On Talent, Tenacity and Self-Definition

Posted by GuitArchitecture on December 16, 2011 · 1 Comment

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before.

There was this guy. He went to college and (though his major was psychology), everyone thought he was funny. So after school (in 1984) he goes back to New York. He works a series of jobs (admin jobs, catering gigs and bartending among them) to support himself while he gets into stand up comedy.

It takes him a full year to get over his nerves to get up on stage. He adopts a stage name and makes his debut. His act is described as modestly stiff and awkward, but he has a point of view, which is unique enough to get some attention and he gets a slot hosting at a comedy club where he becomes the 2am closing act. He does this for 2 years. During that time he develops his act and starts networking with the endless supply of comedians that come through the door.

He gets a job as a television writer and 2 years later co-hosts his first show. It’s followed by another show the following year that has poor ratings and only lasts one season – But – he starts making in-roads to the public eye and has a series of near misses for hosting other shows (getting beaten out by Conan O’Brien to replace Letterman on NBC in ’93).

He develops his own talk show on a smaller cable network that year. It’s the first talk show on that network and it gets good ratings. They launch an hour-long late night version of his show in 1994. It doesn’t work in this format and time slot and is cancelled the following year.

One fan of the show is David Letterman who signs him with his production company. This gets him a recurring guest host slot for the Tom Snyder show – but doesn’t materialize into his own show. He also gets some roles in films, which raises his visibility but not his profile.

The next step in the time line is that Craig Kilbourne is hired to replace Tom Snyder in 1996 and….

(Big reveal of the Mystery Person)

John Stewart replaces him on The Daily Show.

Think about that timeline for a moment.

1984-1996. 12 years.

If the person stocking shelves in your local Woolworths (one of Stewart’s former jobs) said that he was going to be on a multi-million dollar production deal one day would you believe him?

It’s more than just putting the work in.

To be sure, you have to do the work (all the networking and positioning in the world won’t matter if you don’t have the skills), but the work will only get you so far. There are literally thousands of people who have put the hours in (in any field) that you’ve never heard of. This could be because they’re working professionals and are so busy that they’re working for other people non-stop. But every town has some monster player that either works in complete obscurity or abandons their dreams at some point as unattainable. And this last option leads into the point that I’m trying to make.

John Stewart succeeded he had a why.

He had a clear vision of what it was he wanted to do, and (I’m guessing here that) he saw the things that he did while he was trying to establish himself as the steps towards his goal that they were.

I’m sure there were nights that he was doing that 2am stand-up routine that were miserable. And probably numerous times that he felt like quitting all together. Victor Frankl once said, “He who has a why can bear almost any how”.

12 years of victories and setbacks.

In that situation, you need to have a reason to keep going – but I think John Stewart actually had 2 reasons. In addition to having a goal. he also knew who he was.

He believed in himself enough to keep trying and to stick it out. He could have let himself be defined by any of the positions that he held, but instead he saw himself as a comedian before anyone else did. He tried numerous formats to make that work until he got into one that suited him perfectly. Not only did he define himself, but he redefined the show. His passion for what he’s doing and his sincerity (matched with funny and scathing insights on politics and the reporting around it) make the show accessible to people. (And let’s face we’re talking about a LOT of people who are watching a political comedy show – not exactly an easy sell.) He has defined the show to such a high degree, that while he took over The Daily Show from another host, it now could not survive without him. (I also need to note that the show also has top notch people working on it in all facets that make it a great show. In addition to his skills, he has surrounded himself with talented people which is another thing for any artist to consider in a plan for success.)

If someone can go from taking a year to even get up on stage to then bombing nightly as a night club act to eventually being (one of the most) successful working professionals in his field, then there’s hope for you in whatever you want to do.

Don’t sell yourself short. If you have a goal, put in the work and define yourself (rather than let others define you) you have a real shot of eventually getting to the places that you want to go. You have to define your own success to determine when you’ve gotten there – but defining it before you start your journey makes it a lot easier to steer.

Finally, will it it take you 12 years? I don’t know – but the real question is, if it takes that long (or longer) are you ready to do what you have to for the long haul?

Because if you don’t there’s always someone else who will.

Thanks for reading!

-SC

(Note: I should mention that the sources for this piece were a Bloomberg television special and Wikipedia (which I’m a little leery of) – just in case there are any factual errors).

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Comments

One Response to “On Talent, Tenacity and Self-Definition”

Daren says:

December 16, 2011 at 7:23 am

Dude. This is the best article ever. This entire post is important and the truth condensed. Thanks!

Reply

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