Meet Cameron Phoenix

We recently connected with Cameron Phoenix and have shared our conversation below.

Cameron, thrilled to have you on the platform as I think our readers can really benefit from your insights and experiences. In particular, we’d love to hear about how you think about burnout, avoiding or overcoming burnout, etc.

When it comes to avoiding burnout I think the most important thing is setting realistic achievable goals and keeping a pace that you can maintain for a long time. I set a timer every day and spend an hour writing and when the time goes off I stop regardless of how well it’s going. When people get into comedy they tend to dive into the deep end and start doing as many shows as humanly possible. Which is smart and definitely has merits but I think when you pursue a creative living the reason you’re doing it is because you enjoy the art and you want to protect that enjoyment. You don’t want to take a thing that you’re doing for pleasure and transform it into work. The best creative things I’ve made usually come from a gradual evolution of something and not a desperate pushing. It’s tough to do because you constantly feel like someone is getting one up on you but it’s the only mind frame to really create worthwhile stuff.

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 comedian based in Toronto who performs all over the city and Ontario. I originally started comedy in Manchester, England because I didn’t want any of my immediate family or friends to see me flop around on stage. I try to talk about subjects that are sources of guilt or conflict within myself. Whenever something causes me interior distress I try to pull it apart and see what the incongruity is. Obviously the most important thing is being funny though so sometimes something dumb takes priority. I just try to be as honest as possible about things and hope that audience will connect and find the observations humorous.

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?

I think when you start stand up comedy you should really try to take your ego out of the situation which is really hard because you’d never start if you didn’t think you were something special. The first few years of performing you don’t really see the whole landscape that you exist within and it’s hard not to fall victim to your own delusions about what you deserve and what your capabilities are. To just focus on your own act and not get lost in comparing yourself to other people is really important. Also you need to not protect yourself and take every gig you can get your hands on because regardless of how good the shows you do are you will eventually bomb which is just something you need to experience. You need to get comfortable with failure because comedy is weirdly a zen kinda thing where when you’re really desperate to do well it usually ends up having the opposite effect. Ultimately you just got to do as many performances as possible and take in as much data as possible so you can evolve your act.

How would you spend the next decade if you somehow knew that it was your last?

I think the biggest challenge I’m facing right now is that some of my material doesn’t really align with who I am as a person any more. When I first started performing comedy I was much more of an introvert. I was in my mid 20s and a bit of a shut in so a lot of my material focused on social anxiety and my ineptitude in those situations. Now in my mid 30s I don’t feel like the same person so the tones and notes that I learned to utilize early on don’t necessarily ring as true as they once did. So I need to keep creating new material that speaks to the person I am now and not cling to the things that have worked in the past. It’s very difficult in comedy though because a solid bit is hard to come by.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cam.phoenix/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cameron.phoenix.3
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQ6zsYy9vHFofhkeR4e7k-w