Dale Sorenson

Today I am interviewing Dale Sorenson, a comedian born in San Francisco, CA who has been doing comedy for five years. To find out more about Dale, please visit his website.

Why did you start doing stand-up comedy?

I had no aspirations of going into show business when I was young. I went to stand-up shows for years and enjoyed them with no thought of doing it myself.

Then one morning, out of the blue, I woke up and my head exploded. My favorite anecdotes started coming to me in comedy narrative form. I'd never even been a writer. But clearly something important was happening. I grabbed a pad and started scribbling ... struggling to keep up as the stories came ... two, three, four at a time. That day changed my life.

It took a year for me to get up the nerve to set foot on stage. And I keep doing it for one very simple reason ... I now have this sarcastic little voice in my head that will not shut the fuck up.

Have you ever reached a low point while doing stand-up and how did you deal?

Getting started there are two ways to get on stage, open mics and bringer shows. I did them, like everyone else, and burned out. I was sick of playing by everyone else's rules and wanted to play by my own rules. So my fabulous comedy partner, Michelle Dobrawsky and I started SuperEgo Comedy in 2006. Having my own rooms to work out my stuff is great. Then I have the luxury of only doing other gigs that are appealing. I do less shows, yes, but I enjoy them more and get more out of them creatively.

Want more stage time? Start your own room.

How do you come up with your material?

It's that little voice. He just keeps babbling. Most of the time he's an inane, self-obsessed, prurient jackass ... but occasionally he churns out an interesting premise. He amuses me. Occasionally, when I'm lucky, he amuses other people too.