Meet Chris Wilson

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Chris Wilson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Chris, thank you so much for opening up with us about some important, but sometimes personal topics. One that really matters to us is overcoming Imposter Syndrome because we’ve seen how so many people are held back in life because of this and so we’d really appreciate hearing about how you overcame Imposter Syndrome.

I honestly don’t know if I have. That’s something I’ve struggled with a lot. I know I’m funny. I know that, and it pains me to say that. I don’t understand why that’s so hard to admit. I make people laugh, that’s my job, but I don’t feel like a funny person. I just find these things funny to me. I hope other people find it funny.

I honestly felt like I didn’t belong in the comedy scene. There’s lots of great people, and they’ve always made me feel welcome, but it just came down to me convincing myself that I was funny. I still struggle with it.

I did a show the other day and everybody in the room came up to me and told me how funny I was and how much they enjoyed it. One guy was even crying cause he laughed so much. I know I’m doing something right.

I guess it’s just one of those challenges that’ll take time to overcome. It’s not hurting me, though. It just makes me try harder. It’s fine if I don’t believe I’m funny, as long as everybody else does.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

I’m just a guy taking strange life experiences and trying to make them funny. I’m just a stand up comedian. If my legs hurt bad, I’m a sit down comedian.

When it’s fun, it’s a blast! Making people laugh is a big rush and it makes you feel good. It’s crazy that people wanna occasionally take a photo or have me sign an autograph.

When it’s not fun, oh it sucks! Nothing worse than when you don’t get any laughs. It’s part of it, and it happens to EVERYBODY at some point… and it’ll happen again, and most people will go, “I learned from this” and you totally do, but I hate it. Haha. I’ve learned enough! Please laugh at my jokes. It makes my legs better…(I have Cerebral Palsy. Leave that in for sympathy…).

I’m just hoping to get on some more shows. Being an old gold mining prospector just ain’t paying the bills, ya know?

ATTENTION COMEDY BOOKERS! I’m funny (or so I’m told), put me on a show!

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

Well, time managment is a big thing. Especially at an open mic. You get five minutes and you have to do your material in that amount of time. That is kind of difficult for me, and I’ve been doing this for four years. I’m lucky enough to get booked on shows where I can do twenty to thirty minutes, which also takes time to learn, but you have to work out new material at an open mic, and figuring out what you can do in that five minutes can be difficult.

Always have more material than you need. If you’re doing any amount of time, always have extra. Sometimes, you might do a particular set of material, or if you’re like me, you just pick whatever seems funny at the time. However you decide to do it, have more than you need. That’s my opinion, anyway.

Have fun. That’s the most important. Don’t go up on stage thinking you have to “crush” or have the best show of your life. To me, that’s a given. Nobody wants to do just okay. So, doing your best is already your goal. I don’t try to think about it, all that does is add extra pressure that you don’t need on you. So, I say just go up there and have fun. If you’re having fun, everybody will feel it and then they’ll have fun. If you aren’t having fun, they’ll pick up on that too, and nobody is having fun. Just have fun and you’ll do well.

As far as advice…

Take all advice given to you. You choose to apply it or not. What works for one person might not work for you.

Bring notes if you need them. I get so much grief about using notes on stage. I have legit memory issues when it comes to lists. I know my material, but if I get sidetracked (which I often do), I’ll take a quick glance at my notes. Nobody notices and nobody cares. Nobody is gonna say, “They were funny, but they had their jokes written down.” As long as you’re funny and people are laughing, who cares? Besides, where’s the big production cameras? They aren’t at the local bar and grill. Plus, I’ve seen actual specials and the comic has notes on a stool. Who cares? If you’re booking me on a show, I’d rather have them in case I draw a blank or get sidetracked. That’s better than “Ummmm..” I know it’s not the “standard” but what’s standard anyway nowadays? Be funny. That’s all that matters. As long as you’re not holding it in front of your face like you’re reading a book, then who cares?

Don’t be edgy to be edgy. If you’re gonna take that route, make it funny. Don’t be shocking just to be shocking. You can be shocking AND funny. Have something behind it.

Hold the microphone up to your face.

Don’t fall off the stage.

Tell your own jokes. I’ve literally seen people read internet memes and jokes straight from their phone. Don’t do that. Write your own stuff. It’s disrespectful to every comic that works hard to come up with jokes. If I wanna hear somebody else’s jokes, I’ll just go watch them.

Record every set you do. Good and bad. There’s something in every set that you can use. You might ad lib something that’s great. Also, some places may record for you, but if you can, record it yourself also. I’ve been given some recordings that were unusable. Always record your own sets.

Be yourself.

What do you do when you feel overwhelmed? Any advice or strategies?

I take a break. There’s nothing wrong with a break to recharge. Comedy isn’t gonna go anywhere. It’ll be there when you get back.

I’ve burned myself out so many times to where it started to feel like a hassle and a pain to do comedy. That takes all the fun out of it, and that’s the most important thing. A few days to rest and recover is completely fine to do.

Contact Info:

Image Credits

Photo Credits:

1-5 Tyler Kirby

6 Tammy Wallace

7. Ben Jennings

8. Chris Wilson

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