We were lucky to catch up with Paul Salazar recently and have shared our conversation below.

Paul, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you take us back in time to the first dollar you earned as a creative – how did it happen? What’s the story?

I’m not the typical actor/creator type that was in all the high school musicals and plays and was the constantly getting encouragement to pursue a creative career. My desire to act and create things really didn’t hit until my junior year in high school and I always felt behind my peers and was constantly auditioning and being rejected—and probably for good reason! I was learning and really raw. I maybe did two musicals and a couple plays after auditioning for every single play my school ever did. I was like the Eric Andre meme metaphorically standing outside a gate screaming, “LET ME IN! LET ME IN!” As I left high school I told one of my drama teachers that I was going to pursue acting and theatre studies in college, and this sweet little Texas lady smiled at me and said, “I just hope they find a way to use your….uniqueness.” College proved to be more challenging. All the students there were these triple-threat types, at least in my mind, that were royalty in their high schools and were polished performers. I felt so behind and decided to focus on the basics. I took my Stage Movement class seriously and one day a choreographer came by to look for supernumeraries for a production of the opera Die Fledermaus. To this day, I don’t know exactly what I did right as I had no dancing training and could barely move on stage believably yet. But it’s a good reminder to always give your best effort at all time because you never know who is watching or what opportunities are out there. My teacher and the choreographer asked if I’d be willing to learn basic ballroom dance and audition. Even though I was sure that I was not what they were looking for, I gave it a shot. And in my first year of theatre school I went from feeling the imposter syndrome so strongly I thought I was going to quit to getting my first paying job in the theatre. I got good enough at the polka that I had a little moment dancing across the stage and was used in multiple scenes and got to experience rehearsals. I got to soak up time in the theatre were I learned how to be professional in a hands on way. I also learned humility in being the person just there to learn and stand around to fill in scenes and dances. But I had a check and I was a professional dancer in the opera. Not so bad for a kid with no experience. I learned that if you work hard and someone offers you a job, TAKE IT! Don’t stand in your own way. I’m…unique. Who knows how many chances I’ll have? Why be the one to shut it down when I’m getting another opportunity to do my thing. There are so many ways to create. Take the opportunities presented to you and try to learn and grow. So many times my instinct is to say, oh, I don’t know if I’m right for this. But I’ve learned to have the confidence in challenging when I’m presented with an opportunity that I feel like isn’t exactly the best fit. I can learn, I can try and if I fall flat on my face; then I have learned more. Instead of getting in my own way and saying I’m a bad fit or maybe I’m not good enough or it won’t be helpful; I remind myself that the best thing that could have happened for my comedy, writing and acting career was auditioning to ball room dance in an opera. Without the confidence that job gave me, I’d probably dropped out of school that first semester and who knows what I’d be doing. If I would have been like, “that’s a no from me, dawg. I only do comedy”. I may never have even done comedy.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I’m Paul Salazar, Jr. and I am a content creator and comedy writer. Not in that order. Usually I write the comedy and then I create the content but that’s neither here nor there. I’ll be honest, it took a while for me to call myself a content creator because of the connotations with the phrase. It’s like calling yourself an influencer. You say the word and people turn their nose up like you said you were a trust fund kid, like: “oh so you do nothing?” Technically I was creating content when I wrote plays and produced them in college but the phrase “playwright” is sophisticated. Like Playwright Paul wore a tweed jacket and drank espresso, but in those years I was eating Taco Bell like they had exclusive rights to my stomach and had no money. But still playwright sounds like a much better title. I started off as studying acting in college with hopes of being a comedic actor. But one day in a lighting crew class a good friend, the late Timmy Wood, pulled me aside and asked if I would start a sketch comedy team with him. That changed my life and put me on the comedy writing course. We named the group “Reginald Funk and the Vonn Trapp Family Singers”—rolls off the tongue, right?— and our first show was in his living room and we filled his house full of as many people as we could. We had people outside the house looking through windows. And while it was a great house party, we eventually started doing more shows and renting proper theatres…so that people could sit down and not watch through a window that probably still hasn’t been cleaned. Meanwhile, I’m happy to say I finally learned how to act and I focused on the avant-garde, the theatre of the absurd, new works (especially those by the bipoc community). I found a way to use my uniqueness and by the end of my time in college I was producing material that reflected the community and times. And I even would be approached with scripts to see if I wanted to work on projects. It felt like I finally found a place to operate from, a place where I could contribute and it was wanted. I also worked to expand long-form improv to have a wider reach, back when it was just a thing on the coasts and Chicago. And not to have a gap in my resume I also worked for ComedySportz in Houston (and later in LA) to strengthen my short form comedy chops in case Wayne Brady ever challenged me to a rhyme-off in the streets of LA. Improv was like the last step in my training. I had learned acting, dancing, producing and the rest. But I had to learn the ability to just let it rip and go for it. However, improv isn’t just about stepping out there and doing whatever you want. You have to work at it. You practice improv and to stay sharp. You establish a report with your team to set up a relationship where everyone feels supported and therefore free to make big choices, knowing someone has your back. And to listen. Listening is the most important thing. I’m a constant listener now. And with all that I packed up to go to LA where I learned producing is a lot more expensive. Funny Or Die wasn’t just a website I uploaded videos to, it was how I felt I had to live. If this video doesn’t do well, I wouldn’t get work. If I didn’t get work I wouldn’t get money. If I didn’t get money, I’d have to move back home, and if I moved back home I would have at least felt like I died. When I first moved to LA I immersed myself in auditions and improv shows and sketch writing. Just trying to get my foot in the door anywhere. I got to do so many amazing things with amazing people. You really learn how difficult it is to make anything from a movie to a simple two minute sketch. And while exploring every facet of entertainment is fun in college, I’m not sure if they’re talking about this on the blogs, but, LA is very expensive. The entertainment industry is full of nepo babies because you have to have two jobs just to be able to afford a flexible schedule to audition and focus on your brand. And all bitter joking aside, I found that the value I brought was rapid fire joke writing and punching up scripts that needed any kind of laugh. I would write during the days and perform comedy at night. I worked my way to bigger and bigger jobs. I thought I had it figured out. Then 2020 came around and through all of our lives for a loop. Without the ability to do my comedy shows, I was worried my work would lose momentum. While I’d love to think comedy writers think about me all the time, the reality is I’m breaking in to screenwriting and doing shows and the hideous act of “networking” is how I remind people I write jokes, am alive and would like to work. But luckily my brain couldn’t sit still during the pandemic and I starting posting comedy on social media. I’d never considered social media before, but it worked for some people and I had nothing to lose. Now, everyone does social media comedy. I think it’s funny I had to consider it. But it was such a great call. I was able to transform my career again and stay current. I got work from my content and even got paid for my content by partnering with brands and platforms. I’ve worked in so many different capacities in entertainment and have learned so much. Not only skills, but also limitations. Sometimes I learn that while I can do something, sometimes it’s better to get an expert or someone that can execute what the project needs. All of these things have made me a Swiss-army-knife in entertainment and pivoting my career to a content creator and writer has let me take the reigns on my career and create things that I want to see. And it’s great to find an audience or a producer that wants to work together. While working in a gig economy is a tough thing as a creative, it’s nice to be able to do something different from week to week. Sometimes I’m punching up a script, sometimes I’m writing my own, sometimes I’m writing and producing comedy for somebody else, and sometimes I’m just recording my own podcast to try to reach out and expand my audience. While this isn’t how I always saw my career, I take great pride in being an independent creator that can make things that make me happy and make me laugh and fill a void that I think exists. And it’s so nice that I’m able to actually make money at this and can keep working to progress my career and wallet to the next stage.
All that to say I’m a comedy writer that makes a lot of silly things.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

Everyone seems to like farm-to-market food, or local craft beer or supporting mom and pop businesses in their neighborhood. But when it comes to entertainment and comedy everyone seems to gravitate to celebrities. I mean, look at the Super Bowl ads! When I first moved to LA an actor could have the delusional dream that they could be cast in a commercial and make a lot of money and maybe even be famous for a moment. Now you have to be wildly famous to be in a big commercial. I encourage people to support indie comedy and local comedians. There are so many people out there that are just trying to get their voices heard and supporting them is very simple at times. Firstly, be open to “local farm-to-table comedy”. Why do the people who tell you jokes have to be rich and distant? Give people a chance. And secondly, if you like their comedy: share it! Nothing makes me happier than someone sending a comedy video of mine to someone else. I get the stats from social media that something is being shared and it goes a long way for me. The algorithm boosts posts of mine that have comments and shares and interactions; so find a small comedian you like and interact with their posts. You support someone’s career and you might make a friend.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

Having rich parents. …kidding…but it really is the easiest way imho. But if you’re like me, the best things truly is “thick skin”. But I find it easier to say don’t take yourself too seriously. Everyone is going to be talented but your uniqueness is what makes you stand out. Be ok with what makes you stand out and be able to laugh about it. Having a sense of humor about yourself also will help you be easier to work with, and unless you’re a famous celebrity no one wants to work with someone who is difficult to work with.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.paulsalazarjr.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paulsalazarjr?igsh=YzAwZjE1ZTI0Zg%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/paulsalazarjr
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/paulsalazarjr
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/channels/paulsalazarjr
• Other: TikTok: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMeP5gmba/ Threads: https://www.threads.net/@paulsalazarjr Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/paulsalazarjr.bsky.social IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4946266/