

Comedian Stories: Tales From the Road in Under 5 Minutes

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