Comedians Are Conservative Often

I was watching some video and it led me to another video. The second video was an interview that Howard Stern did with Jerry Seinfeld. Funny thing is, I was never really that into either of them. Howard Stern was a little too offensive for me; but, I appreciated his talents. It wasn't until I saw his movie about his life that he began to intrigue me a bit. After seeing him as a judge on America's Got Talent, I began to really see a kinder side of him. As for Seinfeld, I saw the show a few times, it was funny; but, I was not one who followed it. To me, it was a bunch of self absorbed New Yorkers. I actually preferred his standup routines over the show. He was a good standup comedian.

Anyways, here I am watching this interview of Mr. Seinfeld on Howard Sterns show and he is blowing my mind. He eats, drinks and breaths jokes. He cannot imagine not telling jokes and believes in hard work, real hard work. To get ahead in this world, you got to do something special, you gotta work hard and he talked about it. As I heard him talk I got to see a glimpse into what type of person he is. He prefers to be around other comedians, this is not that common. I was also impressed by how humble he was and how little he was concerned about being judged. Then it occurred to me, he was right. Something I have always said is that money is easy to get, you just have to be the best something. If you work harder, study non-stop and never give up, eventually you win or die. You cannot lose until you quit.

What is my point, well, I haven't got to it yet. What I started thinking was that comedians are nothing more than small business owners, they are entrepreneurs in the truest sense. I went to Mr. Seinfeld's website, "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee" and watched him just being him with his friends and he said that comedians cannot understand having a boss and got it. He is an entrepreneur, he is the captain of his life and takes responsibility for how things turn out. I was very impressed by him.

He also talked about how life is repetition and how he had no respect for small talk. It also occurred to me that he would not respect the type of person he played on Seinfeld. He is a craftsman who respects people in his craft; but, only the ones that are also craftsman. To truly succeed at anything, you got to give it 100%. When I had something to give, I gave 100% until I know longer was 100%. The discipline it takes to achieve that, to give your all consistently, is immense. It is also obsessive. You have to believe in what you are doing to break new ground.

It is one thing to inherit money or steal money or be given all the advantages up front; but, to break the ceiling and move up, to be really successful requires commitment and talent. There is a video on his website where Chris Rock and he are joking about how people want their money and how people think what they do is easy and how in fact hard it is to speak to and influence a crowd. I understood their answers.

Preaching and any public speaking is hard for a lot of people. Oddly enough the people who are best at it are often the shyest. It stuns people who know me from working with me or from seeing me speak public how incredibly shy and quiet I am. LOL. When I am not working I spend most of my time with one or two people and more likely than not, alone in my room. When I go out I am very pleasant and have many friends; but, I don't usually seek out others. I would have made a great hermit and may yet, we shall see.

Maybe it is retirement that is making me think about this all. I have always been quite happy with my internal voice, it is sufficient company usually. I could sit and read and analyze all day long and have. When I was in law school I had to actually study once and did. I don't know how many hours I went without eating or sleeping; but, I just studied. Eventually I began to go into a state of delirium, I started knowingly imagine things. Drat, I cannot think of the word I am looking for; but, I started seeing things that were not there. I decided I had done enough and went home to sleep. I used to go days without eating because I was focused and forgot to eat. I miss those time and I doubt most people can understand that. I miss being so focused that nothing was more important than my figuring out what I was looking at. It is better than sex. Complete and utter focus is joy.

I would be quite happy retiring to a crappy little apartment in a crappy little town and just read the news all day and post my opinions on it. I am okay with the idea. The only thing that stops me from doing such a thing is others, people I know I can and should help; but, I would rather be a hermit if the truth be known. This is going a couple of places, please be patient. So, I was telling one of my kids about Seinfeld and what I was seeing and I told a story that Seinfeld told about how when you are in a relationship you have to call in when you are on the road. The person talked about how they saw Prince have to make the spouse call. LOL. Prince of all people having to make the spouse call. ROFL. I said how I was glad that I never had to do that again, I don't have to call anyone because I am not in a relationship and am quite happy being alone. Well, two people argued with me over the point and wanted to tell me how I should be in a relationship.

Some people seem to believe that I should be in a relationship because it is healthy. I haven't experienced that. Seems like a heck of a lot of work to me. I don't need to be in a relationship to enjoy life. Having said that, I do believe it is worthwhile to put yourself in a position where you are in a relationship because it forces you to work outside of your comfort zone and grow. Everything that is not growing is dying. I am not growing, I am coasting down hill on a bicycle. I a have done what I wanted and am just watching the wheels go round and round. At some point in time, life does become repetition because the new ones have to learn the old rules on their own.

I was talking about comedians wasn't I. True entrepreneurs, real self sufficient and willing to take anything to achieve their goal of making others laugh. Comedians tend to be morose people, not very social, highly competitive and fearless. I have noticed that on a personal responsibility level, comics are as cold hearted as they come. They don't have sympathy for lazy or weak because nobody becomes a successful comic that is. Most comics are very smart and have skins like leather. Still, they live to make others happy. They overcome pain and try and make others happy, an interesting bunch. Just some random thoughts, have a great night.