Are you a douchey comic?

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Please check out my satire articles on absrdcomedy.com here: Scott Friedman author page.
Also, here's a satire article from whatexitnj.com I wrote: Boring Pleasantville, NJ
Now, on to the douche bags...
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I've met a lot of great, funny and nice comics in this business.  I like to think I've made some good friends.  I mean, if it came down to me or them for a gig, I'm sure they'd happily step on my neck to get the gig themselves, but other than that, they seem like nice people.

Really, I've been lucky in that I've run into very few mean comics.  Either that, or I'm getting stabbed in the back and thrown under the bus and just don't know it.  Could be.

I started writing this post in the middle of a week long gig in Atlantic City.  It was my first time working with comedians Michael Aronin and the legendary Joey Kola.  Michael and Joey had known each other for years, but I had never met either of them.

We all had our own things going on, so, outside of the show, we didn't get to spend a lot of time together.  And most of the time when we did get to hang out, it was only two of the group, as one of us wasn't available (i.e., Joey and me, Mike and me, or Joey and Mike).

For whatever reason, we all clicked with each other.  We enjoyed hanging out.  We enjoyed each others' acts.  We shared stories, pointers, ideas, punchlines, tag lines, etc.

We became friends.  We became friends who truly want to help each other.

Now rewind to the beginning of the week.  A newer comic I was about to work with friend requested me on Facebook, and then she inboxed me a "looking forward to working with you" message (we had Thursday off from the AC gig and I had gotten booked to close a show in North Jersey).

The comic let me know she was very new, so after I joked that I was just as new as she was, I began asking her some questions.  In her responses, I found some things I could share with her to help her along.  In short, I'm an egotistical know-it-all who gives out unsolicited advice, but she didn't seem to mind.  No harm, no foul.

After the show she introduced me to her husband, and told him I was very generous, gave great advice and wasn't one of the "douchey" comics she seemed to have been meeting.

The next day, I inboxed her some words of encouragement and some general ideas as to how she can move forward.  Tape your act, trim the set-up fat, etc.

Again she thanked me for not being one of the douchey comics.

Are there really that many douchey comics?  Are you a douchey comic?

I only know how to be one way: nice...and friendly.  Wait, I know how to be two ways: nice, friendly...and helpful.  No, wait...

All references to Monty Python aside, what the hell?  We're in this together.  Why not be nice to your fellow comics?

You don't have to give advice, you don't have to help them get booked, you don't have to buy them a drink.  But, why wouldn't you at least be friendly, or, at the very least, pleasant to your fellow comics?

In an earlier post, Hell of a Nice Guy, I wrote about how you heard one thing over and over when John Pinette passed away:  how extremely nice he was.

I encourage you to read that post.  I'm about to stop writing this post at the risk of repeating everything that's in that post.

I just don't understand why me being nice and helpful to a fellow comic was hailed as unique.

It shouldn't be.