#theearlydraft

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Episode 4: Writing Smart Without Losing Your Audience (w/ Charles Comedy)

Is there such thing as writing that is too smart for the audience? Episode 4 of #TheEarlyDraft Podcast sits down with Charlie Stockman and Chuck Armstrong of the comedy duo Charles to talk about the challenge of writing smart without seeming like a dick. 

[theearlydraft-blog]

#TheEarlyDraft Podcast: Ep 1 - Vanessa Gonzalez

It's here.  There first-ever #TheEarlyDraft Podcast.  This episode features Austin-based comedian Vanessa Gonzalez (Follow her on tumblr: buhnessa).  

To this day, I have yet to see a better live performer than Vanessa.  She is a force on stage.  Every one of her performances is a mix of sheer power and control, every character rendered with detail, depth, and a fuck-it-let's-see-how-far-this-goes commitment.  Those of you in NOLA are lucky enough to see her live:

NOV 19th and 20th - 8pm @ The New Movement 

Vanessa will present selections from her new show I Don't Know Dating. I'll be on the show too presenting sketches from my new solo show.  Get there. For now, enjoy her on the podcast serving up lessons about fear, practice, and just doing the damn work!  

[theearlydraft-blog]

Here's to the Early Drafts

I'm a comedian.  By that, I mean I write comedy - sketches, web series, standup - that I put it up in front of people in hopes that they will like it and tell their friends "hey, you should check out CJ Hunt." At some point, I hope to get so good and have so many people like my work that I can get paid for it. I think about the things I want: a TV writing job, a spot on SNL, my own show. And these things feel so far away. I wonder if the life of a comedian is one spent constantly on your way. Constantly reaching. Chasing. Coveting the things you don't yet have. Lamenting the things you left behind in your haste. Obsessing about the next level. Whatever that is.  

I'm starting The Early Draft as a study of comedians on their way. Perhaps it's an effort to speed myself along or the opposite: to slow myself down and enjoy the ride.  Whatever the case, I'm interested in the thousands of dummies who have purposely chosen a career spent in-progress. I want to know about the chipping away. The little steps comedians take every day to get better at their craft. I want to know about the giant leaps, the falls, and the happy accidents. I want to know about the many messy drafts of oneself that a comedian goes through before finding his or her "thing."  I want to know how comedians are made.  

So that's The Early Draft: interviews with comedians in-the-making. Some of these will be stars, some of them will be names you haven't heard of... yet.  This started as a weekly column on NOLAvie.com, and will grow into a blog, podcast, and who knows what.  

Here's to everyone on their way. Here's to the rough edges. The jokes that don't work yet. Here's to the early drafts.