Tragedy Plus Time_A Tragi-Comic Memoir by Adam Cayton-Holland

Author:Adam Cayton-Holland [Cayton-Holland, Adam]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 1501170163
Amazon: B075RQ692L
Publisher: Touchstone
Published: 2018-08-21T00:00:00+00:00

NEW FACES

“In my hand right now I’m holding more filmmaking technology than Orson Welles had when he filmed Citizen Kane.”

With that Patton Oswalt held up his cell phone for all of us gathered there in that Montreal Hyatt conference room to see: the young comics, the vets, the industry, and anyone else lucky enough to score a ticket to his State of Comedy keynote address.

“I’m holding the same amount of cinematography, postediting, sound editing, and broadcast capabilities as you have at your TV network,” he said. “In a couple of years, it’s going to be fucking equal. I see what’s fucking coming. This isn’t a threat; this is an offer. We like to create. We’re the ones who love to make shit all the time. You’re the ones who like to discover it and patronize it and support it and nurture it and broadcast it. Just get out of our way when we do it.”

I felt as if he were speaking directly to me. And I needed to hear it. Right then. Right there.

My head was already swimming, as any newbie comic at Just For Laughs would be. I had auditioned twice in the previous two years and not been accepted to Montreal. Third time was the charm. One great set in Hollywood had sealed the deal. Twenty “New Faces” from across North America had been selected to come to Montreal, and I was one of them. Congratulations, kid. Welcome to the big leagues. I was on my way to perform for the entire industry as someone anointed by the comedy gods on high, someone worth watching, perhaps even signing! Me! Adam Cayton-Holland! I was a funny, shiny, brand-spanking-new face!

Gather round ye Hollywood agents and managers and lawyers! There’s fresh fish to be raped!

Upon landing in Montreal I checked my phone and learned that I had been named one of the Top Twenty-Five Comics to Watch by Esquire. A few hours later an article appeared in Wired in which I had done an interview about what it meant to be selected as a New Face. Arguably the two biggest pieces of press I’d ever gotten, in the course of a few hours of being in Canada! They were clickbait articles deliberately timed to harness the full hype of the festival, but the effect was immediate. Like that I was one of the buzz-worthy new comics. My phone blew up. Friends from all over congratulating me. My manager telling me so-and-so wanted to grab lunch or coffee while we were here in Montreal. I hadn’t even performed yet.

Lydia texted me every half hour for updates. I called her often. She was the only one I could properly gush to without feeling gauche. She was the only person on the planet as absolutely thrilled as I was. She wanted to experience it vicariously. She was so proud of me. She wasn’t broken or depressed in those exchanges, she was elated. All the conversations we had about comedy, all those day-after breakfasts tagging jokes, all those shows, it felt like it was beginning to pay off.

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