First, let's talk about my buddy Dante. Dante is a famous comic from the magical world of Hollywood, he has also won more BET Comedy awards than any other comic this is notable because Dante is a white dude. Whatever. Dante and I are buds, I love this guy and would take a small non-lethal bullet to the lower leg for him.
I met Dante in 2010 at the Loony Bin, I had a great set and was trying to talk a girl into sex when Dante bursts out of the show room and yelled "Hey! Great set, you guys should watch me, I'm the headliner, I am very funny!" and then went back in the show room. The girl I was talking too decided hey why pass up MORE comedy and went and watched the show. Dante was hilarious (as per his usual) and me and said girl ended up dating for almost 3 weeks! I dig Dante because he is super grounded, despite the fact that he has been on TV a billion times and performed for more troops than anyone but Bob Hope, he is always down to just have a conversation and hang out. He doesn't let his celebrity get in the way of genuinely enjoying life and having fun. Dude is mad optimistic and every time we hang out I learn a new way to approach comedy and relationships. It's too late to see him in OKC as he left on Monday, but follow him on twitter (here) and find out when he comes back, I've seen his show a half dozen times, and I will see it a billion more times, and keep laughing. The guy is a natural entertainer.
Enough about him, let's talk about me. I was in a weird comedy slump. I hadn't written that much new material, my performances this year have been so-so and I am having trouble booking out of state work. I'm back. Dante helped me get a guest spot on Saturday night and I rocked it, it was one of the better shows I've had at the loony bin, it felt really good to perform in front of a hot crowd, and do extremely well. So I left saturday night feeling good about life and comedy...
... Then Woodward got blown away during a tornado and me and Dante decided to take a road trip to campus, on the off chance a tornado decided to flatten the comedy condo in OKC. It turns out me and Dante would make poor meterologists because OKC just got some heavy rain. Whatever, we got to hang out and tell stories, and laugh at the weird kids in the library basement. Stories like these are the stories that every comic tells about the road. Going on weird adventures, hanging out, bonding, and making fun of people who aren't you.
Dante raised a great point during our tornado panic though, he loves life. Do you? Do you LOVE your life? I don't know if I did, but I think I do now. Life is too short to not have fun, make everything fun. That's a new goal of mine, new as of this week. to just be happy and have fun. I feel like I can be a negative person sometimes, and really who wants to deal with that all the time?
Alright, enough about Dante. Let's talk about the Queen of Social Media, Ms. Jen Friel. Holy shit this girl is awesome. Not only does she run an ubersucessful nerd culture blog, but she has two TV shows in the works, a book, and a live stage show, all this and she is under 30. This girl hustles day and night promoting her blog and it's culture. Not only that, she is super accessible, She is down to talk (if she is free) and share her story at pretty much all hours, I've talked to her on facebook, email, twitter, and she always gets back promptly and with pertinent information. Did I mention she is also helping with social media start up Mirror.net? The girl is a beast. I did my presentation over her, and here are some answers to questions I had but wasn't able to include in the presentation due to time. (answers in red)
1. What is the correct pronunciation of your last name?
2. How/When was TNTML started?
November 3, 2009. I went to the 140 conference and was inspired by the hot nerds I saw there. That night I bought the domain and thus we were born!!!
3. How has site traffic increased as the blog continued?
4. As far as traffic is concerned, do you notice visitors flocking to a certain topic or more to a certain writer, OR is traffic pretty consistent all around?
My dating adventures are hands down the most popular posts on the site. I'm excited about working with mirror.net now and taking more students into the field to learn from them.
5. How has lifecasting adversely affected your love life?
6. Although you are extremely open with your life, how do you decide what stays private vs. what gets published?
Everything gets published. My family has asked for certain things about them to be omitted but everything else is good to go. I have zero shame.
7. Is there anything you've published that you wish you didn't?
Nope. It was all my truth in that present moment.
8. Where did you get the idea to have each blog post reference older posts at key points? Does this keep older posts fresh?
It was all for storytelling. It makes it easier to post back to older stories so readers can understand more key storyline points. I adore having so much of my life online- its like, wanna learn more? Click here! It's incredibly efficient.
9. Do you get your entire income from TNTML/advertising/sponsorships?
Yep! 100000% everything that I say do or touch is through a corporate sponsorship.
10. At which point did blogging become profitable?
About two months in after I crashed the Grammys (2010) I got my first sponsor with ford. Getting a free car for a few months was incredible and I was then able to leverage the rest of my sponsors from ford.
11. Is there an aspect of nerd culture that interests you that isn't currently covered on the site?
Haha typical. There is no typical day. I wake up around 6, answer emails/tweets/posts, then go jogging followed by whatever my day has in store. Today I'm heading over to the fox lot for a meeting followed by playing trivia tonight. So excited!!! I friggen love trivia night!
I'm just inspired by nerds in general. There are so many niches that have yet to be explored. Nerds are so passionate I utterly adore being around that energy.
12. Can you describe a typical (as if there is such a thing) day for you?
13. Where do you see areas of expansion for TNTML? Podcast? More stage shows? TV? Jen Friel the movie? Books?
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