Inspiration: Joan Rivers (Text Version)

Hey Everybody! Here is the text version of the first video in a series I’m going to be doing about inspiration. I want to talk about people and things that have inspired me in my life and in my career.

So to start out with I’m going to take you all the way back to 1983. That year Joan Rivers came out with an album called What Becomes a Semi-Legend Most. My brother or my parents really like that album and bought it and I listened to it constantly. The album was full of everything that Joan was known for: This sort of rapid-fire, manic delivery, taking lots of shots at celebrities, and balancing it with plenty of shots at herself as well.

I was six, so I don’t know how much of the album I fully understood, but I do remember thinking it was funny. I think it was my first experience with somebody getting up on stage and actively trying to make the audience laugh. I think it the first time I had an inkling that maybe I wanted to do that. Just this idea of being on stage, being in front of a group of people, and performing for them, and entertaining them and making them happy. I want to thank Joan for that. I hadn’t realized it before sitting down to make this video that that had been an early inspiration. So thanks Joan!

I want to encourage all of you to look back, maybe you’re not a performer, but think back in your life. What were some early inspirations? What molded you into the person you are today? What altered your trajectory into your life that is now? So, leave me a comment, let me know and I’ll see you later.

[You can see the video version here!]