“I hit a thousand shows. Then I strove to hit fifteen hundred. I'd do three nightmare sets in a row, honing a new bit, then crush in front of a hot audience. I wasn't used to seeing effort translate to improvement. As a kid, no matter how many hours I spent at the kitchen table with my mom, reading and writing never got easier.
As a model, I lifted weights and ate mashed potatoes for breakfast and stayed bone-skinny. Stand-up was the first thing that the more I put into it, the more I got out. My entire life was a tightly coiled spring. Stand-up released the tension, and I sprang forward with decades of repressed energy. I could feel myself getting mighty.”