Potholes Along the Laugh Track

By DAVE ITZKOFF
Published: November 4, 2010

WHAT glories await a brave, wisecracking upstart who decides to pursue a career in stand-up comedy? If you can distinguish yourself at the microphone, maybe you’ll earn your own headlining tour, movie roles or a television show, or a spot on the lineup of the New York Comedy Festival, the annual celebration of setups and punch lines that started on Wednesday and runs through Sunday. But prepare for a few rites of passage: antagonistic crowds, unglamorous performance spaces, living out of a suitcase while crisscrossing the country from club to club. And don’t expect any of that to change, even after you’ve become a household name.

In these interview excerpts, five headliners from the New York Comedy Festival spoke about their formative stand-up experiences and shared some hard but amusing truths they’ve learned about making it in the funny business.

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MARGARET CHO performs at the Beacon Theater on Friday.

What did you think success would look like when you started out in comedy?

I started stand-up when I was 14 and my professional career at 16, mostly because I had been so bullied as a kid. So success was just being away from kids my age and being able to perform every night.

What’s the best heckle you’ve ever gotten?

Oddly enough, I have not been heckled. I think people are just scared to heckle me, because I’m a woman of color, because I’m so outspoken politically and have a very stern, take-no-prisoners attitude onstage. I’ve been interrupted — by flowers, or, like, exclamations of affection. But never actually attacked.

Where do you go when you need to come up with new material?

I live in Los Angeles and also in Atlanta, where there’s a place called the Laughing Skull Lounge, which is a very small comedy club that only holds about 74 seats. I go there and do stuff every day. I’m able to bomb for months at a time. That’s truly how you get good, is eating it.

What line of work are your parents still hoping you’ll get into?

They’re hoping that I’ll get my G.E.D., which I still have not done yet. I think they really want me to go back — not to college, but to high school. I think they’re still holding out that I may take the SATs one day. It’s an attainable goal.