Meet Adam Degi

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Adam Degi. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Adam , thank you for being such a positive, uplifting person. We’ve noticed that so many of the successful folks we’ve had the good fortune of connecting with have high levels of optimism and so we’d love to hear about your optimism and where you think it comes from.

A lot of my optimism comes out of necessity and perspective. I think it’s necessary and never really felt like not having optimism was an option. Having a son definitely just reinforced that belief. I can’t imagine giving up or feeling sorry for myself. From the beginning I’ve had the perspective that things could be worse. It’s been a slow burn for me for 6 years and I know a lot of people no longer with us. Despite my difficulties I know I’m lucky. There’s a lot of people with or without cancer that would love to be in my position and I don’ lose sight of that. My wife, son and family, and relentless sense of humor give me more than enough reason to stay optimistic. There’s good days and bad days, but I never lose the perspective that things could be worse.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

I’m a dad, a husband, a 3 time cancer survivor, a sports fanatic, and a stand up comedian.

I’ve been traveling doing stand up comedy professionally for 15 years. November 14 I’m taping my first comedy special at the Pyramid Scheme. It’s my favorite venue in town. I was fortunate enough to open for Rory Scovel and Anthony Jeselnik at the venue and now I’m taping as special there, and that’s well….special. It’s exciting to put together 60 minutes of your best material and have it documented. It’s going to mean the world having a ton of family and friends there laughing, I hope they’ll be laughing. Ultimately I just want the most people possible to see it when it’s all said and done. I honestly feel like there’s a little something for everyone in the hour I’ve been working on. Everything from my observations over 6 years dealing with cancer, politics, life as a dad, and being an idiot. If you’re easily offended or prefer vanilla comedy that lacks any substance and is and escape from reality this hour probably isn’t for you.

I’m really proud of this material and honestly believe it’s unique and original.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

My journey as a 3 time cancer survivor has been a lot easier with a sense of humor, so I have to put that at the top of the list. My dad unfortunately passed away from cancer 12 years ago and my sense of humor was definitely somewhat of a defense mechanism going through that loss as well. I was voted class comedian in High School, and everybody knows you can and should run with whatever people thought of you in High School for the rest of your life, so that’s what I’ve been doing. In all seriousness I can’t imagine going through what I have without it. Other cancer survivors I’ve spoke to agree that it’s one of the most crucial things to have day to day with cancer, tragedy etc. Especially a dark sense of humor. My brain is wired in such a way now that I was immediately thinking “how can I make this funny?” when they told me they found cancer in my lung.

2nd would be progressing and moving forward. Throughout my 6 years of diagnosis, surgeries, treatment and side effects from treatment I’ve always told myself to ‘keep it movin.’ I think it’s really hard to look ahead, especially when facing your own mortality. It certainly doesn’t help to think about what you could have done differently or dwell on the past. Of course I’ve thought about what my life would be like if I just had the mole on my back looked at when I was 25 in stead of 35 but I also could have found out later. Staying focused on what’s in front of you is important.

The third would be relating with others about your health and cancer. I know it’s still taboo for a lot of people to talk about their health or misfortunes, especially men. Unfortunately for some it’s still frowned upon or looked at as a weakness or even attention seeking. Talking to a therapist has been beneficial for me as well and is nothing to be ashamed of no matter your situation. A lot of people don’t want to admit they need help. Meeting cancer survivors and people going through treatment really helped me. Just knowing other people get what you’re going through is huge. It’s especially rewarding to hear people tell you that your sense of humor about cancer really helped them with their own cancer journey or dealing with a family member’s cancer. My advice to other people who are experiencing a cancer diagnosis is don’t be afraid to be public about it and talk to other people about it.

Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?

The number one challenge I’m currently facing it trying to crack the algorithm as a 41 year old comedian who lives in a small market. I have been traveling doing stand up for a long time and I never moved to one of the coasts. Fortunately it’s not as much of a necessity as it once was with social media. Unfortunately the algorithm may be the worst gate keeper there ever has been in the business. There’s a thousand times the comedians there was when I started. You can’t really get any traction in the industry without a large following on at least one of the platforms and now you’re not just competing with other comedians you’re competing with anyone who’s ever wanted to share a thought or eat something in their car. It’s hard to know what’s holding you back and what doesn’t matter. A large part of the reason I’m anticipating my special taping is having high quality professional clips to share on socials as well as YouTube. I honestly believe my material is funny and I just haven’t had a large enough platform for people to know who I am yet. It’s all about getting eyes and ears on your jokes and content. It’s not a matter if you’re “good enough” but if people are even seeing it. So yeah, follow me @adamdegi on all platforms. I would appreciate it. I’m trying to create funny quality content on a weekly basis. The internet is my best chance of being on anybody’s radar. Getting cancer definitely didn’t speed up my career, I feel like I have a lot of time to make up, and I’m trying man!

Contact Info:

Image Credits

first picture of me laughing is Greg Greve Photography. My brother. He has a page on Facebook.

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