Curt Fletcher Blog: August 2015

So today marks my 14th year of doing stand-up comedy! The dream started in 1984, when I was just four and I've always enjoyed making people laugh. I still remember making Katy Malloy spit milk out of her nose in kindergarten. When I was 21, that's when I decided to give it a shot. I was working at Pizza Hut on the westside of Albuquerque, where I met a lot of my closest friends. Nate Tramontina was the one who really pushed me into doing it. He was probably only 18 at the time and he said something like, "quit talking about it and actually do it." The night that I really got serious about it was when we had a big party at our house. I was living with Nate Guyre and Larry Campbell. Nate Tramontina's band, AnesthesiA, was playing and we had probably about 75 people at the house. It was pretty noisy, and the cops ended up showing up. Luckily no one got in trouble, but the band had to quit playing. Everyone ended up leaving, but about half hour later all of our closest friends ended up back at the house. Someone convinced me to hop up on the microphone and start telling some jokes.

I hadn't really started writing any material up to that point, and I was probably too hammered to remember it anyway, so I got up on the microphone and just started talking some shit. I don't remember anything I said, but I remember just roasting everyone basically and getting a lot of laughs. That's when I knew that I could give it a try. I did some research on the local comedy club, Laffs. They held their open mic the first Sunday of every month, so I picked August. I gave myself about four months to prepare five minutes of material. I talked to my good friend from Iowa, Matt Evans. Matt was and is one of the funniest people I've ever met in my life. I asked him if he had any ideas for jokes, I had no idea how to write a joke. So, Matt would send me joke ideas and some bits that he came up with. Most of them were kind of long, and I wasn't comfortable telling longer bits. When I wrote my own stuff it ended up being a lot of one-liners and shorter jokes. I did try some of Matt's jokes out, they were funny, but didn't really fit with the style that I wanted to do. I ended up using some of the funny lines and just shortening the bits. Matt finally got to see me perform a few years ago in Fort Dodge, Iowa. If it wasn't for him I would have had a really difficult time getting started.

My good friend, Dennis Verrall, was very helpful, too. He gave me some jokes that he had written, when I was first kinda starting out, too. I'm such a hack! I finally talked Dennis into doing stand up several years later. He only did a handful of shows, but I got him gigs in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and South Dakota. Not bad for someone who probably only performed like 10-15 times. I think if he really tried he would be really good at it. He's a talented sumbitch.

I started to become a regular at Laffs pretty quickly. The owner of Laffs, Russ Rivas, was very helpful and took a lot of time working with me and helping me get better. As I got to know him more when I worked at the club, I realized that he never did that, so I appreciated it years later. I know there are a lot of people who don't like Russ, but he really took me under his wing and made me into the comedian that I am today, and I am very grateful.

Don Morgan was another guy who helped me out a lot. I met him in Denver just shortly before I moved back to Albuquerque a few years back. We kept in touch and I ended up living with him in Denver for a few months after my divorce. He was very helpful, he's a good friend. And he's super funny, I love traveling with him. We got to spend a few days in Iowa performing and hanging out with my family and had a blast! My family really enjoyed him, too. Especially since he made fun of uncle Melvin! I think Don will do some great things in comedy, too, he's very sharp and likable.

My good buddy and writing partner, Marc Shuter, has always been a huge inspiration throughout my career as well. I was pretty bummed when he quit doing stand up, he was always one of my favorites to watch. We started writing a script a couple of years ago and we're pretty happy with it right now, can't wait for everyone to see it! Marc's a talented fella and I think he has a bright future in writing.

The past 14 years have had so many ups and downs, but I really love the lifestyle. I have met so many people and I've had an opportunity to travel all over the country and see some really beautiful things. I have performed in 24 different states, in December I'm performing in Utah, that will put me at 25! I have done over 1,300 shows and I've performed at some of the best venues in the country. I've even got to share the stage with Jim Norton, Brian Poshen, Josh Blue, John Caponera, T.J. Miller, Theo Von, Dante, Jackie Kashian, Harland Williams, Dan Soder, Ben Kronberg, Steven Michael Quezada, Michael Malone, Robert Hawkins, Carl LaBove, Troy Baxley and Chad Daniels. I've made so many great friends in this business, too.

Unfortunately, I've lost some good friends along the way, too. My good friend, Dave Ashley, died earlier this year and that broke my heart. I find myself thinking about him a lot, he was a great guy. We hit it off right away when I met him in Tulsa. I feel so awful for his wife, Beth, who was one of the nicest comedy club managers I've ever met. Dave always wanted me to go visit them in Jacksonville and I never got the opportunity. Some other great comedian friends who have passed: Lori Callahan, Jimmy Wiggins, Scott Kennedy and Kelly Moran. I know there are definitely others, but those are the ones who came to mind right away. It's definitely a tough lifestyle being out on the road away from family, but it's what we do.