David Minsky

Today I am interviewing David Minsky, a comedian born in New York, NY who has been doing comedy for three years. To find out more about David, please visit his website.

Why did you start doing stand-up comedy?

I've always considered myself funny. It's how I identify myself. Even when I'm in a large group, I feel the need to establish myself as the funny one. Most men like to establish themselves as the Alpha male of the group. Most women like to be the prettiest. I always needed to be the funniest. It comes from my neurotic, self conscious core. People will smile at you, be friendly and say they agree with everything you believe. Then they'll turn around and stab you in the back. Laughter on the other hand is a visceral response. Once you've made someone laugh, that is a genuine, natural connection you've made, and no matter what they do, they can't take that away from you. And in turn, if I can't make someone laugh, that tells me right out the gate that this person and I do not have the same sensibilities and probably won't get along. No need for fake smiles and pleasantries. That's been my M.O. since day one.

When it came to avenues in which to enjoy comedy, as a kid, I LOVED cartoons and actors who acted like cartoon characters like Jim Carrey, Robin Williams and Jaleel White (Steve Urkel). Among the first jobs I ever wanted was to be the voice of a cartoon character. I even drew a comedic super hero by the name of Scrawny Man. He never did anything but be loud and boast himself. The closest he ever came to stopping a crime was when a culprit got so caught up in beating the crap out of him, he forgot to commit his crime.

I was aware of stand-up, and I watched it from time to time on TV. Not so much because I thought it was funny, but because I saw people like me. People who liked being funny and making people laugh. Usually I would listen to a few jokes, then change the channel. That all changed when I saw Chris Rock's "Bring the Pain." He blew me away. I was about 12 at the time and I remember my father and I laughing our asses off from beginning to end. But what I remember most was thinking, "this stuff is really smart and REALLY funny." And even more than that, people really seemed to respect him for what he was doing. That had a profound impact on me. I knew then that stand-up comedy was what I wanted to do, even though I probably never would. I would come up with jokes, and work them into conversation at school, usually to be met with groans by my friends.

In college, I had a room mate who was also big into comedy. He liked Dane Cook, but I didn't hold that against him. It was nice to have someone who I could talk comedy and crack jokes with. He was the first person to suggest to me that I had a talent for being funny and should consider a career in comedy. That meant a lot to me. I was a neuroscience major and hated it. College in general was giving me a hard time so I took a personal leave of absence for a semester. Which turned out to be ok with the college since they were planning on suspending me anyway for not getting enough credits. In the back of my mind, I knew that during my time off, I wanted to give stand-up a try. I had about five minutes of material written and couldn't wait to perform it. I was so embarrassed though, I didn't want anyone to know.

Hurricane Katrina had just hit the Gulf Coast and I thought to myself "PERFECT!" I'll go down to New Orleans and do some relief work for a few months and while I'm there, I'll hop onto an open mic and give stand-up a try. No one I know will be down there, so no one will be around to see me bomb. And that's exactly what I did. I found a weekly open mic and performed there for three months while spending the rest of my time doing hurricane relief work.

What were some of your very first jokes?

One of my biggest concerns, when I first started doing stand-up was that people would not be able to tell what race I was. It had happened to me too often that people I'd meet would think that I was Latino or mixed race or, since I was in New Orleans, creole. I wanted to be able to express my ideals and views, but I knew that people would have different responses depending on what race they thought I was. So the first jokes I told on stage addressed this and I very quickly made it clear that I was Jewish. The very first joke I told on stage, and my opener for a long time was, "No I am not black, no I am not Puerto Rican, no I am not mixed. I'm straight up, 100% Jewish. So fuck y'all if you don't laugh at my jokes, my daddy owns this place." I would then go on to say how I'm always being mistaken for one thing or another, that perhaps it was my taste for "menthol cigarettes and white women." Stuff like that.

The very first joke I ever wrote was in high school, when smoking was cool. There was one kid who would refrain from smoking stating that he was allergic to tobacco. The first thing that popped into my mind when he said that was, "What you think the rest of us are doing this for our health?" which then prompted me to come up with the joke, "You can't be allergic to something that's inherently bad for you! That's like saying 'Oh, no cyanide for me. It gives me the runs." Initially it was a thought that popped into my head, but then I thought about what that might sound like if Chris Rock said it, and I was amused.

Have you found anything surprising about stand-up comedy since you started?

I was surprised to find out that there wasn't a producer in the back of every room I performed, waiting to see me and make me a star. But seriously, what's most surprising about stand-up to me is its addictive property. Each week I feel a compulsory need to get up and perform, and when I don't think I'm performing enough, I can physically feel it, and I feel shitty. At this point I don't feel like comedy is something that I do, but rather a comedian is what I am. Like there are no people who smoke crack, there are only crackheads. That's how I feel about comedy.

And like with everything that's addictive, there are people out there who are willing to exploit it. I've definitely been taken advantage of in the past. It's funny. You hear about it all the time, but when it happens to you, you still can't believe it.

And then there are the lessons that I've learned: The quality of your performance is secondary to numerous other factors such as how easy you are to get along with off stage, can you draw a crowd, who's recommending you and so forth. The major thing to remember is that once you get up on stage (no matter how you get there), you always have to deliver. Be there for the audience and not for yourself.