theearlydraft-blog

[theearlydraft-blog]

Episode 6: What’s Your Thing? (w/ Ithamar Enriquez)

There’s nothing quite as thrilling as watching a brilliant comedian whom the world has yet to discover. It’s like being in on a secret. Ithamar Enriquez is one such comedian. You may have seen him before - at The Second City or perhaps in any number of brief television appearances. Yet, chances are you’ve yet to behold his greatest work: Ithamar Has Nothing To Say, a silent one-man web series produced by Comedy Central’s Key and Peele (along with Maker Studios and Principato-Young Entertainment). Episode 6 of #TheEarlyDraft Podcast sits down with Ithamar to discuss race, failed auditions, and his journey from an out-of-place nobody in the vast Chicago comedy pool to becoming a series creator hailed by press as “a Charlie Chaplin for the 21st century.”

  A note about time: In the past few months, I had begun feeling that perhaps podcasting was a waste of my time. I’ve been getting enough opportunities to perform and send out my writing that it seemed obvious that the hours I spend editing and interviewing could better be used to prep scripts, pitches, etc. After all, I constantly feel the same pressure you do: Move, move, move! You need to get discovered. You’re running out of time! 

But there’s something about Ithamar’s episode that immediately calmed me. His story is a reminder that the energy we expend trying to get noticed and picked is energy we divert from the one thing that actually matters: finding something that we love. Finding our own thing. Every guest I have on the show seems to affirm the same fact: the road to comedy success is insanely long. On it, you have nothing but time. The question is, how are you going to spend all that time? Chasing something you covet, or building something you love? 

#ithamar enriquez #ithamar has nothing to say #solo show #second city #key and peele #maker studios #principato young #the early draft #cj hunt

[theearlydraft-blog]

Study: What Web Creators Can Learn from ‘Incognito’

Are you making a web series? Stop right now and ask yourself these three questions:  • What’s sticky about my premise?  • How do I make my structure lean enough to produce unlimited episodes?  • How is my series using my comedic superpowers? 

This scene study of the web series Incognito highlights how Alison Rich and Andrew Law crafted something so simple, sticky, and unique that I am still taking about it three years later. Enjoy. 

#incognito #alison rich #andrew law #web series #comedy #review #the early draft #cj hunt

[theearlydraft-blog]

Study: Why You Should Be Watching ‘New Timers’

The apocalypse is no big deal. However, CC Studios’s original series New Timers is. It’s a big fuckin deal. My review of their pilot is - in typical Early Draft fashion - tailored toward fellows writers. Dive into this scene study to see how series creators Good Cop Great Cop crafted a pilot that punches you right in your rations-starved gut from minute one. 

#new timers #comedy central #cc studios #good cop great cop #writing a pilot #pilot advice #review #the early draft #cj hunt #writeradvice #nolavie

[theearlydraft-blog]

Episode 5: Breaking out of “the middle” (w/ Rojo Perez)

So you’re a standup. And you’re good. You spend your nights doing booked shows and hosting your own shows. But what’s next? How do you get noticed in a sea of equally talented hungry comedians? Episode 4 of #TheEarlyDraft Podcast catches up with NY standup Rojo Perez to discuss the challenges of putting in the work, winning over the crowd, and attempting to break out of the years of anonymity comedians know as “the middle.” 

Rojo Perez is has been featured at festivals like the Bridgetown Comedy Festival and the New York Comedy Festival. He has built a name for himself on the New York indie comedy scene, regularly appearing at The Creek and The Cave and co-hosting the weekly Comedy as a Second Language show at Kabin bar. 

My extended profile on Rojo: here at NOLA Vie. 

#rojo perez #standup #standup comedy #new york #comedy as a second language #the early draft #cj hunt

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Episode 4: Writing Smart Without Losing Your Audience (w/ Charles Comedy)

Is there such thing as writing that is too smart for the audience? Episode 4 of #TheEarlyDraft Podcast sits down with Charlie Stockman and Chuck Armstrong of the comedy duo Charles to talk about the challenge of writing smart without seeming like a dick. 

#charles #charlescomedy #theearlydraft #charlie stockman #chuckarmstrong

[theearlydraft-blog]

Episode 3: How to Write 240 Sketches (w/ Jeff Whitaker)

Every Saturday at 9 pm, comedian Jeff Whitaker takes the stage with his sketch comedy group Bad Example, the only group I know of -- outside of Saturday Night Live -- delivering an hour of brand new original sketch every single week. How does this scrappy young, unpaid group maintain such an ambitious output? Episode 3 of #TheEarlyDraft Podcast sits down with Bad Example founder Jeff Whitaker to talk fear, trust, and finding a way to create with your “back against the wall.”

  Jeff has written and performed sketch and improv comedy in Austin for years and has been featured at Chicago Sketch Fest, Moontower Comedy Festival, Fun Fun Fun Fest and the Del Close Marathon in New York City. You can catch Jeff at The New Movement, performing improv with the group Good Fight and in The Megaphone Show.

#jeff whitaker #bad example #austin comedy #austin sketch comedy #sketch comedy #weekly sketch show #saturday night live #stag comedy #The New Movement #coldtowne theater

[theearlydraft-blog]

"Animation was a solution to so many of the logistical questions I had been struggling with in staging my weird sketches: 'How can I make a cereal box talk? How do I construct a full-body Sea Cucumber costume in two days? How am I ever going to find a cat, teach it english, and then teach it how to rap?' With animation, literally anything was possible.” - Lynae LeBlanc of Drunktoons.  

We talk with LeBlanc about the creation of her unique live animated sketch show and the challenge of creating inside jokes with the audience. Read more on today's #TheEarlyDraft feature on NOLAvie.com

#Drunktoons #sketch comedy #cartoons #drunken #Lynae LeBlanc #the early draft

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YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT JONAH Jonah Bascle was one of the first improvisors I ever met in New Orleans. He was a comedian who laughed in the face of adversity, an activist who ran for Mayor in order to bring attention to the need for greater accessibility in the city's buildings and public services, and a kind person who made everyone around him better.  He passed away this week due to complications from Muscular Dystrophy. You should know his story.  It will remind you of what it means to be brave.  To find humor.  To value what you have.  If Jonah's story moves you, click here to help his friends and family raise funds to cover the soaring costs of Jonah's care. 

#jonah bascle #disability rights #new orleans #muscular dystrophy #mayoral candidate #documentary

[theearlydraft-blog]

#TheEarlyDraft Podcast: Ep 2 - Grace Blakeman

For episode 2 of the podcast, we sit down with actress and improvisor Grace Blakeman.  A co-founder of The New Movement New Orleans, Grace is known for her work with the sketch and improv groups Stupid Time Machine, Personality Plus, and Claws with Fangs. She joins us on the podcast to discuss trusting your gut, having patience, and doing that which so many of us improvisors both fear and dream about: starting over in Chicago. 

#grace blakeman #comedy #the early draft #The New Movement #second city #moving #starting over #advice for comedians #under the gun theater

[theearlydraft-blog]

3 THINGS MOST SKETCH PERFORMERS DON'T DO Fringe Festival Review for NOLAvie.com   

#sketch comedy #solo sketch comedy #Vanessa Gonzalez #tami nelson #mike spara #valerie boucvalt #carlos velazquez #cj hunt #the early draft #The New Movement

[theearlydraft-blog]

#TheEarlyDraft Podcast: Ep 1 - Vanessa Gonzalez

It's here.  There first-ever #TheEarlyDraft Podcast.  This episode features Austin-based comedian Vanessa Gonzalez (Follow her on tumblr: buhnessa).  

To this day, I have yet to see a better live performer than Vanessa.  She is a force on stage.  Every one of her performances is a mix of sheer power and control, every character rendered with detail, depth, and a fuck-it-let's-see-how-far-this-goes commitment.  Those of you in NOLA are lucky enough to see her live:

NOV 19th and 20th - 8pm @ The New Movement 

Vanessa will present selections from her new show I Don't Know Dating. I'll be on the show too presenting sketches from my new solo show.  Get there. For now, enjoy her on the podcast serving up lessons about fear, practice, and just doing the damn work!  

#vanessa gonzalez #theearlydraft #comedy #solo sketch comedy #the new movement #austin comedy #cj hunt

[theearlydraft-blog]

HOW TO WATCH LIKE A COMEDIAN 3/3: Derek Dupuy

Segment three of my feature on Hell Yes Fest 2014.  Full article published on NOLAvie.com. 

[theearlydraft-blog]

HOW TO WATCH LIKE A COMEDIAN 2/3: CHRIS TREW

Segment two of my feature on Hell Yes Fest 2014.  Full article published on NOLAvie.com. 

[theearlydraft-blog]

HOW TO WATCH LIKE A COMEDIAN 1/3: Sophie Lucido Johnson

Segment one of my feature on Hell Yes Fest 2014.  Full article published on NOLAvie.com. 

[theearlydraft-blog]

Here's to the Early Drafts

I'm a comedian.  By that, I mean I write comedy - sketches, web series, standup - that I put it up in front of people in hopes that they will like it and tell their friends "hey, you should check out CJ Hunt." At some point, I hope to get so good and have so many people like my work that I can get paid for it. I think about the things I want: a TV writing job, a spot on SNL, my own show. And these things feel so far away. I wonder if the life of a comedian is one spent constantly on your way. Constantly reaching. Chasing. Coveting the things you don't yet have. Lamenting the things you left behind in your haste. Obsessing about the next level. Whatever that is.  

I'm starting The Early Draft as a study of comedians on their way. Perhaps it's an effort to speed myself along or the opposite: to slow myself down and enjoy the ride.  Whatever the case, I'm interested in the thousands of dummies who have purposely chosen a career spent in-progress. I want to know about the chipping away. The little steps comedians take every day to get better at their craft. I want to know about the giant leaps, the falls, and the happy accidents. I want to know about the many messy drafts of oneself that a comedian goes through before finding his or her "thing."  I want to know how comedians are made.  

So that's The Early Draft: interviews with comedians in-the-making. Some of these will be stars, some of them will be names you haven't heard of... yet.  This started as a weekly column on NOLAvie.com, and will grow into a blog, podcast, and who knows what.  

Here's to everyone on their way. Here's to the rough edges. The jokes that don't work yet. Here's to the early drafts.     

#theearlydraft #cjhunt #comedy