All The Work Is In The Setup

People love a good comeback story.

They just don’t want to see it happening.

Unless it's Kim Kardashian.

They want the ribbon cutting. The montage. The “look at you now!” moment with a slow clap and soft lighting. What they don’t want? The part with the bruised ego, the sleepless nights, the second-guessing, and the bank account that’s one Oz. of Danq canabis away from overdraft.

But that’s the real story. Not the destination.The detour. The derailment. The disaster you didn’t plan for.

I’ve been rebuilding. Emotionally. Financially. Occasionally with grace, mostly with caffeine and pure spite. Some days I feel like a phoenix. Other days I feel like a retard dragging a broken mic stand through a back alley whispering, “we’re still good, right?”

Rebuilding isn’t glamorous but it is inevitable.

There’s no applause when you’re re-editing a logo or sending your 9th polite “Just following up” email. There’s no viral clip when you’re staring at an empty venue wondering if you should pivot to being a life coach. (btw, if you're looking for a life coach...)

But this — this is the journey. This is where the fun stories are.

The weird venues. The late nights. The time the mic broke mid-set so you just yelled your jokes like a motivational speaker at a MLM convention. The friends who stuck around. The ones who didn’t. The gigs you took for 500 baht and a handshake. The ideas that flopped. The ones that are fire.

Nobody remembers the “I made it” — they remember the “holy shit, we survived that?”

That’s the good stuff.

That’s the memoir.

And if you’re a comic — or anyone building anything from scratch — you already know: the audience might laugh at the punchline, but the real work is in the setup.

I’m building.

That’s the fun part.

– FunwithLex