Intro 
Welcome to "Scene Change", a podcast by the National Federation of the Blind Performing Arts division. All about equality, opportunity, accessibility, and the arts. Here, you'll learn about the techniques from performers in the know. We are changing what it means to be blind at one stage at a time. Thank you for joining us today.

Lizzy  0:41
Hello everyone and welcome to "Scene Change". I'm Lizzy Muhammad-Park, the Vice President of the National Federation of the Blind Performing Arts division, and your host of the show. Today's episode is all about how we can do comedy. We have two blind panelists joining us today. Shannon Canton and David Glasspool. Shannon is originally from Hawaii, but recently moved to Philly, where he has been doing comedy for the last year. He's the vice president of the Keystone chapter in Philadelphia. David is a lifelong federationist is originally from Louisiana, who moved to Colorado and started doing comedy seven years ago. So getting into question one, Shannon, who are what made you decide to get into comedy?

Shannon
So I had a breakup a couple years ago, that probably was the real thing that pushed me into comedy. I figured that nothing's gonna go lower than this. So like, if I get booed off stage. I'm cool with that. But in terms of actually comedic inspirations, I love Patrice O'Neal. He was always someone who I really admired. I don't agree with half of the things he said, but he was still able to make me laugh. That is what I think comedy is all about making and pushing people and challenge them to think differently than you do, while still making them laugh.

Lizzy 2:11
I love that. And I love your willingness to take a risk. Saying that you didn't care pretty much if you got booed, offstage. How about for you, David, who are what was your inspiration for getting into comedy?

David 
Um, well, I got an undergrad in theater in Louisiana Tech a long time ago. And I stunk at acting really bad. But some of my professors and friends said, Hey, you should try stand up for voiceover work because I was good at doing impressions and different character voices instead of just telling me 'Hey, you suck at acting, maybe get a better degree that you can actually use.' But a few years later, when I moved to Colorado. I found some radio stations that recently I guess, come to town or something like that, whatever. But like that we're just 24/7, stand up comedy and I've never really listened to stand up that much. A little bit in college. I like Robin Williams, mostly for his acting stuff. I like Gabriel Iglesias, I like him. He did a lot of voices. But I mostly didn't pay attention to stand up. But when I was in Denver, and I started listening to those radio stations, I kind of remember how years before people said, 'Hey, you should try it.' And I was living in a bigger city. And so I just kind of googled open mics and started going to them a lot. And then I started diving into you know, into stand-up comedians and learning more about them. So I didn't at first really have any influences. But once I once I started going to open mics, I started listening to comedians Maria Bamford is a comedian, that was a very big influence on me when I first started, um, she was just one of the first ones that whenever I was kind of like researching and like learning about learning about concepts, she has one who really stood out to me, so I probably, you know, probably for brevity, as someone said, Who's the biggest influence? I'd have to say--

Lizzy
Wow.

David
Because, you know, I can just kind of like when people say, what's your favorite? I'm like, 15 come to mind. So that's my, that's my one. But

Lizzy 4:12
Wow, it's, it's, it's so cool. So you guys have these very different paths, but they're both fascinating. Okay, so I have to ask, because I have a bad feeling that I will get yelled at by my listeners. If I don't, can you do an impression for us?

David
There's one voice that I used to do, and some of it's not in some of my jokes, but I don't do it anymore. Because it's so it's jarring to the point where it kind of takes the audience out of the joke. (character voice) That's why I speak like this. Like Hello, Lizzie. How are you? 
(Normal voice) So let's just do a female character something (character voice) oh my god Stop it. (Normal voice) But it's so it's so jarring that it would end up like after the set somebody's like that was just crazy, but I couldn't remember what the joke was about. So I kind of-- But like I said, when I first started, a lot of the comedians I started listening to were comedians like Maria Bamford, or Gabriel Iglesias, people hated voices. So I kind of relied on them a lot when I started and then as I kept going, you know, they were kind of seasoning on top of the actual material that I was writing. So I still do for characters and stuff, but not so much that one because--

Lizzy 
Well if the mood strikes you into a character voice. At any point, do feel free to answer in some other character because that's hilarious. Um, and Shannon, I love hearing

Shannon  
no impressions by me.

Lizzy
No, no. (laughs) I’m not gonna ask you

Shannon
I do whenever I do impressions. I do like a terrible impression of whoever I'm trying to impersonate. But like an incredible impersonation of somebody else. Like my Donald Trump is a terrible Donald Trump, but an incredible zoolander. Sorry, go on.

Lizzy  6:04
You can also feel free if the mood hits you to do an impersonation. Even if it's not a great one. We still want to hear it. It doesn't matter. Shannon, what brought you to Philly? What are you doing in my city?

Shannon 
Comedy. That's That's it? You know, just knowing that? Yeah, this was just needed. I needed to get out of Hawaii. I love Hawaii so much. But it was just too. It was too easy. I mean, not even in like a mean way. It's just everyone gets time you make anybody laugh. I had a headline set within my first year. That should never happen anywhere. That should ever happen anywhere. It's not. It's so bad. Like right now. I'm happy every time I get a 10-15 minute spot. And it's like, Thank You, Lord. Over there. It was like, Hey, what are you doing next week, want to do 15 want to do 20 you don't it just, it doesn't make you better. You get into this false sense of I'm good. And I knew I knew I wasn't that good. It was Orlando. Orlando, Florida is actually doing an NFB convention. And I was killing it. It was my sixth month I was in amazing. I was the world's greatest comedian at six months, and I invited everyone. I'm like, 'yo, you guys got to see me. I'm gonna go. I'm gonna kill. I've been crushing.' And I was number 22. In a mic with 23 people. Oh, it was everything you thought and I went up there a lot of confidence in the world. I'm like, Hey, guys, that comedian four comedians to go.

David
You make the dumb mistake of telling that host of letting the host know that the people who are with you with you were your friend?

Shannon
No, no, they

David
They put you up late intentionally? Because I imagine the host saw that like that's the guy who brought the people with him. So he's going up last.

Shannon
I didn't know --

David
people don't leave.

Shannon
I couldn't find a spot. So I actually came in a little late, but I like they knew I was coming. So they gave me that second to the last spot. And I still had confidence everyone bombed that night. There was like one person who did okay. And I just went up and I went up with all the confidence of an open micer who doesn't know what's about to happen. And it was such a bad bomb. I just remember is the the saddest advice this I walked off stage as distraught down just sweating. This dude came up to me he's like, 'Hey, my man, it's all right, young man. At least you were in the top 25 and they're only 23 comedians.' and it was like 'Oh'. Yeah, back to the drawing board. Don't ever invite them

David 
Those kind of open mics is really crappy ones were just everyone just terrible. Like, those can either be really depressing or really fun. Like, because if it's if it's in the middle, maybe it'll be like maybe one or two audience members and then nothing but the other comedian. Because you can just do whatever you can just go off script like it doesn't doesn't matter. It's just an open mic. A dumb open mic. And you can sometimes have like, I've had some of the most, most fun times during mics like that, or they can be insanely depressing.

Shannon
Oh, yeah, yeah, no, that was the thing that made me push me into therapy. I'm like, I okay. You know, I needed this. I needed that push because I didn't know anyone there. So my thing was, I'm gonna I'm gonna crush in Orlando. And they're gonna ask me headline to Orlando improv, you know, all these open mic dreams? Yeah, you just you don't and I made every mistake a rookie would. A rookie who's been doing good for two months straight at open mics. And if I invited my friends to Oh, don't ever do that. If you guys do comedy, and you're listening. Don't do it. Don't invite your friends to an open mic

David
Invite them to a show because if you invite him to open mics when you actually get like a paid gig or a good show. They're probably not going to come because they've seen your material before. And you don't play the guitar and you're not in a band. So then they aren't going to come see you in a second. If you're in a band that can just like yeah, but it's a comedian we've heard your jokes once they were funny. They were really good. Good job. What are you going to do now? We're going to go watch that hot sexy person who plays the guitar. That's what we're gonna do. Oh,

Shannon
that's, that's

Unknown
Shannon you just made me think. Can you imagine? I think Gabriel Iglesias next comedy special should just be him chatting to his therapist. I think that would be the best comedy spent like all these big name comedians, I want to see Jim Jefferies talk to his therapist. That would be fantastic.

( combined)

Shannon
It we will turn it into a bit. But usually you are like, so you got to therapy. We're just like, yeah, they didn't laugh at our jokes. Is that really? What you need for gratification doesn't come from within? Yeah, yeah. And by the end of it, you're agreed with them? And they're like, Okay, let me go back to trying to get gratified by bombing on stage. That's, that's what we need. That's where I get my chuckles and yuck yucks from.

Lizzy
Your chuckles and yuck yucks

David 
Yeah, everybody, everyone bombed. Like it's gonna, if somebody tells, you know, they've never bombed then they don't have self awareness. And I bombed a bunch. And so everyone does. And a lot of times that's what open-mics are for just for learning and making mistakes, dumb mistakes, at open mics are better than making them that like, an actual gig, like at a comedy club, or something like that, where, you know, where you you make those mistakes in front of people who, you know, book shows. It's just an open-mic thing and that's kind of what they're for

Shannon
Yeah, it's, it's been definitely that learning experience. You will get there because everyone who gets on a hot streak, well think this, this is just how comedy is, you're not as good as your best set. You're not as bad as your worst set.

Lizzy 12:16
Yeah, well, that's good advice. I like that. I like that. So okay, so for each of you, what is your most memorable performance could be like over zoom, like, whatever, whatever, was probably like your most memorable and then also like, Why? It was a stand out to you

David
Believe it was 2015, Fort Collins, Colorado. The day before, I found out that a girl that I had kind of been seeing a little off and on that I was maybe under the impression that we were in a relationship. And in fact, we really weren't. And I discovered that she had seen other people and I was just an episode of "The Wonder Years", just just in love with this one I was head over heels. It was bad. It took me like a year and a half to get over is the worst of falling for someone. And I don't know how long. So I was def-- like crud I wept like a child. And I had this show in Fort Collins the next night, and the house is packed. And for some reason, I just killed it. Like, I just remember that it was a packed house. And I just, none of my material is sad or anything. I just remember that. For those like 10 minutes, I just, it was maybe it was the juxtaposition of how crappy I was feeling because of this. Because of the problems with this woman. And then just doing really well at this show. And then afterwards, going back home and crying, but I just distinctly remember. Simply remember that

Lizzy  
Wow. It's so funny how both you and Shannon have used comedy after a bad breakup, but

Shannon
it helps if you do i, or if you do well, if you don't, then it's the opposite. The most memorable set I  guess it's because it was I was actually just talking to Shane about this before as I can't really say what I was doing with my material. But we've been doing, we've been doing zoom shows, here and here in Philly, and half of our crew are black, and they just wanted to talk and promote a lot more things than just comedy. So one week, we had someone who was an activist, we had someone who was a therapist just being like, 'Hey, this is how you take care of yourself.' Then one day I saw Anil Lewis post on Facebook about him coming to terms with his intersectionality reading Trevor Noah's book and how it helped him like you know, he's a great speaker. He's funny. Let's have him on. And right before the show started, they're like, Alright, you're gonna introduce them. Do your set, then introduce him. I'm like, No, no, no. (Combined speaking) Yes, yes, yes. Yes. I'm like, No, no, he doesn't know me like this, like, do it. And so right before I'm just texting them all, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm sorry. And I just blurred did what would have been a 10 minute set in four minutes in and just told him just the most graphic, disgusting things because I just saw my ex girlfriend who. She's a good girl. She's a good girl like she, she did amazing things. And she's magical. So I talked a lot about magic. And he heard a lot of that. And that was, it was that was memorable. In terms of good, good sets. I'm sure it's out there. But that one will always like stay behind me. And after I'm like, I had to text him again. I'm so sorry.

Lizzy  
Oh, my God. That’s awkward

Shannon
Oh my God. It was the first time I even tried that material too, so every week. With zoom. You don't you don't want to like do the same material because it's the same people. It's not like, you're going to fresh crowd. So you want to try something new. And it was a brand new set. I was ready. I was all hyped because I just saw her and then. And know so sad me. Like, this is where you separate NFB and every time to ask you you want to do it. I'm like, No, no, you you guys will never see that again. I'm gonna listen. I'm going to listen to this a couple of weeks.
The funniest part is the twist is is the twist of me gonna be like yeah. So everyone this is a good friend of mine. A gentleman a scholar. A man of means and integrity

Lizzy  
unlike me

David
Mixing stuff like that. It's like I've never done I've never done a set where I've had to do or like anything other than just a stand up show the idea of like this. Like, I'm gonna do stand up and if someone's gonna say something serious or vice versa like I couldn't I couldn't do that.

Shannon
It was a meltdown bro, it was so bad it was me spending like weeks just hyping on being like 'Yeah, he we need to get Anil on he's just incredibly intelligent, articulate person who, who's also funny. And then they're like, Okay, do your set introduce them. And I'm like, I don't have a 'Knock knock. Who's there? Set?' That's not my style. He's gonna learn something about me that he did not want to know.

Unknown 
Shannon on the virtual NFB convention 2021 agenda ladies and gents

Shannon
Yes, NFB will officially be canceled guys. Give it up for me.

David
I've been I've been asked a couple of times to perform it like, like a like

Lizzy
a talent show.

David
NFB kind of stuff. And I'll God the idea of performing in front of blind people to me is a nightmare. There's no way I would do it. Because they'll heckle you because they'll heckle you they don't care. They will yell crap at you. And you feel and you feel you feel pressured to like say like, what are you going to tell him about being blind? I don't know. And it's just kind of, I've been around the NFB since I was a kid. So like, to me that would be like, hey, go do stand up in front of everyone you went to high school with? Why would I do that? Horrible. And I know they will absolutely yell at you.

Shannon
Yeah, I mean, every it's, I did it a couple of times. So and it was awful. Because you can't be yourself. You can't even if someone heckles you, you can't react the way you would do with a regular audience, you can say, you know, you can't, whatever to clap back that you have, you have to hold back. And if you have to hold back anything as an artist as a comedian, everything from that point on will bomb and I it's not worth it. It's just not you know, because then it justifiably, if someone sees you that'd be like, Oh, he's not that funny. Which you know, you probably weren't because you're not going to be on and if you want people to appreciate what you do, you want to give them the best show and honestly if unless that's your your thing, unless you're a gaffigan, who can make people laugh in the cleanest of circumstances, it just you don't want to do it and you shouldn't do it.

Unknown  
I feel like as I'm an honorary panelist now, I'm just going to jump into the panel, bro. I, I feel like comedy is a super is like one of those really vulnerable Performing Arts. Like when I play shows when I played gigs. It's like the hometown gigs are the most awkward gigs like the like anywhere where you know, people like the banter is is automatically like a little bit different. And one of the worst things that I saw from this was, I saw a local comedian. And it was a tiny club. It was like 30-40 people. And his family came to the show, I guess. It is telling the story about them. And every detail that he like, you know, every it's all about perception. So every detail that might have been slightly off. His grandmother was yelling out from the back of the crowd that didn't happen. It happened like this.”

Shannon
That's hilarious. That's, yeah, that's funny. I yeah, my I did it one time. I had my parents. And it's funny. They saw me in Boston, and I can't cuss. They're there. Again. Both ordained ministers. I can't be myself right before I went onstage. My mom pulls me She's like, 'you will not talk about your dad. And you did not use bad words.' The show is cancelled mom, thank you for coming

Lizzy 
Exactly right. Like, let me just go home.

Shannon 
I went up and I just started doing crowd work. I'm like, Hey, what's up? Alright, what's your name? George. You're my dad. And it just didn't work at all. I'm like, I can't pretend to some random things. My dad now and he? He liked me. Everyone else was like, here. What are you doing? And they were right. I just sweat. I sweat when I'm nervous. And I sweat when I'm hot. And it just so happened that night. It was hot. And I was nervous. So I my shirt was so it was disgusting. And

Lizzy 
I just know that after this episode, you sound really sweaty, because you've probably heard the word sweat like 10 times.

Shannon 
It's hot here. It's hot here right now.

David  
The human way of seeing changes, ladies and gentlemen.

Lizzy
This is so true

Shannon
I forgot to take my hoodie off. I went out to grab my groceries. And it's like 40s right now. So I've made myself sweat. so hilarious. Good call. Good here.

Unknown
I'm the worst about that. I realize I left my jacket out like three hours after I've come inside. Why is it so damn hot in here? Nope. Just my thermal jacket.

Lizzy
It's you, it's just your jacket, because you didn't take your jacket off. Oh my God.

Shannon
(COVID 40?) I gained and everything. Everything makes me select.

Lizzy
Alright, I am. I love how you use comedy as a way to pick you up from a low point in your life. Um, I think that's something that I actually probably strengthened you as an artist. what ways do you feel adversity can strengthen comedians with disabilities?

Shannon
I think just naturally, most comedians in general, are probably a lot of people who use comedy as a defense mechanism. I grew up in a family of six. So I felt a lot of pain. And so we've we had to do things to do it. And you know, growing up, especially being blind in the middle of nowhere Hawaii, where blindness wasn't thought of as a fad. You had to do things to laugh instead of cry, right? You know, people, people weren't kind, but when you made them laugh, they were a lot nicer. And you could start growing, they'll accept you more if you can make them laugh, but if you show any pain, especially where I grew up, it created a little little more barriers. So I would say half of my family are very, very funny because we have no choice but to be growing up where we were and the other couple are quite introverted.

Lizzy 24:36
What Island are you from? On Hawaii

Shannon
grew up on the island of Hawaii or the Big Island? Yeah.

Lizzy
Yeah, my mom My family was like, just there like maybe like two months ago. They absolutely loved it. Like, my like my sister wants to move there.

Shannon
Which part?

Lizzy
I don't know. I don't know. I just know as was called the Big Island is that the same thing as Kona or something. I don't know what I’m talking about

Shannon
Yeah, that's it. That's where Kona is

Lizzy 
Yeah, they were like near the beach

Shannon
we're very proud of the Big Island least policies to say FBI "From Big Island". Representing but yeah, weird. Crazy Big Island, but very low population.

Lizzy
Yeah. That's what they loved about it, though, because they were like, there weren't just like tourists just crawling everywhere. Like it was pretty like it was nice. It was kind of like secluded in a way, you know?

Shannon
Oh, yeah, super super is Kona is like, the mini Waikiki. Yeah, you know, a lot of there's a lot of sun, a lot of beaches, but not a lot of people.

Lizzy 25:38
That's awesome. So, um, I've read somewhere that the best way to avoid awkwardness in stand up is to just address any issues right away. So for example, one of my favorite comedians is Kevin Hart. And He always talks about being short. So have either of you addressed blindness on stage? And if so, how?

David 
I think it would be weird if he didn't like if you if you got on stage. If you had a cane or a guide dog, and you didn't mention it, I actually kind of think it would be funny, but the audience would weird them out me. Like, I would be like, that is hilarious. Yeah, it was just it kinda I mean, I think, I don't know, it depends. Because I would say, well, don't don't don't rely on it as a subject matter. But the first and foremost, you know, have good material, be funny pay attention into the crowd and their responses and work with them. And then, you know, then we're, you know, worry about whether and how much and that was when I first started, that was something I struggled with us, how much should I talk about my blindness. And then after a while, I was just like, my other friends. And I tell him that there were others just be funny, like, if you're gonna have, you're gonna have stories about that you can have stories about other stuff. So I do think it should be addressed. Because it's something very, something very obvious. And it's also something that a lot of people don't know about. So you can kind of get, you can get material out of it. That's, I would say less common, you know, because everybody can get up there and realize, oh, black people and white people are different dating, hmmm, relationships are weird. Let's talk about that. But I can talk about things that maybe most comics aren't talking about. So that also kind of gives them a nice little edge, you know, to say, you don't have to tell them just randomly cliched airplane for jokes.

Shannon  
Now he come totally spot on, I'd have to agree with him. It was actually really funny. I was that comedian. My first year I would not talk about my blindness. I went on stage, people sat there held their breath, and it was actually being you know, and this is a great thing about comedy. People who are inconvenienced want to laugh too. So it was it was one of the old timers he came up to me after it was out in New York, it was Broadway comedy club, this guy's like, you've got material, you got energy. But why aren't you talking about your blindness? Man? What are you doing? And I'm like, I don't know. I don't want to be because, you know, we growing up being blind, you know, blind. So everything about it is, you know, it's we you fought to avoid making it funny. But as David mentioned, completely correct. It's a different point of view. You go up on stage to give your point of view to tell your story. So it's kind of a disservice that I was so high strung and being like, No, no, I'm not going to talk about that. And it was a year until I finally someone pushed me and said, just just talk about it. And yeah, there's a couple of jokes that came of it. And you you try to do it in a way that's not hacked. Yeah, you don't want to go out there and be like ah good looking crowd. That's, that's, that's awful. But we all have a story. We have something to talk about. And that's, and I David's spot on.

Lizzy  29:14
So how do you guys feel about blindness jokes, then? Is there a line that you will or won't cross? Can other people make blindness jokes, like if you went up there first, like and another comedian was like, Oh, the blind guy, like, you know, how do y'all feel about that as comedians? Or is that is everything just fair game? As long as it's funny?

David
It depends, I think on what kind of environment you're in, if it's just an open mic and people are getting up there and maybe some guy gets up or some lady gets up a couple after you and make some reference to you then fine, whatever. It's just an open mic. But if it's a show where there is an open mic, open my business is pretty much there usually longer and anyone can sign up and they'll they you know they run a really long but an actual showcase Usually is an hour and a half or an hour and 45 or two hours. And there's a certain there's a certain set of comedians that are booked in advance. So that's if it was a showcase. And that happened. I wouldn't get mad, but I would be a little annoyed because I'd be like, why are you riffing on the comic who came to before you do your own material? I wouldn't be like mad. But as far as, as far as it doesn't, it doesn't. I mean, if someone makes a joke about blindness in general, if it's funny, and it works, and that's awesome. Cool. And I've had it before where people have had a joke that involved like a blind person or something, and they came up after me like, Is that okay? No, this made the audience laugh. That's cool. I mean, because it's not like they're not directing you, specifically me. And so I don't know. But usually, usually jokes that have to do with being blind, like, outside of stand up. Like if someone just in real life tells me a joke that has to do with blindness. Usually, they'll preface it by saying, or they'll tell me like a really terrible joke. And not terrible, like offensive, just a crappy one. And then afterwards, I'll usually say like, was that was that offensive? No. Was it funny? No. Not really. Like, Was that it? Was that offensive or funny? I think one time a woman did ask me that offensive or funny. I was like, No. What's one? Very bad. They hit me right into the feelings, it's true. Like I get that's right

Shannon
Yes, I posted a bunch. And as he mentioned, it happens a lot during open mics, especially. And there'll be times around. I can't hide my disgust and I'll be like, Oh, that's my and feel like he offended me. No, he's just not a good joke. You're just embarrassing comedy. Like, no, there was. There's been a couple of times shout out to David Rosenberg. He I, you know, roasted him before he got on stage. I'm like, Yeah, man, this guy loves guinea pig. He's a single 40 year old Jewish guy who's broke. Let's all give them prayers. And he gave him on stage. He's like, I appreciate that, Shannon, cuz everybody knows that handicap prayers are working double. And I'm like that's hilarious. That was so quick, funny, mean, and evil. And and it was different. Yeah, it was a good response to what I did.

David  
It was also right after you got up stage, right? It wasn't like a few people after you.

Shannon  
Yes. It wasn't like six. Remember that blank guy. 16 people ago? Yeah, Check. Check this out. Yeah, he's, he's right. And it's always that too, when someone approaches me about a joke. I've never had, like, it's never been funny. It's never been funny. I know. What do you think it is like, it's, it was funny, you would do it, the crowd would love it. That's who you're trying to impress. I'm not offended. I just hate bad comedy. So be funny.

Lizzy  33:16
It sounds like you have both had interesting experiences, none of which have been embarrassing. It sounds like but Ali Wong is another one of another comedian who I like a lot. And she is really crazy. But in her book, she talks about a time when someone was introducing her. And it was during the show. And they and she's an Asian American, by the way. And when they introduced her, they basically didn't make any reference to her as a comedian. They basically, like objectified her as a female. And as an Asian, namely, like all these just stereotypical jobs and, and things like that, that she like, Oh, you know, this girl, like, you know, and all these stereotypes. And so she, she actually bombed that show. And she says that the reason is, because of that introduction, it just really threw her off. So my question is, in a way, and my question is, what's your response to that? But also, it's more about, you know, have you ever been introduced this way? How would you handle that? And how do you recommend that other people handle it? If something uncomfortable in a show happens, you know, is there a kind of a joke that you would have, you know, as like a response to that, you know, someone's naming all these, you know, you see this guy, he's bumping into everything all over the streets, tripping down, you know, something like that. If someone was just sort of stereotyping you, how would you handle that on onset? And are you thinking about those things like ever prepared for those times? Or do you just like not even worry about it?

Shannon
So personally, if this has happened, I don't think about it because it doesn't happen often enough. And you're just preparing for your set. That's what your mindset is. I've had it happen. I'm just gonna keep dropping names because I don't want to burn as many bridges as I can. The dude in Hawaii named Paco I love Paco. He's the most energetic actually Philly guy. But he every time I hate when he hosts, in my opinion is good comedian worse host. It will before every time I before I go on, he's like, Alright, everybody, we're gonna give it up for the staff. I'm gonna tell you this. Now he's like, he's like a superhero. He's like daredevil, because he's blind he's blind. And he'll go seven minutes. And I'm before you go on stage, I'm hyped, ready and sweating. And then he just makes me and I'll go up on stage. And now you got to talk about what he talked about. So it kind of pulls your momentum away. And I I got the crowd back. But it's hard. It's really hard. They do that there's it's hard to prepare for it. Because it depends who's on stage, what they say too you can't, you know, every blind joke's different or the way they address you as a blind person will be different too. So it happens only with him actually.

David
Next time he does that you should just say you should just get on stage and immediately say, I think I'm more like Catwoman, but then don't elaborate on it. Just go directly into your Set.

Shannon  
Go. I usually, I usually roast him because he says he's like, yeah, and then people say, I look like, I look like Aquaman. He's like 5'7", and I guess he has the hair. So I'm like, Yeah, he looks more like waterboy than aquaman. But that's even then it's just a tough joke. But like, I'm always sweating, because I'm like, dude, get off stage, bro. Get off stage.

Lizzy 36:47
Wow. But you know what, you guys also came up with good ways of handling it. And it's good to know, that doesn't happen that often. for aspiring blind comedians, it's like, you know, um, it's not as much of a worry, as they might think it is, you know, what I mean? Or, you know, maybe they've seen different things, you know, and various shows, it's good that they don't have to worry about it as much and that it's true, like you can, there's a lot of different ways of handling it, you can ignore it, you can respond to it, you can you know, make a joke, right, you know, crack the joke right back at them. So I like that I like the different ideas that the two of you have for for dealing with it. So what about finding open mics? You know, like, arriving there, do you? I don't even Okay, honestly, I don't go to open mics. I don't even know like, how do you sign up for them? Do you sign up for them? Like on the spot? Like, how do you what do you do? How does this work? And how does it work as a blind guy, or gal? But there we don't have any?

Shannon
I get it all depends on the city, New York City, most of the mics you have to sign up ahead of time, pay online. And that, you know, sometimes it's accessible. Sometimes they ask you to text somebody, there's a list, there's a master list of all the mics that some amazing person has created. So you can go through every state individually. And look what mics are on what days. And Philly itself, they've got a calendar. That was that was one of the amazing things that was very helpful. But it was weird because a lot of it is outdated. So when I first moved to Philly, I, it was it was a tough go. Because you don't want to be like 'Hey guys, I'm blind'. Because they think you're joking. It's always a bit. They always think there's a bit happening. So I made that post online and they're like, look at the calendar. I'm like it's not accessible, and it's not dated, like I went to this one bar, and they're like, Oh, we haven't had comedy in two months. Then I went to another bar and they're like, 'Oh, it's the other bar'. And so if I made that post and they're like, that's not even funny, man blind Come on. And finally finally I had to do like this this sad little 'Hey guys. I'm being real. I'm actually blind. moved here from Hawaii. I work late. I work early in the morning. I just need to know the times and days that these mics especially the ones on the weekends' and at their comedians surprisingly very nice when they don't think you're throwing a bit

David
That's me too. And it's a really weird when you're posting like I'm blind to my screen reading software on my phone isn't reading this calendar. 'You're just kidding' like, how would that be a funny joke it wouldn't be offensive or funny that would just be a dumb thing to randomly like just I'm going to randomly message these people and say not only am I blind but this website isn't accessible screen reading software not even a joke. That's just a dumb lie

Shannon
Did you start reading the posts on there like that's awful that that's plausible

David
But yeah, but yeah, I'm yeah. He was pretty much that all that stuff as far as going going to him, you know, we're not I, I love, I love Houston, but it's much more spread out than Denver was. And so, as far as transportation, I'll either have to get a ride with a friend or take an Uber or Lyft, or whatnot. When I was in Denver, you know, they were light rail trains, and buses and a lot, and I lived in the middle of downtown, so a lot of my phone went to where, you know, I could walk to so just, you know, you just find out where they are. And you go there and you find out who the who the host is. And if you don't know anybody, generally, you can go to the bartender and and say, like, 'Hey, you know, where, where's the comedy? And who do I speak to? And go, go talk to them and ask about a list? Put your name up on the list.

Lizzy 40:46
Very interesting. Cool, cool. Cool. Now, what about navigating the stage? What tips do you have for finding the mic? Or do you ever like, look at the stage setup beforehand? Or do you just kind of winging it, you just walk up there? Hows that go?

David
I checked with like, if, if I'm smart and take a half ill check. Sometimes when I'm getting on stage, I don't know why I do this. But always, once I'm getting onstage, I'll extend my cane out really far. Almost like I'm like an extended arm and I'll tap the mic stand. I don't know why I always do it. But always it's almost like if i had a hook cane a one of those hook canes, like a candy cane, i just reach out and hook it, and then walk towards it. And I know, that's not how you use a cane. Especially if it's a stage where it's a far walk to the mic again, maybe it's an attention getter. I don't know that. But for the most for the most part. I know, I know where the mic is. And, you know, sometimes I'll walk up normal with my cane and find it. But usually I try and find find it before. I've only fell off the stage once. And I was so annoyed because it wasn't because I knew the audience was using it as bit and it wasn't. And I knew that if I said it wasn't a bit, it was still going to get old. So it was crappy open mic. So the fact that people thought it was a bit and they got a really good laugh was kind of nice, because it was it was it was at a crappy bar, that usually people didn't pay attention. So you know, it was annoying, but again, laugh.

Lizzy  
How about you Shannon? Have you ever fall off the stage?

Shannon  
No, No, I haven't. I haven't. And people who have actually suggested that is a bit have you. I don't, I've never fallen out the stage going up to the stage. I guess we'll also talk about this who would lighting I talked to the host. And I request I'm like, just Can you guys just hand me the mic. And then you know, just start my set. And I'll move right boom, find the stand, move the stand on the side, and then just go from there. But I'll listen to where everyone else is entering or walking on to stage and dude, I I should probably check it beforehand. But by the time I'm there, I'm already pumped ready to do do a show. So I'll go and get an adult beverage. Because, i like to, I like to patronize the establishment because love your bartender. That's a so do that.

Lizzy  
So what we're gonna say with the lighting, is that I have a question about that. But I'm curious.

Shannon
About the light. Oh, yeah. Usually, I'll talk to the host and asked me Yeah, the lighting. So the lighting meaning when they tell you when you have a minute or two minutes left? Yeah, sorry, sorry, not the visual line to give you a heads up on when you're ready to go off. So they'll be like, what, what do you want, and it's probably a weird bit that I love is to figure out how they'll figure things out. So I know they've tried different things, people knock on the table. Some people will be like light, one minute, some people will click their tongue. So I've seen a bunch of different ones, but it's always fun and have them figured that out.

David
And you can run the light for a while until people get to know you and then stop taking shit from you. At first, you were like, Well, I didn't know you let me I didn't know. Then after a while people were like, you know what time is and you're not worried? Usually I'll send it like, yeah, I will do that. Usually it'd be like someone taps on the table or, I mean, the longer you do it, the more you know how long you get a sense of time, and you know how long your bits are. There was a there was one show that I would do occasionally in this host. He would always uh, it was from the video game Mortal Kombat back in the 90s. That's when I would have one minute left he would yell 'finish him'. And nobody was nobody No, I don't think anyone in the bar knew they just randomly the host would yell that man. Not why. And then a minute later, I got offstage. I guess the audience assumed that's what happened, but Yeah, after a while, you're gonna get a sense of time. But yeah, when you first when you first start, either the hosts will ask you like, how do we deal with this, or you should go ask them because it is a considerate thing to do. And you don't want to run the light, especially if it's an open mind. With 30 people have signed up, you don't want to be a jerk and go longer than you want to, because that's making the host stay longer than they need to. And that's making the other comedians stay longer than they want to. And so like you said, with knocking on the table, or, you know, I've had hosts just come right up to me and pat me on the shoulder while on stage and I was like 'oh, alright'.

Lizzy
That's an interesting way to do it.

Shannon
Yeah, yeah, you really want to be the one to initiate especially open mics, more than likely the people who are hosting open mics are probably new features are on that border line. So you're giving them extra work to think and you don't want to do that you want the best show every time.

David
They might not know how to ask you.

Shannon
That’s true too.

David
So that's tricky initially, because they may not know how to ask anyway.

Lizzy 46:11
true, that's true. Yeah. Cause like, they may feel like kind of, like awkward about certain things. So it's always nice to minimize that, if you bring it up first, which is kind of what we were talking about earlier with, like, you know, making jokes about blindness yourself and stuff like that. So, yeah, no, that's all really good advice. Um, so I have to ask this question. I'm sorry. It's kind of cliche, and like, humdrum, and everybody's tired of talking about COVID. Right? But How are y'all doing your comedy? In times of COVID? are you guys doing? You know, are you like live on social media? I know, Shannon just posted like a talent show, but he didn't take part in that. It was like a bridgeable talent show. So like how, like, What are you guys doing to stay relevant? Even though you can't physically be in the comedy clubs right now.

David
I, I draw a lot and I've been selling a lot of my artwork on Instagram, Facebook and stuff like that. And so that's what I've been doing. Mostly some of its funny drawings. But just because I can't go to open mics Unfortunately, this year. I really haven't gotten out there since March, which is in the seven years has been the longest I've gone without and I need to at least go to there are some of the mics that are starting to come back up and you know, with social distancing and whatnot, I think I might try and hit a few at least, but just you know, be safe about it. whatnot, but it has been difficult. Getting out there definitely.

Lizzy
Are you writing new material

David
I’ve not written any, no

Lizzy
You should write like a whole-- (multiple speakers)

David: This year I did nothing, what did you do? Nothing. I wish I could say I have written new material. I should now thanks for asking me I should do that.

Lizzy
How about you Shannon? How have you been staying relevant? And, you know, working on you're working on whatever you're working on? I was gonna say working on your material, but you also may not have? I don't know.

Shannon
Yeah, so I was talking to Shane. We're out here in Philly. There's a pub called Fergie's and we're doing a zoom mic for like 26 weeks which zoom sucks I hate doing comedy on zoom so like while that was happening you know around the world and it is when we started but they started opening outdoor show so I've been doing outdoor shows out in Virginia out here in Philly. So that's been awesome

David
and there's been a few of those in Houston and I need to get contact because sometimes sometimes in certain places it's good to wait to be asked to be on shows and sometimes you got to take the initiative and I think in this case definitely I need to take some initiative because if some if you stay away long enough people forget who you are. I just really you just reminded me outside shows (need to?) message some people went there because they have had some
for sure.

Lizzy 49:04
Have you all noticed any differences? Because you know you both of you have performed on such different stages you know from a Hawaii to Philly to Virginia to New York to Denver to Texas you know this was like there's you guys are all over Have you all notice in your experiences, differences and maybe your your your reception you know from the audience or just like general differences in the the comedy clubs and these different cities What do you know what are your opinions?

Shannon  
Going from Hawaii so it's hilarious. Just going from one even part you know, going from Boston to New York, you adjust things a little bit differently. You might say things where it's you might feel out who's there you know, you I always like to listen to the crowd. So you hear you can. You don't want to stereotype. You don't but you know you can feel the vibe you can if someone's a little More woke or someone's a little more conservative, you're like, Oh, yeah, they were in the military. So they'll, they'll like things more. So, in, in Hawaii, there's a lot of military. But there's also like a lot of old school Hawaii people, so they don't mind racial jokes, but they don't like cussing at the East Coast, is they don't mind cussing, but some racial jokes, depending on who it's coming from. might make them feel a little uncomfortable. So just knowing your region, you know, and sometimes it may take a couple of bombs to know it, but you know, it, there's definitely a difference for sure.

David  
I know that in when I was in Houston, I've had to get better at crowd work not other than Houston, because a lot of the audiences will not necessarily heckle you, but they're just more likely to talk back to you. And they were in Denver and of those audiences. In both audiences in both places were great. I know that demographic wise Colorado was definitely really white. And there's all colors of the rainbow and Houston. So, you know, it was there are certain certain, like, I'm not trying to stereotype again. But there are some, I guess, some types of jokes, I guess that if you're if you're playing for nothing, but all white hipsters, you can make some music snob jokes and reference like, you know, hipster groups like Wilco or something like that. Whereas if you're to a general public of all all different kinds of demographics, they may not get your niche reference. So I think that's one thing that was different in Denver, and especially in Boulder. This isn't a bad thing, but I just kind of, to learn that, you know, sometimes your quirky niche references may not work for just in general, everyday, people of all shapes and sizes, you know, rather than nothing but you know, bearded 25 year old hipsters.

Lizzy 
We talked about-- (interruption) no that No, no, that makes perfect. Perfect sense. And it's not. It's it was put in a correct way. Well I don't knowI'm not a hipster.

Shannon
You’re speaking on behalf of hipsters, you are cancelled.

Lizzy
I'm not a hipster so I cannot-- But um what was I gonna say, do you do you do either of you? Because especially like, Shannon, like you're from Hawaii. And I don't know how many Hawaiians there are around Philly. But like, do you do either of you speak about your other demographics other than blindness in your, in your material?

David  
I'm a 35 year old white guy who lives alone. So that's pretty much the description of serial killers. So try not to

Shannon  
Play up on that. I guess--

David
That has been terrible. Like I can't be on Tinder. But there's it just says 35 year old white males who lives alone. That's terrifying

Shannon 
You're like Super Nintendo.

David 
I love Super Nintendo, and it's very close to his mother just I just talked about, I went to seminary for grad school. So I sometimes I'll talk about my experiences within religion, or, you know, experiences growing up in Louisiana. Just are just random observations that they make. So yeah, I definitely. The blindness thing is kind of the only thing I'm talking about. And I even when I'm talking about the blindness thing, like I've had jokes, that reference stuff that happens in National Federation of the Blind, and after a while, I had kind of had to cut them a little bit because you have to explain what the National Federation of the Blind is to an audience. And if there's too much exposition before the punchline, it gets really boring. So--

Lizzy
Yeah, it's like another niche joke kind of thing, right?

David  
Yeah. Yeah.

Shannon 
I definitely talk about my other things. I just did a show during Halloween and growing up, but we both of my parents were ordained minister. So we weren't allowed to have Halloween. We aren't allowed to have that's a the show's theme was What are you? Or what you used to be afraid of before a COVID? And I'm like, it was just God. Yeah, this Halloween show is against God. No. Like, this is my fear. If my mom ever saw me dressed up for Halloween, I'd be like, No, no, this the military boots. I'm just saying Tifa mom, that is exactly the one reaction. I'd rather than think I'm a evil left or right wing rebel than ever think that I'm just going against God. But that Yeah. And I'm Filipino Hawaiian. So talk about that. There's actually for for the biggest part of my comedy career. Most of it was talking about my family. About my grandma her suit, very stereotypical, super, like aggressive Hawaiian cussing at everyone yelling at everyone the words she would use. Like when I got a recipe from her one time. I'm like, Alright, give me that she's alright, get one handful lettuce, get a scoop of that. Like, what's the scoop of like, how much is a scoop? a scoop, you don't know what math is. And now go get the soy sauce and add three glurks. It's like what's a glurk? She's like 'you tip the bottle over and you hear glurk glurk glurk

Shannon
the type of things you know, for a while. It's just like, this is what you need. So you start with what you're most comfortable with the things that was naturally funny to you. And then you you expand from there.

Lizzy  
That's actually hilarious. You guys, I'm sure have some really great material. Both of you, are you on social media where our listeners can listen to you and maybe we can even link it in our YouTube for this episode?

David  
Well, I have two YouTube channels and one of them. I don't ever use anymore and I want to delete but I can't remember the email and password it was under and that has like 40 videos and none of them are mine. None of them are my stand up some of its like music parodies that I wrote when I was 16. Some of them are like random impressions of me doing characters and stuff. And both are named David Glasspool. And then there's another channel called Davidglass, but only had like five videos on it. And those are five videos of me doing stand up that playful comedy works in Denver, and they're four years old. So if someone looks them up and likes them, I can say, I hope I think I'm funnier than I was then because it was four years ago. So nothing really nothing really recent. I did I think I did ever set recorded about a year ago that I could, I could post but I just just haven't yet. So that's as far as I know. That's all

Lizzy
Awesome so they can find you under David Glasspool on YouTube.

David 
Yeah, David Glasspool.

Shannon
Greatest last name sounds like the most rugged part of England. I just don't want

David
(in voice) I gotta go down to the glasspool manor.

Lizzy
Shannon, how about for you? How can I find you?

Shannon
I haven't done anything because there's supposed to be more of a calendar and promotional thing. I guess you can find my website. Shannonisaboy DOT com (Shannonisaboy.com) . And I think my Instagram and whatnot is on there. My Facebook is just my regular Facebook but I think my YouTube my Instagram my Twitter's all on my on Shannonisaboy DOT com (shannonisaboy.com).

Lizzy 
Awesome, spelled just like it sounds I would assume.

David
And as far as as far as Instagram, my Instagram is Glasspool period D (Glasspool.D), but all of my Instagram is just the artwork that I do. So that does not stand up on that. But my artwork was so that I guess that counts, I guess. And facebook name just regular name.

Lizzy
Awesome. You guys did a great job. And thank you so much for this informative and entertaining episode, especially, you know, during these times with everything going on with COVID-19. So hopefully, people got some ideas maybe for us for new material, or they got some encouragement to go out and try it. There's virtual open mics, there are very doable, open mics, that are what will one day be in person again, with everything kind of shutting down again. Go for it. It sounds like we have two people here who really enjoyed doing it and who really loved it. So thank you everyone for listening. And this has been another episode of scene change.

Katelyn    58:56
I'm Katelyn MacIntyre, president of the National Federation of the Blind Performing Arts division. Thank you so much for listening to this episode of "Scene Change". If you like what you heard, be sure to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and visit our website at NFB dash pad DOT org (nfb-pad.org). There you'll find links to our social media, membership, and resources for blind performers. Thanks to everyone who makes this show happen. "Scene Change" is produced by Shane Lowe, Chris Nusbaum, Seyun Choi, and Precious Perez with music by Ryan Strunk and Tom Page. Remember, you can be the performer you want. Blindness is not what holds you back. We'll see you next time.