Five Things You Must Do To Be A Professional Humorist

I can't tell you the right or wrong way to enter the field of comedy or how to become a cartoonist and keep a straight face. And that's good. Don't keep a straight face. That is rule number one.

A day does not go by that I don't get asked how to get into the entertainment business. First of all, I am not in the entertainment business, that is, the way it is defined in the western world. I am a cartoonist and writer. I guess that entertains people so, non-technically it is the entertainment business. I still get asked for my autograph which is flattering, but I don't seem to find myself on celluloid, tv, or movie marquis. And that's all okay. I prefer making people laugh with my cartoons.

I have been a stand-up comedian in New York City, but that was many years ago, and I am the last person to ask how to master that skill. I was dismal at it. But frankly, all I did was asked club owners, if I could "have a shot at it". Some said yes and some said no. The ones who said no did me a bigger favor, in retrospect.

Keep in mind, once you are an emcee at a nightclub, you have not "arrived". You will get a lot more attention from the opposite sex (and sometimes your own), a few free meals and drinks if the club owner is generous, but not a lot more perks than that.

Leno did gigs in nightclubs all over America for years before he tried out for television in Los Angeles. Chances are he could have made it big way before he actually did so. But he wanted to make certain he knew exactly what he was doing, and the nightclubs were his grade school, middle school, and even post graduate comedy degrees.

What to play humorous characters in television, movies or commercials? Take classes. There are plenty of them in larger cities. I took some in New York during my short stint there. Yes, they helped, but not enough. That was my reality so I moved on.

No doubt, the most i ever learned as a humor writer, and eventually having my own cartoon, was "being around other humor writers and actors". I was fortunate enough that a childhood friend, Patrick Weathers, had been a regular featured performer on Saturday Night Live. Patrick was my roommate in N.Y. I was privy to his friends who, were for the most part, quite witty. Humor is one of the greatest coping mechanisms whether one is in the field or not.

I became a cartoonist by accident. I was writing humor and designing cartoon concepts for fun. A concept designer in cartooning is probably equivalent to art director in the movies). I illustrate but not very well. So I recruited artists who felt they understood my concepts and writing and were willing to draw on speculation if I would continuously promote their name and art during down times, that is, of little or no income. Many artists came and went. A day did not go by in the first three years that I did not think we would have to abandon the project. But we persisted. (It doesn't help to read self-help books on the topic of persistence).

Ten years later, it is almost unimaginable to me. We created the largest offbeat cartoon panel site on the Internet with over 8000 original images and have lured about 10 million people since we started counting ten years ago. We've opened 7 niche stores with over 90,000 cartoon items. Now we have arrived.

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Nearly homeless in a metal warehouse, Rick London created the largest offbeat cartoon site on the Internet, Londons Times Cartoons The Best Ways To Enter The Field Of Humor

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