Welcome to Louder Than Words Stories

I have been doing stand-up comedy for about 20 years, give or take a month or two. Or three. My first time on stage was in 1979; next time was 1983. Back then every comedian was new, different, unique. Late night at the Improv, Catch, The Comic Strip was virtually a "who's who" of comedy. And the occasional "who the hell was that?" thrown in.

Then came TV. Big time. A young wannabe comedian in Kentucky or Ohio or Arizona could watch TV, and get the picture "Hey, that's what is funny!". He/she could repeat what they heard on TV, and voila, a new "comedian" was born.

Comedy began to die under the weight of its own success---or at least the art of comedy did. Comedians began to look like every other comedian. The zenith of comedy on TV was "Last Comic Standing", the Survivor/Big Brother of comedy biz.

I think that Jay Mohr developed the concept almost as a joke within a joke, but either way, "Last Comic Standing" is stand-up comedy's Jump The Shark moment. When the entertainment came in the form of who could be voted off comedy island and not the comedy itself, whoosh went the weasel.

So, I discovered story-telling. Real stories by real people. A new creative muscle was being exercised. And I am endeavoring to bring this entertaining art form to New Jersey. Blog away.