Neil Constantine

Today I am interviewing Neil Constantine, a comedian from Richmond, VA who has been doing comedy for three and a half years. To find out more about Neil, please visit his website.


Why did you start doing stand-up comedy?

Because my dream as being the first blind astronaut died when I was born with these dazzling eyes.

Why? Hrmmm...I could answer that probably differently every day. I couldn't really tell you why. My belief is that our reasoning evolves just as our act does over time. I used to think I knew. Had the reasoning nailed down, "I do comedy because I was this or felt that blah blah blah," but now, not so much. It's good to have that, for me at least. It works for me because (re)discovering that reason of "why" when you question yourself or are questioned always feels as exhilarating as when you think of a topic or that punch to a joke or new tag or new way of approaching a topic. Discovering a purpose, you could say.

Maybe it's relating that feeling of discovery I found while scribbling in a notebook to a crowd of people or just another person in general. When you go "Ah-Ha!" and want people to hear this thought and feel what you felt at that moment. You'd be surprised at how much discovering changes or affects a person. Maybe that is what got me started in comedy for now.

Or maybe I'm just a pompus ass who likes to have his rudeness amplified with a sound system.

Do you follow any rules for writing or performing comedy?

In all reality; there are no rules in comedy. Yuck. That sounded like dialogue from a Micheal Bay film, minus the explosion of course; unless...you know how to design that into here, then I'll TOTALLY rock some exploding HTML.

We all have rules we follow, but have to abandon them sometimes and or change them. That's one of the greatest parts of comedy is its constant sense of evolving. Always adapting, always changing, correcting this, becoming better at that, all for this process we call comedy. The science that goes into becoming what we are is always fascinating. We give the most justice to truth, but also design and experiment with much of the world that we let people in on when we perform each night.

The rules I use as my mantra are general, but allow me to navigate them differently all the time. Your rules should always drive you, not suffocate you. People that set rules to strict, always crack, and abandon said rules shortly thereafter, but again, that is that learning process, the "science" we all go through. I'm as guilty as anyone else.

Right. I'm rambling on, my rules.

1. Always write
2. Work Hard
3. Have fun

They are all important, but the third has the most meaning. I believe that if you're not having fun in what you are doing, then what incentive will you have to follow the other two rules. These rules all work together in sustaining me in my comedy, but obviously, rule two and three can be applied to anything, while rule one can be switched for whatever may apply.

[Insert Exploding HTML Here]

What is your favorite thing to do besides comedy?

Count all the money I get from comedy. Oh I'm sorry, I meant to say that I enjoy answering interview questions with patronizing answers at the beginning.

There are a few things I enjoy. I'm an awkward person(SURPRISE!), so many things I do involve me, myself, and I. Plus, my bank account dictates how much of the world I enjoy sometimes too.

My favorite is to just watch people, things around me in general. One, it's free. Two, it's just great to watch other worlds collide constantly. More than likely, if you saw me somewhere and thought I was listening in on your conversation or watching; you were probably correct. What makes me most excited is that I know that my eyes are still opening and new details will come into view more and more.

Another favorite has to be writing music. I've been involved in it for years. I've never had a band, but I've played guitar for almost ten years and was involved in concert band all through school. That's right folks, I was a band geek. Played the bass clarinet, still can. Marching band to jazz band to music theory, I let music inside me any way I could (see what I did there, now let's giggle like a school girl). Too bad band camp was nothing like the movies. DAMN YOU FRED ASTAIRE!!

Besides this, I enjoy reading and movies. Letting your brain just escape is wonderful because you always come back with a fresh thought. Moving to New York has been the best thing for my movie obsession. So many more opportunities to catch films you'd never see back in Richmond, Virginia.

And lastly, I enjoy reading your blog. See what I did there.

(Wakka wakka wakka)