We were lucky to catch up with Lance Weiss recently and have shared our conversation below.

Lance, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

I think there’s only one real way to learn. Just start doing it, whatever it is. I read a ton of books on comedy, watched standup clips and wrote for months before I actually got onstage. Almost all of it goes out the window the second you’re onstage in front of a real crowd. Think of riding a bike. You can read about it forever, but until you get on there and start falling over and over – that’s when you really start learning how to ride!

As I get older, I realize so much of life is just putting yourself in the mix. Just show up, ask questions, find who is doing what and where. Go there, and repeat. Just the more you show up, the more people recognize you, help you out, etc. You learn by just doing and also failing. You have to fail. Failure is progress.

Obstacles? – Try to get rid of your ego as much as possible, BUT also know when to standup for yourself in varying scenarios. It’s a never-ending shifting scale. The world is coming at all of us so fast, so taking some time to think, write and ponder is really important. You gotta check yourself and remember why you’re doing what you’re doing since there’s endless information and influences coming at us 24/7.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am a stand-up comedian based in New York City, but I frequently travel the country telling jokes!

Ever since I started doing comedy, it’s been the only thing I’ve wanted to do. I think life can be difficult for so many of us, if I can just bring some moments of joy to people, then I feel like I’m adding value.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

There’s nothing more rewarding than someone telling you that you made their day better. Life can be so difficult for so many of us for an infinite amount of reasons. If we can alleviate that for even a moment for another person, then I think we’ve done a positive thing.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

The lesson is that nobody really knows the answers. When you’re younger, you think many people have it figured out and some people might even treat you poorly or take advantage of you. But then you get older, and you realize that nobody has it figured out! People all know different things and all come from different life experiences and circumstances. So, I guess I’ve learned to never take any one thing as “the way” something has to be done, while at the same time, understanding that every single person has value and has something to offer which from which we can learn. I guess now that I’m thinking about all this, learning to listen, but not judge anything as gospel one way or the other can be a smart approach. Being open to everyone and everything, but also realizing that it’s all just kind of theories people have and nothing is 100%. The smartest people I know are open to learning and questioning things. I think it’s important to always be willing to hear new ideas or alternative ways something can be done.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://lanceweiss.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/partywithlance/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lanceweiss
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lance-weiss-356aa715/
• Twitter: https://x.com/partywithlance
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/partywithlance
• Other: I recently got onto the Tik Tok trend. Brutal! – @partywithlance

Image Credits

Eric Korenman
John Cromartie