Spread sunshine all over the place, and put on a happy face!
If you're reading this as its being published (Monday morning, 9:15 a.m.), I am currently dragging myself out of bed to make my way to the annual Just For Laughs closing press conference, where we unveil a bevy of statistics, go over highlights of the 29th edition and make some visionary positioning statements for next year's 30th anniversary edition.
To say the least, I'm kinda exhausted. As President of this company, I've been running straight--no weekends, no time off--since July 5th. Since July 12th, my days have been Groundhog Day similar, starting at about 9:00 a.m. and ending some 18 hours later...if everything goes right.
It's been a hell of a ride, though. Over the past month, I've worked with hundreds of committed artists, technicians, tradespeople, execs and interns, all who have amazed me with their dedication to their métiers. On the performer side, I've crossed paths with everyone from the near-homeless street performing nomad to the multi-zillionaire internationally-renowned megastar.
And being immersed in this waterfall of creative humanity has made me realize the lesson of the week:
Showbiz ain't for everyone
This is indeed a unique world of stress, attempts, failures, achievements, near misses, huge hits and the constant flow of the unexpected.
It takes a special kind of psyche to deal with this mix. A breed apart
Over the past 11 years, after first leaving Just For Laughs in 1999, I maintained an outsider position in showbiz while running Airborne Mobile, a tech company. Like a buffet, I could dabble in the madness, but could shut it off and leave the table at the end of my two-week run of directing the Festival Gala shows.
Now that I'm back in 'the biz" full time, I once again see and feel what it's like for those immersed. I've seen people crack, cry, break down and quit. I've seen others rise to the occasion and pleasantly surprise with finesse and grace way beyond their years and experience.
Since July 5th, I've had dozens of people begging for full-time JFL jobs and a handful of others bailing from theirs with us because of the tension, the surroundings or the lack of "fit."
"Oh, you must just LOVE what you do!" most people enthuse when they hear about my job. To be very frank, I don't. Well, I certainly don't love it every day. It's hard work. REALLY hard work. And a hell of a lot if it.
But what I certainly DO love is the result of what I do. There aren't too many feelings more rewarding than standing at the back of a theatre or a club and watching hundreds, or thousands, or tens of thousands, of people collectively undulating in laughter because of what I do. THAT is why I do it. It's not "fun"; it's a calling.
One of my favorite tell-tale images of all time was the late Roy Scheider playing the legendary director Bob Fosse in the film "All That Jazz." Every morning upon waking, he would drag his haggard, lined, leathery face over to the bathroom mirror, splash it with cold water, crack a smile and say "It's showtime!"
Well, that's my life again. And I think I can say, dealing with all the crap and all the gold I've dealt with over the past month--the past year!--that I handle it well.
But believe me, not everyone does.
Showbiz is like the military. It takes prisoners.
But it also builds character. And characters.
And I'm happy to be one of them.
Uh...I think ;)