Meet Kevin Heisinger

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Kevin Heisinger. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Kevin below.

Hi Kevin, thank you so much for agreeing to open up about a sensitive and personal topic like being fired or laid-off. Unfortunately, there has been a rise in layoffs recently and so your insight and experience with overcoming being let go is relevant to so many in the community.

Before I moved to Los Angeles, I worked at a very small dive bar near Sacramento. Did I lie about having bartending and serving experience? Yes. But I figured, how hard could it be? Turns out this married/not married couple running this random restaurant in the middle of nowhere were very strict and rude. The lady in particular did not like me and kept an eye on me. Even when I was making honest mistakes, she would shake her head in disapproval and take note. Eventually, she checked the cameras and saw me on my phone in front of a customer, and decided enough was enough and had me fired.

At first I was upset, since I really did not do a bad job, but I took it as a sign that it was finally time for me to leave Norcal and pursue comedy in Los Angeles. I decided not to take it to heart, since the lady seemed extremely depressed and unhappy in her own life, while I was young and pursuing something she was very jealous of. As it turns out, she ended up suing her husband/not husband, having their dive bar shut down, and then died about a year later. So no matter how upset I may become, there will always be karma.

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?

My name is Kevin Heisinger and I am a comedian, writer, and independent filmmaker. I moved to Los Angeles in 2019 in order to pursue both film and comedy full time. It wasn’t exactly the best timing, but luckily with the help of my mother, odd jobs, and unemployment I was able to stay. During the last few years, I’ve realized that I will never make it as an actor, since the demons of Hollywood have already chosen their puppets. The game is rigged, and none of us with souls with ever achieve that kind of success. However, I have been able to pursue both film and comedy on my own terms. My good friend Robby Wagner and I have started our very own open mic/comedy show at The Roost Cocktails here in Atwater Village every Tuesday. My wife Mason Le Compte and I are also in production of our very first feature film, and can not wait to promote it when the time comes.

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?

Pursuing standup in Los Angeles has been a learning experience to say the least. Here are three areas that have been the most impactful for me:

1. Laughing at others. I love to see others fail, it makes me feel better about myself. Especially when a rude, trust fund hipster baby comes into our mic, thinking they are the hottest of the hot. They don’t think anything is funny, which is bizarre since they are pursuing standup. Watching them not only be rude to the other comics, then bomb ridiculously hard never fails to put a smile on my face.

2. Alcohol. I used to be extremely nervous before I went on stage, constantly having panic attacks and anxiety. Luckily alcohol has calmed my nerves and puts me where I need to be in order to be funny. It also helps in social situations, since I am particularly shy and the majority of the places I perform end up being dive bars anyway.

3. Delusions of grandeur. All of us at our mic think that we’re going to make it. But when you’ve been doing comedy 15 years and are still performing in front of 2 comics and 3 blacked out bar patrons, it’s hard to look at yourself and think wow, I’m killing it. Luckily, thanks to delusion, you can power through the not so great shows and eventually get booked at The Comedy Store where you only have to bring 2o people in order to perform.

My only advice would be to network, work hard on yourself, and have rich parents.

To close, maybe we can chat about your parents and what they did that was particularly impactful for you?

I did not have the best relationship with my father growing up. My wife constantly refers to him as Jerry from
the hit TV series “Rick and Morty.” For those unfamiliar, Jerry is very lame. He was not the nicest to me, constantly forcing me to do things I’d rather not do, including private school, marching band and sports. He refused to ever pay for necessities, saying that I should just go and get a job. He then would contradict himself, saying he’d rather I focus on school instead. I once asked for money for groceries, and he told me he’ll just take it out of my college account. Luckily, however, I was able to overcome his lameness and constantly hooking up with random women, and was able to be the comedian stud that I am today. Also, my mom is great and found us a place in Los Angeles.

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Image Credits

Mason Le Compte

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