Meet Jason Klamm

We were lucky to catch up with Jason Klamm recently and have shared our conversation below.

Jason, appreciate you making time for us and sharing your wisdom with the community. So many of us go through similar pain points throughout our journeys and so hearing about how others overcame obstacles can be helpful. One of those struggles is keeping creativity alive despite all the stresses, challenges and problems we might be dealing with. How do you keep your creativity alive?

That can be one of the hardest challenges honestly. Much as I’m always coming up with *ideas* for things to do creatively, finding the energy to start those things, or to keep them going once I’ve started them, is one of the hardest things to do. I find personally that having routines is the easiest way to make sure my ideas don’t stagnate, and that I’m picking the right ideas at the right time. Routines just help me think straight – even if its just getting my coffee or tea in the morning, breakfast, check emails, go for a walk, then make lunch… those things then mean that whatever creative ideas I have stand out from the normal, rote, everyday tasks I’ve set for myself, and I understand them better.

Another part of it is reminding myself to be creative, or reminding myself I can be creative, when I don’t feel like I am, or am feeling depressed. I have a running document of about 300,000 words that goes back 20-plus years of mostly one-line ideas or titles. Whether I do anything with them is up to me (I’m working on some of them now) but that document is there to remind me of two things: A) ideas are not projects – something I tell myself so I don’t overload myself and B) I have ideas all the time, it’s all in whether or not I do anything with them.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

I’m the author of nonfiction and fiction, including my latest book, “We’re Not Worthy,” which is the history of ’90s TV sketch comedy. I interviewed 150 people for that book, including Carol Burnett, Mike Myers, Bob Odenkirk, and Julie Brown. You can get that book wherever books are sold, and there’s more info at sketchcomedybook.com. I also run the recently-launched ComedyPodcast.cloud Network, which is the new home to the thousands of podcast episodes I’ve worked on or distributed over the years, and that can be found at ComedyPodcast.cloud.

I’m a stage, film, TV, and voice over actor, as well, currently working on the next comedy album from my group Dan and Jay’s Comedy Hour (DanAndJay.com), and I produced an upcoming album of recently-discovered comedy from 1960s civil rights activist and comedian Dick Davy, which should be released soon by Stand Up! Records.

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?

Willingness to fail, being willing to admit when you’re wrong, and greenlighting myself have been the most important to me. Failure often feels final, like the end of everything, but I just remind myself its the beginning of something. Admitting when you’re wrong is healthy for the ego – you can stand up for yourself when you’re actually right, but you need some perspective, and knowing and admitting when you’re actually wrong is healthy that way. Greenlighting yourself is some of the first advice I got in LA, from actor and writer Tom Lennon – it means to make the thing yourself until someone will pay you to do it. Don’t go into debt or something, but put time and effort (sweat equity) into your own work so you can prove you can do it. When people see that, hopefully you’ll find someone willing to pay you to do it.

As for advice for someone early on in their journey, I’d advise:
1. Don’t take anyone’s advice as gospel – their journey is not yours, and vice versa. You can pick the pieces you need from amongst good pieces of advice.
2. Keep your mind open – sometimes the thing you’re setting out to do isn’t the exact thing you’ll end up doing, or even end up wanting to do, and you can find some magical options when you keep your mind open.
3. I can’t say this enough, but failure isn’t the end of everything, it’s the beginning of something.

One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?

I’m always looking for folks to collaborate with on podcasts, stage shows, movies, books, and more. My podcast network, comedypodcast.cloud, is essentially a promo-sharing collaboration, and open-minded folks who like comedy are welcome to propose their show to be part of the network at [email protected]. It’s rarely a paying proposition, just a fun way to spread the word about other shows. The big rule, as with all of my collaborations: no bigots (you wouldn’t think you’d need to announce this, but such is the state of things).

As I work up to getting stage shows started in the Detroit area, I’m looking for a diverse group of actors and stage managers to work with. I’m bringing a successful, worldwide hit show to the area and want to meet funny folks!

I’m also open to fun guests on the Dan and Jay’s Comedy Hour podcast. People can reach me at https://jasonklamm.com/contact for any of these.

Contact Info:

Image Credits

Photos by Jennifer Smith.

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