How to Make Millions of People Laugh at Once
A comedian’s guide to getting a shot at late-night TV
“Our next guest is making his late-night television debut…”
Those are the words every stand-up comedian dreams about.
Standing backstage, palms sweaty, anxious, excited—scared? Maybe. The late-night stand-up set is the first real notch on any comedian’s belt. It replaces “This next comedian is really funny” with “You’ve seen him on…”
It proves to your family back home that you really are GOOD! And even though you’ll be doing stand-up for no money at a bowling alley the next night, you feel like a professional — and that’s all that matters.
My first late-night set was in 2005, on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. I had just done the Montreal Comedy Festival, and the booker liked my set and was going to give me my shot.
There are usually two types of bookers in late-night TV: those who care about the set and less about the comic, and those who care…
