Jason Lindsay

It’s been two month since I’ve done any stand-up comedy, and I think that I’m going to be taking a break from it for awhile.  While I do enjoy performing and making people laugh, there are a lot of things that I don’t like about it.

First off, it takes me away from my family.  Sure, it’s only one night a week or so, but to run home from work, get dinner and do my dad-time, and then rush out to a dark club for three-four hours for no pay is not really something I would call productive.

At one point in time, I was pretty sure that I wanted to do stand-up for a living.  But, once I actually got the chance to do some road work, I realized how lonely it is.  About a year ago I was fortunate enough to work at Laff’s Comedy Club in Tucson, and I did enjoy the experience.  But I realized that I missed my family more, and that doing 15 minutes a show wasn’t really enough of a trade-off for being away from my wife and child.

Doing comedy takes a lot of work, and it’s not something that you can rehearse or practice until you’re good enough.  The only way you get better is by getting out there and doing it.  And, since moving to Utah, there just aren’t enough good places to go out and do it enough to make it worthwhile.  Don’t get me wrong, the folks at Wiseguys Salt Lake and Ogden were very nice to me, and gave me plenty of stage time.  But it’s a far cry from the lively Denver comedy scene that I started in, and it’s hard to go from a community like that to Utah.

So, for now I’m setting the mic down and doing other things.  I’m really enjoying being a Dad, and it’s by far the most challenging and rewarding things I’ve ever done in my life.  Having two kids under 2 years old is a full-time commitment, and I’m fortunate enough to have a wife that’s up for the task as well.  I also am blessed with other creative outlets, and I have been half-heartedly been playing guitar with my bro and working on songs.  I’ve also gone back to writing, part-time, as the urge takes me.

I will probably come back to stand-up at some point in time in the future.  But, for right now, I’m happy keeping my jokes to myself.