One of the hardest obstacles when getting comfortable with standup comedy is to know who you are. What is your persona? Some comics never find it. Will you be a whiney disgruntled housewife like Rosanna or a foodie like Jim Gaffigan. The first bit I ever wrote was about being retired. I performed it once and ditched it. The second bit I wrote was about always getting the squeaky wheel on my way to Las Vegas: on the shopping basket, the taxi, the airplane and the luggage

About 10 years ago, we hired a comic named Nick Arnette to perform at our church. I don’t think I’d ever been to a real comedy show, so I didn’t really know what to expect. I did grow up watching all the wonderful old comics like George Burns, Red Skelton, Lucille Ball, Jackie Gleason, Bob Hope, Phyllis Diller, Carol Burnett, Betty White. I think I always wanted to be like them. Nick suggested that when we set up the room, it was important to set up the chairs so that the f