Just received this email from a friend ...bang on topic !
I recently completed reading the autobiography of Jack Dee. Much of his book chronicled his attempts to make it as a comedian. He described the years he spent plugging away on the stand-up circuits, trying to get the audience to like him.Some nights he’d get some laughs, some nights he wouldn’t. He kept trying to work out what he how to get the audience to like him and all the while he had to keep his day job going as a waiter."I tried being cheerful, thoughtful, nerdy, cheeky. Somehow nothing worked and as the years rolled by, I got more desperate," he said.He got fired from his day job for being too tired. He became a drunk from worrying about it. His girlfriend left him because he became obsessed and boring. Eventually, it was obvious, even to him: he had to think about giving up.Once he accepted that, he described it as like a weight coming off his shoulders. "I only had one week of bookings left, so I decided to just have fun."That night he walked on stage as himself, and didn’t smile or say anything. He simply glowered out at the audience, “Well you look a right miserable lot,” he sneered. They started to laugh. “Shut up," he ordered, "I don’t want your pity laughter.” They laughed louder.He carried on like that all through his performance. At the end he concluded, “Right, I’m finished. You can all f**k off now” and he got a standing ovation. He continued doing the same thing every night, and the manager offered him a contract at double the wages.Jack Dee eventually learned to do what was true for him: he was himself. This made him different and this difference made him one of the most successful comedians in the UK.

Seems like he only found success when he gave up worrying about other people liking him and just pleased / was himself
This stuff works in all cases

Last edited by peppo (2/28/2016 3:57 pm)