At the moment I am sitting at my computer writing and I am thinking about you. That is not a lie, I am thinking about you and how thankful I am that you are reading these words, it really does mean a lot. There is so much out there in the world to read, listen to, watch, that you would spend any time in your day reading what I am writing, well I appreciate it.
I kept a journal at a theater camp I went to when I was in high school and when I have read it to an audience it elicits laughter because well, I am embarrassingly earnest. One passage that I always find very funny is this.
‘Cherish the fact that you’re an artistic person affecting others for good. Not the fact that you’re the lead. Who gives a shit if you have 100 lines or one line if you don't make an impact on a life…it doesn't matter.’
This was just after I had played Kenickie in Grease. Just imagine the lives that were changed after that spectacle!
I have devoted most of my life since 1999 to performing and writing. First acting in plays in middle school and high school and then college. Then I moved to New York where I got my first few professional jobs in a national tour of a children’s musical, then writing an off broadway show, then I began stand up and the past 7 years I have been writing and performing in my own solo shows. It’s been about 25 years since I first performed in You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown and even at the time I knew my life had changed. And today more than ever, as silly as it feels to write it out but it’s in my brain so I will type it out, my goal is to try in whatever small way I can to change someones life. To see the world in a new way, to carve some new tiny little groove into someone’s perception of this life. Now when you see me tell a hackneyed dick joke just know…I am trying to change your life with that!
The problem I have perceived in myself lately, as the crows feet have developed in eyes and the ever increasing expenses of day to day life become a burden, I have grown a bit tired of changing lives one line at a time and become more focused on changing one life, my own. And those preferred changes would be primarily monetary, along with a touch of prestige. A check and an acknowledgment of brilliance will do thank you very much.
Now, making a living is important and so the ‘problem’ I see is not with wanting more people to see my work or appreciate my work. It’s in thinking that will somehow fulfill me in some way. It usually comes when I am not sitting down and writing or performing. It’s in those moments between when I am stressing looking at how much a flights cost to get to a city where I will probably not break even. And here is a dirty little secret about me, my professional rate to perform is somewhere between negative $25 to $150. If I only lose that much and there is a room full of people…I am there. It is not the soundest business model but it’s worked out so far.
I am writing a new show now and I will be taking it to Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August. I found an email from 2014 that I sent a few trusted friends when I first heard of The Festival. It reads:
‘I had the idea of doing a show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival next August. The upside is that I would have a goal to write an hour show perform it 27 times in 27 days. And learn tons as a performer and writer. Meet amazing people. The scary part...there are literally 3700 shows there. Some people rave about how fun and good it is. Then other people talk about how it was miserable and no one came to their show.
Long story short...I think I could write an hour of killer stand up / stories about a theme. And even have it be touching and poignant.
Each article I read about the festival gets me excited or terrified. And the thought of it being a smart good step artistically is awesome and bold and something I would never regret and then thought of failure makes me want to forget it.’
3 years after that I went with my show The 30 Year Old Virgin and then in 2019 with a new show and now I will be there a third time. And I am only excited. I am not scared. That is why it’s good to go back and remember what it was like when that seed was planted to take a risk and do something scary, to step into the unknown.
In the past 10 years I think I have performed 4 different solo shows over 350 times, in bars, living rooms, theaters and on zoom. They are all a mix of stand up, story
and I do my best to make them funny, yet touching and poignant.
One of my 14 year old students watched The 30 Year Old Virgin because he googled me and found the special on Amazon Prime. He said ‘Kevin…I watched your comedy special…it made me feel weird because it was funny but it was also um…kind of sad.’ I was like….DUDE! that is what I was going for, touching and poignant! And he said ‘No…just sad. ’OK, well, maybe it’ll make more sense to him in a few years.
Now here I am with a new show, same idea, same format, stand up and stories, hoping they are funny, hoping they are poignant and well…the gig is up…I am trying to change your life. I mean, that is the goal. Sorry it is so lofty and pretentious, that’s just what I have wanted to do for 25 years so I don’t see any reason in hiding it anymore.
I also have never been more thankful for the people who come out to my shows because they are giving me the precious gift of their time and the opportunity to open their ears and minds to the journey I am so excited to take them on. I have performed for 1 person over zoom, 4 people in a backyard in Nashville, 7 people during a rainy afternoon in Scotland at Fringe in a tent with a leak and I remember those shows more clearly than the sold out shows that made me feel cool in the moment. There are a million ways to spend an hour, you can cook soup, you could rewatch The Sopranos or you could stalk your exes on instagram. If you spend it with me, I am truly honored.
I will preface this by saying…this does not mean it will be good…it could be garbage…but with this new show I am about to perform about 50 times over the next 5 months…I am pledging to myself and to be more thankful than I ever have to anyone who shows up. I think I have taken for granted how much of an ask it is to ask for people’s evenings and an hour out of their lives. And with that, I also pledge to do everything I can to try to impact you and make you see the world in a new way and laugh too. I am shooting for the moon here folks but why the hell not? 15 year old Kevin said If I don’t impact a life…it doesn’t matter. I think the worst case scenario is you come see a show that is funny but kind of sad (i.e. poignant and touching).
April 12
New York, NY TICKETS
May 17th + 18th
Pittsburgh, PA ON SALE Soon
June 9th
Columbus, OH TICKETS
June 21
Nashville, TN TICKETS
June 22
Nashville, TN TICKETS
July 10-13th
New York, NY Soho Playhouse TICKETS
August 1-26th
Edinburgh Fringe Festival TICKETS