A Stand-Up Comedian

02/13/24 • 30 min

1 Listener

Crafting jokes that kill, hustling to find gigs, and improvising based on the audience's reaction with Chris Grace, a stand-up comedian. What's the worst he's ever bombed? And what is a "bringer" show?

NEW BOOK ALERT!
You may be aware that I’ve written or co-written five business books, including The Power of Moments and Made to Stick. I’ve got a sixth book out now called RESET: How to Change What’s Not Working. It’s a book intended to help you and your team get unstuck, to overcome the gravity of the way things have always worked. Learn more about the book and order it here. You can also listen to it on Audible and at Apple Books.
Got a comment or suggestion for us? You can reach us via email at [email protected]
Want to be on the show? Leave a message on our voice mailbox at (919) 213-0456. We’ll ask you to answer two questions:

What do people think your job is like and what is it actually like?
What’s a word or phrase that only someone from your profession would be likely to know and what does it mean?

What do people think your job is like and what is it actually like?
What’s a word or phrase that only someone from your profession would be likely to know and what does it mean?

Previous Episode

A Hair Stylist

Cutting to accentuate the client's eyes and ears, plotting to tame Einstein's hair, and riding the ups and downs of entrepreneurship with Ona Diaz-Santin, a hair stylist and owner of 5 Salon & Spa in New Jersey. What's the most irritating way a client can respond to a haircut? And why was she christened "The Hair Saint"?
Our show takes a lot of inspiration from Studs Terkel's classic book Working. It features interviews Terkel did with more than 100 different people from different jobs: police officers, waitresses, gravediggers, private investigators. His guiding question? "What do they do all day?" Radio Diaries actually got their hands on the audio that Terkel recorded of his interviews and collected them into an episode that you can listen to here.

What do people think your job is like and what is it actually like?
What’s a word or phrase that only someone from your profession would be likely to know and what does it mean?

Next Episode

A Nurse

Caring for patients with serious burns, making sure the correct leg gets operated on, and working 24 hours straight with Teresa Shuster, a nurse in Florida. How did a patient change the trajectory of her career? And what's a "Code Brown"?

What do people think your job is like and what is it actually like?
What’s a word or phrase that only someone from your profession would be likely to know and what does it mean?

What It's Like To Be... - A Stand-Up Comedian

Transcript

Dan Heath:
Hey folks, just a quick heads up, in this episode, there's an R-rated joke gasp, so probably not great for kids, but if you're not a kid, stay tuned. It's a really good joke. Every stand-up comedian has a story about bombing on stage. Here's Chris Grace.
Chris Grace:
I think still to this day, the worst I ever bombed was my first paid gig. It was at a gay bar next to the Brooklyn Pride march, and it was a mixed bill of stand-up comics, folk singer songwriters, and spoken wo