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There are as many ways to enter the field of stand-up comedy, cartooning, comedy acting, and writing as there are IPODS and accessories. Okay, maybe not quite that many, but a lot of paths.

A day does not go by that I don’t get asked how to get into the entertainment business. First of all, I am not in the entertainment business, that is, the way it is defined in the western world. I am a cartoonist and writer. I guess that entertains people so, non-technically it is the entertainment business. I still get asked for my autograph which is flattering, but I don’t seem to find myself on celluloid, tv, or movie marquis. And that’s all okay. I prefer making people laugh with my cartoons.

I can look back to 1983, leaving my family’s real estate business, moving to New York and deciding I was a stand-up comic. I’m glad at least one person felt I was one. As hard as I pushed at it, I couldn’t seem to convince others of my avocation. Finally I came to my senses and gave it up. But didn’t give up the field of humor, I simply studied other venues.

Keep in mind, once you are an emcee at a nightclub, you have not “arrived”. You will get a lot more attention from the opposite sex (and sometimes your own), a few free meals and drinks if the club owner is generous, but not a lot more perks than that.

Leno did gigs in nightclubs all over America for years before he tried out for television in Los Angeles. Chances are he could have made it big way before he actually did so. But he wanted to make certain he knew exactly what he was doing, and the nightclubs were his grade school, middle school, and even post graduate comedy degrees.

Comedy acting? Take classes. There are plenty of them in larger cities. I took some in New York during my short stint there. Yes, they helped, but not enough. Such is life.

I can honestly say that the best education I ever received for becoming a humor writer, and eventually having my own cartoon, was “hanging with funny people”. I was fortunate enough that a childhood friend, Patrick Weathers, had been a regular featured performer on Saturday Night Live. Patrick was my roommate in N.Y. I was privy to his friends who, were for the most part, quite witty. I learned to think like they thought. I carried that with me throughout life. I found, like many of them must have, that a sense of humor can help one cope through all kinds of situations. And I have had many (situations).

I became a cartoonist by accident. I was writing humor and designing cartoon concepts for fun. A concept designer in cartooning is probably equivalent to art director in the movies). I illustrate but not very well. So I recruited artists who felt they understood my concepts and writing and were willing to draw on speculation if I would continuously promote their name and art during down times, that is, of little or no income. Many artists came and went. A day did not go by in the first three years that I did not think we would have to abandon the project. But we persisted. (It doesn’t help to read self-help books on the topic of persistence).

Ten years later, it is almost unimaginable to me. We created the largest offbeat cartoon panel site on the Internet with over 8000 original images and have lured about 10 million people since we started counting ten years ago. We’ve opened 7 niche stores with over 90,000 licensed products. In many ways, I guess we have arrived. And if we can do it, so can you.

Tags: Humor