I would categorize my acting as
‘serviceable’ but against actors
that actually know what they’re
doing, I’m sure I look like someone who won a contest. I’ve discovered that stand-up and acting
are similar in the sense that when
you do stand-up, in New Jersey
especially, you learn very quickly
not to be self-conscious because
the second you get into your own
head is the second a New Jersey
audience will eat you alive.
Is that true? Are New Jersey audiences really tougher than others? I think we’re in an area where
if they like ya they love ya and if
they don’t like ya they hate ya,
and there’s something about the
amount of time they give you
to make that decision. It’s a lot
quicker here than other places. In
the midwest, I’ve been on stage
for 20 minutes and still don’t
know if they hate me or love me.
In Jersey, if you’re 3 or 4 minutes
in and you’re terrible, people are
pulling out newspapers if you’re
lucky and weapons if you’re not.
You can always tell an East Coast
comic by how fast they’re talking. I did a festival in Canada and
there were all these comics telling
stories. “Let me tell you a story
about when I was a child.” I’m like,
I would already have been murdered if I started like that.
I’m addicted to stand-up. I’ll never stop doing stand-up. The hope
is to get something on the writing side because it’s Hollywood
and it can open a lot of doors. It’s
the idea that if I get more famous,
more people will come to see me
doing stand-up and I can keep doing it for a little bit longer.
You can see Jay Black perform
at Uncle Vinnie’s Comedy Club in
Point Pleasant November 26.
New Jersey Stage
November 2014
pg 78