| I recently over heard someone complaining about how they spent the last two years busting their ass, working hard for no pay on some internship (or business venture) and not being recognized or having it pay off in anyway. I thought, "Two years??! THAT'S IT??" Boy, you have no idea...
The NBC Stand Up for Diversity auditions are coming around again this June, I think. It's just NBC's way of trying to find some minority faces in comedy to pad their rolodexes with, so in case some project pops up in the future, they have a pool of names they can dip into. The winner(s) don't actually get anything, except maybe a holding deal and a college tour. Lives aren't changed, fame isn't guaranteed (in the last 5 or so years of this program, no one has become a household name) as opposed to NBC's Last Comic Standing, the true pot of gold (if you're seeking fame) for stand up comedians.
Even still, I auditioned for the Stand Up for Diversity last winter (didn't make the cut). There were (and I'm sure still are) some white comedians who hold this audition in contempt. I think one even tried to bait me into some heated exchange on a podcast a little while ago. I didn't bite. But I understood the frustration to an extent. Anytime there is some 'diversity' this, or 'minority' show that, I feel guilty about the exclusion of white male comedians. Just like affirmative action, it never sat well with me. I've made a lot of white male comedian friends since I've started comedy. We've been through battles, man. We've bombed together, we've killed together. To go through that sort of emotional roller coaster with other people creates a kinship between you and them. I look at some of these guys like my brothers and brothers in arms. So when I auditioned, I felt some guilt that these guys were left out in the cold (even though there is NO explicit rule that white males cannot participate. In fact, if you look on the website, there was 1 or 2 who even made it to the final round).
[I can literally go weeks (not days, WEEKS) where not only am I the only Asian comedian to perform, I am the only Asian person in the ENTIRE ROOM. That's performers and audience members COMBINED (...weeks...). I do white rooms, black rooms, gay/lesbian shows, latin shows, blue collar rooms, drunk off-duty cops and firefighters, upper-class long island crowds literally eating hor devours and sipping wine. Please don't talk to me about feeling like an outsider. Please don't talk to me about "having to adapt" to the crowd at hand. I've never used my Asian-ness as an excuse, nor have I ever done an impression of my mother. If no one laughs, it's because I wasn't funny. Period. Anyway...]
Fast forward a few months later and the nominees for the ECNY's were announced. And then the finalists for this coming season's Last Comic Standing (when the silliness is dropped and they make a return to REAL comedy). Guess what? White male comedians made a comeback!! In full force! Hey, I'm not complaining about it... but I ain't feeling guilty no more, either...
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