400 Square Feet – it helped me tremendously in my comedy career. For anyone looking to make the jump into comedy writing full-time, or really anything other than what you’re doing, this article is for you!

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Here’s the Article:

My first “apartment” (if you could call it that) in Los Angeles was 400 square feet. There were 3 places to sit AS LONG AS SOMEONE HAD TO GO TO THE BATHROOM. It had a chair, a futon and a toilet. My cat was confused about the futon because she knew that when we lived in Virginia, she could get on the bed but not the couch . . . but in her cat brain, the rules changed when the bed TURNS INTO a couch.

And it wasn’t in a great section of town. My friend comedian/keynote speaker Frank King used to say “Jan and I are such good friends that I’d take a bullet for her. And when I saw where she lived, I thought I might have to.” About once a week the cops would shut down my street as they chased fugitives by car and helicopter. Extra excitement! I got so used to this that on one July 4th, as I was headed out to the driving range with my golf clubs, I ran into 2 cops trying to get into my gated parking area. They asked if I could click them in, so I did.
 

Thinking nothing of it, I walked in with them, one on each side of me, when suddenly, they both drew their guns and pointed the guns directly at the recycle bin. One cop was shaking a so hard I’m not sure how he could even aim. It’s like he just now realized he’s a real cop with a real gun. I was shaking too because I didn’t have a gun, just a 9-iron.
 

I hightailed it up to my car, dove in, and called Frank to say “I may have to take a bullet for me too!” I realized that if this criminal gets away from these shaking cops, I’m the only one with a clicker and a getaway car!

After a couple minutes, I looked up, and the cops had him in cuffs. Whew! Then one of ‘em yelled, “hey, can you click us out?” I did.

That apartment may have almost killed me, but it also saved me. Though I looked about as unsuccessful as you could get, I actually felt pretty good about living there. Lots of people move to Los Angeles or New York, hoping to find fame and fortune. They get an expensive apartment, in a nice part of town and then realize that that they need to take on a waitress or bartending gig to actually pay for it. My 400 sq foot apartment in that dicey neighborhood was $400 bucks a month . . . It gave me the FREEDOM and the ENERGY to focus on my career and figure out what I was doing without the pressure of needing a lot of money. That strategy worked!

My advice – don’t worry about how something looks to others; you just have to know why YOU are doing it. If it fits in with your plan, then go for it!

Check out another story from my comedy career by clicking this link!