Write Down the Stupid Thoughts with Jon Stewart

Jon Stewart spent his early twenties working in a punk club in Trenton, New Jersey, watching bands like Black Flag and the Ramones pass through between New York and Philadelphia. One day he decided to sell everything, get in his car, and drive to New York to become a comedian. Nobody was waiting for him. Nobody encouraged him. When he told the guys at the bar, they said, essentially, see you in six months.

His first open mic was at the Bitter End in May 1987. He had written out material, got about thirty seconds in, and the emcee told him he was terrible. Stewart argued back. The emcee told him even that was terrible. Stewart didn't get back on stage for another six months. But the urge never went away — the waking up in the middle of the night to write down stupid thoughts never went away.

The Craft of Comedy as a Function of Time

Stewart describes the early years as a brutal roller coaster. You can have a night where you're killing it, feeling like Robin Williams, and the next night with the same material you feel like the worst person to ever do it. The win comes when you establish a baseline — when you start to feel there's a craft to it and you're not going joke to joke anymore.