Max Cohen

Today I am interviewing Max Cohen, a comedian born in West Palm Beach, FL who has been doing comedy for less than a year. To find out more about Max, please visit his website.

Why did you start doing stand-up comedy?

As a nebbishy kind of guy, it wasn’t hard for me to really love Woody Allen’s work. Seeing a character like that succeed gave me a few ideas as to what I could do. I’ve been on the stage in one form or another since an early age. The audience’s focus, as well as the joy I felt in telling a good story, has always attracted me to performing. I’ve also always loved the power of just one person’s words to completely enthrall a group. Plus, I used to watch Comedy Central back when showing comedy specials was more than just a Friday night programming bloc, so I went into college quoting comedians as my friends were quoting philosophers. It’s been in my mind for a long time to try telling my own jokes. As I did more stage shows, though, I realized how much I love the pressure of having to deliver a great performance, and that there was no greater challenge than to not only deliver, but write my own performance. As I’ve gained some experience, it’s actually been very reassuring for me. I feel like most of my life is out of control and I’m very unsure about it, but I know I can (usually) control a few minutes of my day and make people laugh.

Is there anything you wish you knew when you started doing stand-up comedy?

I wish I had been more committed to the idea that you write down everything that comes to mind. Most of it will be horrible, but there will almost always be a creative nugget worth mining. Even just a few months into this, I can already think back to some times when I knew I should have written down how I was feeling about such and such an event. Having watched and listened to a lot of comedy before I started, though, I was already mostly aware of the pitfalls a novice needs to avoid. Plus, I read Judy Carter’s “Comedy Bible,” before I got on stage, so I overall felt pretty prepared for how things were going to go.

What was your first time performing comedy like?

My first time was actually quite pleasant. I went with two roommates to The Creek and The Cave in Queens. The mic wasn’t until 8, and I went straight after work, 5:30. I had some delicious jalapeno poppers. Most of the time, there was this gnawing nervous anticipation, no longer about the quality of my material, but just about getting on stage and starting my set. When I got called up I actually brought the pages of notes that I had and the scratch piece of paper with the set order. I managed to get a few chuckles out of that set and some nice handshakes afterward. I figured a few chuckles for a first time was a good enough omen, and kept on going.