The Slade Ham Experiment

Michael Duff is multi-talented. As a musician he’s released several albums, both as a solo artist and as the front man for bands like the 90’s rock outfit, Chalk FarM. He now runs Duffweb, a full-service marketing agency that specializes in creatively marrying effective websites with explosive promotion.

There’s a lot to consider when you make the transition from mere artist to functional, professional entity. What’s the difference between you and the people who are living the life you’re trying to? My guess is that they all have addressed the things we’ll get to in this episode.

Sure, we talk among ourselves about how, “You gotta take yourself seriously, or how, “We’re businesses.” But what does any of that mean? I’ll talk to Duff about some of the practical things we can do to start treating ourselves as the proper businesses we should be, as well as strategies for building and maintaining our audience.

For more on Michael Duff, as well as answers to all of your questions about web design and marketing, visit www.DuffWeb.com

Follow Slade Ham:

Twitter:twitter.com/sladeham
Instagram:instagram.com/sladeham
Facebook:facebook.com/sladeham
YouTube:youtube.com/sladeham

In 2016 I had the privilege to join the cast of the third film in Jordan Brady’s I am Comic trilogy. Jordan is a commercial director now, and he’s a seasoned documentarian, but he’s also directed Hollywood features, hosted MTV game shows, and in a lesser known piece of trivia, is the inventor of the phrase "bow chicka bow wow," which was a signature piece in a very successful stand up comedy career.

The film I’m in, I Am Battle Comic, looks at what it’s like to perform for the United States military overseas. It touts a star studded cast of comedians, much like the previous two films in the trilogy, I Am Road Comic, and the cult classic that started it all, I Am Comic.

I Am Comic features interviews with Phyllis Diller, Jeff Foxworthy, Lewis Black, Tim Allen, as well as a host of known and unknown names at the time, and I can’t recommend it enough as a primer on stand up comedy beyond what you see in a typical Netflix special.

More importantly, Jordan and I have become friends, and his optimistic approach to the world of entertainment is infectious. I sat down with him to find out the stories behind his and how he goes about making things.

You can visit Jordan’s world of commercial directing at www.CommercialDirectingFilmSchool.com

Also, try Jordan’s Oso Delicious Hot Sauce. I personally keep a bottle of each at the house, because the Texan in me loves a little heat. Visit www.OsoDelicious.org, where $1 from every bottle bought, stolen, or broken goes to the National Military Family Association, another organization I care deeply about.

Follow Slade Ham:

Twitter:twitter.com/sladeham
Instagram:instagram.com/sladeham
Facebook:facebook.com/sladeham
YouTube:youtube.com/sladeham

An original member of the famed Texas Outlaw Comics and a recent stand out on America’s Got Talent, Andy is one of the most diligent writer-performers in the game.

Andy has, by far, the longest career of any artist on this season. He began in Virginia in 1977 – that’s basically my entire life - before heading to Los Angeles later that year, a brazen move in an industry that was barely an industry yet.

There’s a lot of history in those forty three years, and a lot of knowledge, so come with us for a lot of technical talk about joke writing and how to break through the tough spots in our processes.

Follow Andy on all things social media @AndyHuggins

Follow Slade Ham:

Twitter:twitter.com/sladeham
Instagram:instagram.com/sladeham
Facebook:facebook.com/sladeham
YouTube:youtube.com/sladeham

If you don’t know Ali Siddiq yet, it’s okay. You will. It’s inevitable. I met Ali a year or two into his career, just a few months before I began stand up myself, and I remember watching him take a standing ovation as a support act for another very successful comedian at he time. It was magic.

What I didn’t know was that I was watching a kid freshly released from prison, before apprearances on BET, HBO, and Comedy Central, on a mission to do something different. Ali was arrestd for dealing drugs while he was still in his teens an served 6 years of a 15 year prison term.

The journey is well documented in his Comedy Central special It’s Bigger Than These Bars, a special that came after he nonchalantly won the network’s Up Next contest in 2013.

And all along the way, he has remained one of the most prolific stand up comedians in a generation. Ali Siddiq and I talk about what inspires him to turn something into comedy.

Watch “It’s Bigger Than These Bars” on Comedy Central, or for Ali’s entire catalogue, visit AliSiddiq.com

Follow Slade Ham:

Twitter:twitter.com/sladeham
Instagram:instagram.com/sladeham
Facebook:facebook.com/sladeham
YouTube:youtube.com/sladeham

There are a lot of characteristics that can help move us down the line a bit more quickly. There are things like innate talent and charisma, and practiced skills like patience. I’m not sure where grit falls on that list, but Tammy Pescatelli has plenty.

Her story runs from road comic to television regular, most notably including Season 2 of Last Comic Standing and multiple Tonight Show appearances . Her latest special, The Way After School Special, is available now on iTunes.

Tammy and I talk about the stretch of her career following LCS, but it quickly gets to what I love most about her. She’s a purist, and that level of authenticity is what’s worth paying the most attention to. Show business in this case, but anywhere really, is full of distractions. We’ll talk about some of them, but first I pick up with Tammy Pescatelli in the Last Comic Standing days.

Follow Tammy on social media @tammypescatelli

The Way After School Special: https://www.amazon.com/Tammy-Pescatellis-After-School-Special/dp/B082YP2M94

Follow Slade Ham:

Twitter:twitter.com/sladeham
Instagram:instagram.com/sladeham
Facebook:facebook.com/sladeham
YouTube:youtube.com/sladeham

In this episode I’ll talk with mathematician turned comedian, Matthew Broussard. His credits are many from MTV and the late night circuit to various sitcom appearances and a constant slot in Comedy Central’s stable. He’s also frustratingly good looking.

I’d argue that his real success is not the product of luck or looks but of diligently working out how comedy works. I believe that a huge part of what makes comedy work is spontaneity and we certainly get to that. But with stand up specifically, there’s a very technical element. Joke form, structure, and detail are all vital. Stand up is so much more than just getting on stage and saying funny.

I talk with Matthew Broussard about the structure that goes into performance and writing, as well as how we psychologically reconcile our real lives with our personas on stage.

For more on Matthew Broussard follow him @MondayPunday, or see his sculptures at @CockblockGargoyles

Follow Slade Ham:

Twitter:twitter.com/sladeham
Instagram:instagram.com/sladeham
Facebook:facebook.com/sladeham
YouTube:youtube.com/sladeham

Find Slade's latest book, Until All the Dragons Are Dead, wherever books are sold.

Sign up for Slade's newsletter: sladeham.com/comedy/mailing-list

I like disruptive personalities. Usually when we do something we look at the way everybody else is doing it and then we attempt to replicate that. Sure we put our original flourishes on it, but that’s only in the creative process itself. What about how we present everything?

Steve Hofstetter is a disruptive personality. You know Steve. If you have the internet his “Comedian Owns Heckler” videos have popped up on your timeline at some point. He’s the ginger kid with glasses and sharp wit and well-honed improvisational skills. His YouTube boasts half a million subscribers and he has over a quarter of a billion views on Facebook.

He’s produced TV shows, written a book, and released six comedy specials as well, all while creating a massive, ever-growing catalogue of video content.

Enjoy my conversation with Steve Hofstetter.

For more, follow him on all things social media @SteveHofstetter, or visit his virtual comedy club, NowhereComedyClub.com

Follow Slade Ham:

Twitter:twitter.com/sladeham
Instagram:instagram.com/sladeham
Facebook:facebook.com/sladeham
YouTube:youtube.com/sladeham

Find Slade's latest book, Until All the Dragons Are Dead, wherever books are sold.

Sign up for Slade's newsletter: sladeham.com/comedy/mailing-list

My guest on this episode is Christopher Titus.

You might recognize him from his roles on television where he co-starred in ABC’s “Big Shots” and helmed the eponymous FOX sitcom, “Titus.” I had the privilege of touring with him a decade ago and was fortunate to observe his process along the way.

He just wrapped production on his 8th stand up comedy special “Chasing Monsters,”and I feel like I need to pause and acknowledge that number because each one consists of 90 minutes of original stand up material.

We cover a lot of ground from confidence and ego, to storytelling, to, most importantly, how to get the things in our heads out.

Get access to all of Titus’s comedy special at ChristopherTitus.com
Follow him on Twitter @TitusNation or Subcribe to The Christopher Titus Podcast

Follow Slade Ham:

Twitter:twitter.com/sladeham
Instagram:instagram.com/sladeham
Facebook:facebook.com/sladeham
YouTube:youtube.com/sladeham

Find Slade's latest book, Until All the Dragons Are Dead, wherever books are sold.

Sign up for Slade's newsletter: sladeham.com/comedy/mailing-list