A TV Pilot? You Just Never Know

Last week, I had the good fortune of co-starring with New Jersey's Bad Boy of Comedy, Mike Marino, in his TV pilot, RECONSTRUCTING JERSEY.

It was an awesome experience!

Along with Mike, I got to work with actors like Ronnie Marmo from General Hospital and movie actor Cylk Cozart (who also directed the show); comedian/actors like Michael Wheels Parise of  Rollin' with Dice and Wheels...The Podcast (yeah, that Dice...Andrew Dice Clay) and the lovely and talented Sunda Croonquist (who played my wife!); and legends like New Jersey's own Uncle Floyd.

Me, on the left along with most of the cast and crew

While I fully hope and expect to have my publicist's assistant typing these blog posts in the near future because I'll be too busy after I accept my Emmy for best supporting actor in a sit-com, our Emmy for best comedy and our Golden Globe for best new show on television, I know it could end up just being a great experience.  An experience where I met and worked with some really great and very professional people, cast and crew.  And, maybe I'll get to use it as a credit for comedy intros for a few months.

I'm leaning towards a ten season network run, but that's just me.  What can I say?

Either way, it was unbelievable.  And, I had to get out of a weekend gig I had booked months ago in a club I hadn't played before.

Even if the club never lets me in (and I hope they do!!), it was well worth it.

Why am I telling you this?  Well, for one thing, it's my blog, so if you don't like it you can go pound sand!

The other reason I'm telling you is because I want you to know that you just never know.

Mike Marino and me in AC 2012

I first met Mike a couple of years ago.  He was scheduled to call in to my morning radio show to promote his one-nighter at The Borgata in Atlantic City.  Near the end of the call-in I half-jokingly asked him to let me open for him, and he kindly invited me to the show, and back stage.  However, I had a gig already, so Mike told me to meet him at Tony Boloney's pizza shop in AC the day after the show, as he would be shooting some DVD extra stuff.

I have to tell you, I almost didn't go.  Not that I didn't want to, but I kind of felt that Mike was just being nice, and I might get in the way.

Boy was I wrong!  Mike wasn't just being nice.  He had me co-star as myself in his caper scenes where he "stole" the Tony Baloney's delivery truck, which can be seen on his DVD Live From The Borgata Casino Atlantic City, NJ.

A couple of months later, Mike got me a guest spot in a club I hadn't gotten into myself.  And, over the next couple of years, Mike would check in with me from time to time to see how things were going, and to let me know when he'd be back in Jersey, as he was based in L.A.

Meanwhile, I was doing my comedy thing, ultimately working my way into The Borgata myself (shameless plug: see me there the week of June 23rd).

Then seemingly out of the blue, because it had been months since we last talked, Mike called and asked me to be in his pilot.  Okay, it's Mike Marino, NJ's Bad Boy of Comedy...he more like TOLD me I'm going to be in his pilot.

The Crew - me, Wheels, Mike & Ronnie

YOU JUST NEVER KNOW

In this business of comedy and entertainment, you absolutely have to hone your craft and be the best you can be.  Sadly, however, that's usually not enough.  There are thousands of comics and actors who are very good at what they do, but no one really knows it.

But you also have to put yourself in the right place at the right time.  I know, that isn't easy.  Hell, it's not even something you can predict.  Yet, I had a hand in getting into this pilot, two years ago, by asking Mike to open for him and showing up when he invited me to film DVD extra's in AC.

If I never asked him, I wouldn't have been invited.  And, if I went with my initial feeling and didn't show up, I'd never have gotten the guest spot, the subsequent friendship, and the call for this pilot.  Mike's a very generous person, but he's not going to call someone who blew off his invite and didn't bother to show up.

In other words, I put myself in a position to be in the right place at the right time.  They say it's not who you know, but who knows you.  And because of our relationship, Mike knew me to call me.

UNCLE FLOYD, Cylk Cozart, me

You always need to network at every one of your shows.  I love working with the comics I know and love, but I really love working with comics I've never worked with before, because it's a potentially new relationship of friendship and mutual assistance.

Yes, mutual.  Networking isn't trying to get what you can out of people, it's doing what you can to help THEM.  To bring back the quote from my post about the late John Pinette:  Hell of a Nice Guy , motivational speaker and business trainer Zig Ziglar said, "You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help other people get what they want."

I always try to get my fellow comics booked, or at least get them in front of someone who can book them.  It's not always an eye for an eye, so to speak.  You might not be in a position to help the comics you meet.  Lord knows there's not much I can do for Mike, comic to comic.  But, you can be their friend, take their advice, come see their shows without any thought of getting anything out of it, other than relationship.  And, you can help other comics...you know, pay it forward.

Comedian Mike Eagan, who has been a tremendous friend and help in the business, has always only asked one thing of me:  that I pay it forward.  Help other comics whenever I can.  He doesn't know this, but the first time we ever met, at a gig, was an indirect link to this pilot.  Consequently, he got me into the club for the gig I had to cancel to do the pilot and I was apprehensive about telling him.  But, true to form, Mr. Eagan told me I had to do the pilot and not to worry about cancelling the gig.

If I ever make it big in comedy and/or Hollywood, the list of people I will need to thank is long...but I know every single name on it.  I am extremely grateful for the people who have given me advice, a leg up, an intro, a spot...or a part in a TV pilot.

I also know that it didn't just magically happen because these people simply met me, or that I was entitled to it.  These people had to like me.  They had to see me do well and take my craft seriously.  They had to see how I work with, and help, others.  We had to have a relationship, so when the timing was right they would think of me.

Sunda Croonquist & me hamming it up

At the risk of sounding holier than thou from atop my soap box, go do something.  If you're the type of comic who's only in it for themselves, people will see you as a taker and not really want to work with you.  If you only hang out with your same comedy club or open mic friends, you're going to be stuck there.

If you're reading this and you are jealous of me, or coming up with reasons why I got in this pilot (he  must have dirty pictures of someone), then you missed the point entirely.  I don't ask that you're happy for me, but maybe you can use this as a catalyst to put yourself out there.  Expand your horizons.  Show up early to your shows, watch the whole show regardless of your status in the show and network with the other comics.

And if you can't put them in a pilot, or get them into a club, that's totally fine.  Just be nice to them.  Maybe bounce ideas of off them.  Be interested in THEM and not in what you can get out of them.

Maybe one day down the road you'll get a call.  It could be a gig, or a booker that someone referred to you.  It could be someone looking to you for help with a new bit.  Hell, it could be a pilot, or a movie.  Or, maybe it's just someone who needs your help or wants your friendship.

You just never know.

Ronnie, me, Wheels & Mike Marino (on phone)

 Photo credits:  All Reconstructing Jersey cast and crew photos by Richard Hoynes