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2010 Comedy Goals Revisited

On January 1st, 2010 I posted my comedy goals for the coming year. Since it’s the last day of the year, it’s time to go through them and see how I did. Black text is the original goal and bold text is how I did.

Performing:

  • Get on stage 450 times this year
    I was on stage 531 times this year
  • Do at least 8 road gigs
    I did 9 road gigs
  • Perform at 3 different colleges
    I performed at one college and did a fundraiser show for a college soccer team (but not at the college)
  • Perform at Rutgers University twice
    I performed at Rutgers twice for stand up and once for my motivational speech
  • Bark only 1-2 nights per week while having spots 6-7 nights a week
    By the end of the year I was averaging barking 0 times per week and doing (non open mic) spots 5-6 nights a week
  • Average 4 spots per weekend night
    I averaged around 2 spots per weekend night
  • Get passed at 2 different clubs in NYC
    I didn’t get “officially passed” at any clubs, but do 2-3 club spots per week
  • Practice my full set at home daily
    I only did this for one week, when I was preparing for a 45 minute set. I would practice new jokes at home before trying them out on stage, but not nearly every day
  • Enter 5 comedy contests, place in 3 contests and win 1
    I applied to 1 comedy contest and was not accepted
  • Enter 5 comedy festivals, get accepted and perform in 2
    I applied to 1 comedy festival and was not accepted
  • Perform in 15 improv shows
    I performed in three real improv shows and went to 15-25 “jam sessions”
  • Perform in 3 sketch shows
    I performed in one sketch show
  • Act in 20 web videos
    I acted in 8 web videos
  • Give my motivational speech 20 times
    I did my talk once
  • Get booked to 2 commercial / modeling gigs
    I did not do any commercial gigs and wound up on one (unpaid) print ad
  • Get a TV / Film credit
    I did not get a TV or Film credit

Producing:

  • Produce my own weekly show where the average attendance is 30 people
    I produced a weekly show for 40 weeks of the year, but the average attendance was much lower than 30 people
  • Start or join an improv group
    I did not start or join an improv group
  • Run a weekly open mic
    I help run a weekly mic, and sometimes run a second one

Writing:

  • Write every morning
    I wrote in a daily journal for the first ten months of the year and then stopped
  • Get up to having 45 solid minutes of stand up
    I did a 50 minute set once this year, but would not say I have anywhere near 45 solid minutes. I have 15-20 of what I consider solid minutes, and another 15-20 of “If you really liked me…” minutes
  • Write 75 blog posts that are not performance critiques
    I wrote 39 non performance critique posts
  • Write a performance critique of every set within a week of the performance
    I more or less kept to this, although I think I was 10-14 days behind most of the time
  • Write 52 sketches
    I wrote 32 sketches
  • Write a spec script
    I did not write a spec script
  • Write a pilot for my original sitcom
    I wrote an original sitcom pilot and co-wrote a second original sitcom pilot

Learning:

  • Take 3 improv classes
    I took 2 improv classes
  • Take 2 film acting classes
    I did not take any film acting classes
  • Take a commercial auditions class
    I took one commercial auditions class and then did some one-on-one commercials coaching

Traffic, Marketing and Finances:

  • Get my facebook fan page up to 1,000 fans
    I’m at 377 fans
  • Get to 200 RSS subscribers
    I’m still at 22 subscribers
  • Get 2,000 unique visitors a month to the blog
    I average about 1,500 unique vistors a month
  • Earn $8,400 from comedy this year
    I didn’t reach this goal, but am still happy with my earnings
  • Find a 20 hour a week job that pays $40 an hour (doesn’t have to be comedy)
    I did not find a consistent job at that hourly rate
  • Have my ebook downloaded 5,000 times
    My eBook has been viewed at least 1,600 times

Overall grade for the year: B-

I had a productive year, but it could’ve gone even better. I fully nailed 10 out of 35 goals, partially achieved another 12 goals, and completely missed on 13 goals.

Out of the 16 goals I’d consider most important, I achieved 10 of them. Next year I will try to limit myself to less goals so I don’t dilute myself too much.

The thing I’m most proud of is the amount of times (530+) I was on stage this year. Exceeding my stage time goal is always my number one goal, and I will up my target number of times for next year.

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