This is a story about having good luck – and about making your own.
Stand-up comedy is a tough field. Comics have a drive that supersedes their rational side. That’s why so many tell stories about well-meaning family members encouraging them to take a safer career course.
Wali Collins’ story is the exact opposite.
Wali graduated from college with a degree in architectural technology and had a good job designing buildings in western Massachusetts, when his mother planted the seeds of discontent by asking him what he’d be doing if he could do anything at all.
“I said I wanted to be an actor,” he recalls now. “So, she asked me why I was designing buildings if I wanted to be an actor. I said, ‘I live in Springfield, Massachusetts. Nobody famous ever came from Springfield, Massachusetts.’ And she said three words: 'You never know.' I was just so surprised that my parents were encouraging me to do these things. They said, ‘We just want our children to be happy.’”
That part is remarkable enough. Then came his next question: How? “I didn’t even know where to start,” Wali said.
He said his mother replied, "Why don’t you start with stand-up, and parlay that into an acting career?”
There’s probably no more precarious job in show business than stand-up comedy – well, maybe a high-wire act – but in both cases, you’re out in front of a live audience without a net. Dying, they say, is easy; comedy is hard.
Wali Collins Still Never Knows (Why Not?)