My experience finding an expert was pretty straight forwards. While visiting and talking previous teachers, the subject of this project came up. Don't ask how or why it came up, just go with it. My ex-teacher then started talking about how she had recently seen a comedian do impression by the name of Joe Conklin. After a few days, I decided to finally look this mysterious guy up on the internet. I came up with the links provided previously in this post. Anyhow, I couldn't find his email anywhere. The only thing I found was a link to fill out a forum to hire Joe Conklin for an event. I was about to hire him too, but that's when I realized that I could send him a YouTube message. No, I don't mean a comment, I mean the hidden button on YouTube channels that acts as an email. After I sent an email, he responded fairly quickly. The response was, of course, yes. I then made a mistake that I would regret for the following week. A mistake that made me think that I sabotaged my own interview. The mistake was that I forgot to reply. The following day, I also forgot to reply. This continued until I finally decided to send him a response with some questions a week afterwards. Now, if he didn't respond to this, my gifted grade would surely go down the drain. He didn't respond. I would end up waiting an entire week until I decided to send him another message. This time he was quick to respond with the answers to all of my questions:
1. How did you get into comedy?
I have been doing impressions since I was a little kid, maybe 5-6 years old. I used to imitate the voices of my uncles, neighbors and teachers. I’m one of 7 kids and many of my siblings and even my parents used to do voices –put on affectations while telling stories and breaking chops, so it was pretty much in my family growing up.
2. What makes a good comedian?
Observe and report, simple as that. You must be able to see what is happening: in a situation, in your house, in the world; and how it effects people. Observing the subtle nuance of people and situations is a key. A person’s style, ability and articulation then comes in to play in the reporting of your observations. Tell the world what you saw, what you know.
3. What were some of the major stepping stones for you in your career?
Always be on the lookout for a stage, a microphone or any crowd willing to listen. For me it was when company came around for holiday dinners with my aunts, uncles, cousins. As I got older it was the microphone in church (reading as a lector) and in high school as PA announcer at the basketball and football games. Then later at charity events, fundraisers. These events are always looking for volunteers and people who will entertain for free.
4. Do you have any suggestions for an aspiring comedian?
See the previous answer. I think that is a good road map. And start with assembling your best 3 minutes of material, memorize it until you have it down. Then perform it in public over and over again. Make changes as you find out what works and what doesn’t.
5. How do you come up with your routines?
Constant observing and reporting of what I see on TV, walking down the street, in the store, driving in my car, etc.
6. How do you improve yourself as a comedian?
Edit, edit, edit. Keep chiseling away at your jokes, yours scripts until you have no extra words. Two rules have helped me that I learned in a composition class in college: 1) Every slashed syllable is a good deed. And 2) If it doesn’t add, it subtracts. (the shorter you can say something the better and more effective it is).
I thought it was interesting how he considers his comedy career to have started when he was still a small child. He also considered his training to consist of public speaking at church and with family. As someone who has read at church and is on the school's debate and speech team, this response made me feel so much more confident about my comedy career. It showed me that I'm not completely brand new to the comedy world. Another part that I found interesting, is how he finds comedy in the world around us. Last week when I was thinking of an idea for my stand up routine, I thought of what he said. This made me realize something that has taken me about 10 years to realize. Lastly, he said something that was Mr. Perlman-esque. In that "if it doesn't add, it subtracts". This has gotten me to think more about how to relate my comedy routines to something I'm more familiar with like an essay. I was so fascinated with what Joe Conklin was saying that I had to learn more. I later asked how he decides on what parts of his routines he cuts and what parts he builds around. He responded, "I try out my jokes on the people around me: family, friends, students, parents and on social media. Gauge the reaction." This is interesting in that he uses his the people around him in order to make his routines. I would've thought that he did all of his writing by himself, and that it would automatically be this brain-bursting comedy routine that would have everyone rolling around on the floor like if they were getting tickled shortly after he introduced himself. This refining process is really brings out the artistic part of comedy. At the end of the interview, Joe referred me to some comedy writing courses in the area. We wrote to me, "There are classes, seminars, workshops for humor writing and stand-up comedy. I would recommend picking something like that out and giving it a try. I went to Temple U. In my junior year I took a journalism course entitled Humor Writing for 4 credits. It is still taught there today by Diane Bones. I go back and speak to the students every semester." This gives me an idea of something to do if I want to continue doing comedy even after this project is in the past.
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