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The Life of a Traveling Comedian and the Detroit Comedy
Scene
By Ron Taylor
Guest Column
I’m Ron Taylor, I’m a comedian, I live in a van. Here’s
Stand-up comedy is one of the most unappreciated and
underrated art forms of entertainment ever, and that’s what
makes it the wonderful art form it is.
So often comedy is pushed aside as a second tier form of
entertainment but at the crux of all entertainment is fun.
The root word of “funny” is “fun”, so in essence comedy is
one of, if not the, purest form of entertainment. However
most people don’t think of comedy that way, and that’s what
makes doing comedy so rewarding.
I’ve done countless shows, and it never ceases to amaze me
how people seem to be surprised that the show was funny.
When it comes to music, poetry, or acting people seem to
consume it with a sense that they will enjoy it. When it
comes to comedy, consumers have more of a challenging “make
me laugh” attitude, but to succeed at that challenge is a
wonderful feeling.
To go on stage night after night getting in front of
complete strangers in hopes to make them laugh is kind of
crazy. As simple as a person making people laugh seems, when
you break it down, it is a rather complex task. The job of a
comedian is to sync up a group of people who are generally
strangers to each other, and the comedian, take them on some
type of mental journey and facilitate their thoughts so that
they all simultaneously come to same destination and respond
with the weird reaction that is laughter.
All of that is what is necessary to get just one laugh out
of a person. This can be done with something as simple as a
facial expression or as complex as a long story. Either way
the comedian has to take control a group of strangers’
thoughts and invoke a particular emotion, and that’s not
easy to do!
Still why would anybody choose to pursue a career in such a
difficult field. As it’s been said many times before comedy
is therapy for the comedian. However not only is it therapy,
it is one of the greatest tools for absolute expression.
Comedy allows comedians to tackle and express issues and
topics that in any other form would seem inappropriate,
embarrassing or just too difficult to talk about. Comedy can
be a social voice of reason and at the same time a tension
breaker. People who pursue comedy often feel called to it by
their desire to express themselves, their thoughts and
ideas.
I started comedy in Detroit, MI. Believe it or not Detroit,
and the Midwest in general, is a great place to start
comedy. There are many places to go out and perform and get
a decent amount of stage time. Because places like Los
Angeles and New York have so many comedians, it can be
difficult to find a place where you can do more than three
minutes at a time. In Detroit you can find lots of places
where you can get as much as 15 to 20 minutes on stage.
The more stage time you get the more you can work on finding
your comedic voice. So in a way, comedians have the
opportunity to get better faster in Detroit. Another great
perk to doing comedy in Detroit is the large amount of
diversity in the general area.
While in Detroit you are never that far from other cities
with great comedy scenes, like Grand Rapids, MI, Kalamazoo,
MI, Lansing, MI, Toledo, OH, and just a little further,
Cleveland, OH, Columbus, OH, and Chicago, IL just to name a
few.
Not to mention just 15 minutes from Detroit is an entire
different country- Canada!
Last but not least of the best thing about doing comedy in
Detroit is the money! A lot of people may not know but it’s
very hard to make money in New York or L.A. doing stand-up
comedy, simply because there are so many comedians there.
Some of the top comedians in the world get paid just $15 to
do a set in those cities. Where in Detroit a no name, open
mic level comedian can make $50 to $100 a set his first year
in. Comedians make their money on the road and Detroit is a
road city.
As of January 2016, I have been doing comedy for six years.
I have loved every second of it. I’ve traveled a lot and
performed in many places, I’ve made great friends, and even
made a few dollars.
However, in the last year I made the decision to move to Los
Angeles where I currently reside. In short I moved for the
more abundant opportunities of greater notoriety. The more
people who know you, the more people at your show. You can
get good and make money anywhere, but when it comes to mass
notoriety and opportunities L.A. is the mecca.
From my experiences of camping out as a kid I decided to
turn my Ford Econoline Van into a camper and live in it
instead of a house or an apartment. One of the obvious
benefits of living in a van is no rent, but one of the main
reasons I choose to live in a van was to show people just
how much is possible with so little.
I live in West Hollywood, where rent can easily be well over
$1,500 a month, for free, and when I want to move I just
start my van! I have a gym membership for showers and other
bathroom duties, and I have an ice cooler and camper stove
for meals.
Comedy has helped me travel the world, meet some of my
heroes and that thing that people wish they could do. Part
of my comedic and life goals are to show people that they
don’t have to wish they could do, they can just do. There is
no class you have to take to do comedy, it’s a free form of
expression that can liberate you mentally, spiritually,
emotionally and physically, even if you are living in a van!
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