Starting Standup in Maine with David Walton

#26 Why I Didn't Do Jack Squat This Week

• David Walton

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Sometimes doing nothing tells you where you need to go. A frank episode about putting comedy on pause while pursuing acting opportunities, featuring audition stories, a serendipitous mentor discovery, and why Maine's comedy scene deserves more attention. 


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Speaker 1:

Welcome to the Starting Stand-Up in Maine podcast, where we discuss stand-up comedy and my ill-advised attempt to get good at it. I'm David Walton, professor of nothing at the Stanford School of Medicine. I have no discernible skills except to pretend to play doctors, lawyers and idiots on television and film. Today's episode we discuss why I didn't get Jack squat done all week. Oh man, that's rubbish. That's rubbish, that's rubbish. What do I have to report? A big settle. One thing I listened to last week's episode and I listened to the set quote unquote. That I did at the end and I don't think I'll do it again. I there's a lot of reasons why I.

Speaker 1:

I had this experience where I was like I just don't like the person who's talking and I couldn't figure it out if it was because I was misrepresenting my relationship with my dad. He doesn't talk like that David. Like he doesn't talk like that david, like he doesn't talk like that and and I don't mess or fuck with him like that. The one thing I would probably keep, which is interesting, is like this shame about being an actor, but when, from an audience's point of view, if they know that you're a quote-unquote successful actor who's like recognized on TV a lot and you're talking about. You know how shameful it is to be an actor. It's like I don't think that I think that plays probably in LA. It doesn't play in Maine. It's sort of like a nuanced thing that you have to know about how actors like, how like what actors are really like. You know this idea of like wearing makeup and stuff. How sad it is and I, I love acting.

Speaker 1:

I think the big news, which is it's a long time coming and fuck it. You know it's been a long time, um, since I've had a good script sent to me and I got two this week that were just so good. Uh, little house on the prairie remake, and then this uh pilot called seven sisters that's going to be on fx. It's going to be awesome. And you know you get those scripts and these the good scripts. These are the hardest things to get because you know usually get those scripts and these the good scripts these are the hardest things to get because you know usually you'll audition and like you'll be like god, I I wonder who they're who, who won it? And then it's just like ryan reynolds and you're like what, why? Why did I audition? I mean, that's a bit of an exaggeration, but usually it's some. You know the good projects. It's just some huge star comes down and does TV, but they're so good that it didn't matter.

Speaker 1:

I just poured myself Like I never, and I wonder if the standup work ethic and just, or whether I was just so thirsty to do my first love, which is acting, and it just launched me. So I got these scripts, I worked really hard on them and then I watched the audition. I was like, oh no, like I think I forgot how to act, it just was bad. And then that led me down this road where of course I was like I'm not gonna do a stand-up podcast anymore. I gotta do an acting podcast. Because you know it's like go with your strengths, like you're starting this thing which you don't have a natural affinity for. I mean, you can't. Even you still probably haven't written a joke yet Like a proper joke. And you're like six months in, like what are you doing? And so I was like but you know how to act, so why don't you do an acting podcast?

Speaker 1:

So then I Googled acting podcasts, you know, to see what was out there, and I found this one. It's called the Working Actor by Jeff Seymour, and I just like, and it was like the most popular one, and I clicked on it and he had a website and he just rocks this five minute monologue straight to camera about why all acting classes suck shit. And I listened to this man drop the fucking hammer and I was like I need to talk to you and I immediately bought his book on Kindle. It's called the Real Life Actor and it sort of articulates all these frustrations I have and we're going a little inside baseball here on acting. But I've been taking acting classes since high school, since freshman year of high school, so eight years of schooling, then drama school in London, then summers at the Actors Center in New York very prestigious like NYU Juilliard Yale teachers, and then various classes throughout LA, private coaches, all this stuff. So I've I've done a lot. I've read a lot of acting books.

Speaker 1:

You know you're always looking for your method, your way of doing things and everybody's quote unquote method, which is a misused term, but everyone has their different way of doing things. You know Michael Fassbender, supposedly. You know good hog, good-sized dick. He um an amazing actor. I don't think they're correlated, um, but he he does these amazing performances and you'll see interviews in like right before he does this incredibly emotional scene with, like a southern accent as like a slave owner. He's like joking around, fully normal Michael Fassbender, and he just clicks in. It's just like. And then you got Daniel Day-Lewis, for example, who's staying in character the entire time. Two amazing actors, two extremely different styles and vibes and methods, and they're both methods. Daniel Day-Lewis is the traditional method actor, right, but Fassbender's got his method going. So, anyway, my point is Fassbender's just as much method as Daniel Day-Lewis is what I'm trying to say. He's just figured out what works for him.

Speaker 1:

So, anyway, jeff Seymour, I read his book and I start applying it to this audition I got and then my wife goes away. I get another audition for Little House on the Prairie remake on Netflix, which is going to be great. I think the pilot's so good and I was like shit, maybe Jeff does coaching. Maybe Jeff could read with him. Go to his website. Sure enough, click on the link, just shoot Jeff a C-note.

Speaker 1:

Like 18 hours later I'm chatting with Jeff, whose book I've just torn through, who I discovered because of this podcast and having some weird intrusive thought that I should be doing an acting podcast Google perplexity, jeff Seymour's website. Read his book. Now, speaking to him, him that is in a two-day span, in 48 hours I go from no idea who Jeff Seymour is to now him making my audition so much better, so much better, and re and reigniting my love of acting and realizing that I can get better on my own In a you know, I don't have to go to class and, like, sit through four hours of scene study to hone the skills. So I've got a new daily training regimen for acting so I can get my zhuzh again and I can couple it with this, which is connected and can help, I think, and it's always good to have different creative projects going and different muscles to exercise. This is all to say.

Speaker 1:

I haven't done shit for stand-up this week. Nothing, not one moment, has been dedicated to stand-up because it's been dedicated completely and totally to acting and that is a-okay. And if it's not okay with you, well, well then, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry. No, I think it's nice, it's been a nice break and it's allowed me to kind of reflect. It's six months in here, we're six months into this thing, and it's allowed me to reflect and realize that I think I'm definitely toning down on the neurotic side over analysis of my process and what I'm doing and I'm going to. I've got a nice pipeline coming of main comics.

Speaker 1:

I really want to get main comics exposure and I want to help the main comedy scene because Maine's awesome and there's a lot of talented people here and stand-up is a super fun way to spend a night. I mean, especially at our age, it's like we've done everything, like we're not in our 20s where we're just trying to like get blackout and hook up. Like what are you going to do? Another dinner with friends Enough? You've already spoken to these people. You know what they're going to say. Stop talking and go laugh at a comedy club. Let's get main comedy cooking and let's get these people. Let's get their lives exposed. Let's get their stories out there. All the podcasts are about all these famous people. Let's get these young guns. Who knows, maybe I'll get some interviews of guys that will be massive soon in five years, who knows? But we're going to cook man, we're going to get some Maine comedy Starting stand-up in Maine. It's time to jump in, all right. So that's all I got.

Speaker 1:

When you don't do anything, there's not much to report. It's just that I'm probably going to be throwing out everything I've ever done to just bring in room for new. I think holding on and trying to no, I mean, I'm still going to do that 10-minute set, I'm still going to get stuff, but I'm going to get connected to this community in Maine more deeply and hopefully showcase a lot of talented people. And if you've been listening for six months, I think this will be fun Because you'll be like, finally, finally we get some other people to listen to. Good lord, good Lord, all right, hey, this has been fun.

Speaker 1:

Took me a while to figure out what to talk about today, because maybe when I'm 85, I'll release the unreleased tapes. Good Lord, it's been a weird night. Put the kids to bed at 9. Pm it's 11 15. And I've been recording nonstop and finally just discovered what I wanted to talk about. Sometimes that's the way it happens. I'm wishing you oh my gosh, it's April. The masters is on. Uh, this is just so much good sports. If you love sports, I am.

Speaker 1:

So I just want to get elective surgery and not move for the next four days. Maybe I could fix my Cro-Magnum brow. Something's happening, and it's because I have to watch these self-tapes, you know which is an awful thing where you do an audition and then you've got to choose the thing you did that's best to send to these people who are going to reject you. But I've been looking at my eyebrows and I already had a sort of crow magnum brow, just genetically. I don't know, neither of my parents do, but uh and anyway the there's a falling down, like you know how rocky gets hit in the eye and the whole eye weld shut, um when drago and he's got to get it cut, like I'm like halfway there where I'm just getting rocky eyes just because of the, I think, gravity on my Cro-Magnon brow. So, yeah, maybe next year, masters, this time next year, I can get some elective surgery. Maybe I'll go to Korea or something where they do it right.

Speaker 1:

Thailand, yeah, hit me up, dm me if you know any good, uh, cheap elective surgeries who can help with Cro-Magnum brow. I mean, it's not even for, uh, you know, looks, it's just so I can see. Yeah, all right, I love you. All right, I love you. I wish you so much peace, I wish you so much joy, I wish you so much adventure, I wish you lots of gentle lovemaking and one session of really fucked up shit, new stuff, stuff that just feels like it's right on the edge of dangerous and illegal Dirty. Just one, but the rest of the time very connected, very loving. Okay, let me know how it goes, thank you.