We were lucky to catch up with Paul Farahvar recently and have shared our conversation below.
Paul, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Was there an experience or lesson you learned at a previous job that’s benefited your career afterwards?
Before I did comedy, I was a trial lawyer. I practiced law for over 15 years and the last few years overlapped with the rise of my stand up career. Since comedy was going so well and I had some great opportunities, I decided to leave law to do comedy and closed my last solo law firm on March 1, 2020. Bad timing. Everything went away for a while.
But eventually some of my work came back and I am up and running again. But that experience as well as the law practice in general taught me preparedness. I am always open for anything that comes my way and when opportunities arise, I am also prepared.
In addition to this, the practice of law taught me how to write concisely and be organized. With law, you sometimes have 10 seconds in a hearing to get the judge’s attention so you have to be quick and to the point. In comedy, you sometimes have 10 seconds to prove you are funny. So organize your jokes and use minimal words to make your point.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I am a Chicago based Comedian who used to be a lawyer and musician. I was runner up in the Chicago Reader for Best Stand up Comedian in 2021 and was voted “Top 40 Up and Coming Comedians” in 2017. As a lawyer, I earned the “Top 40 under 40″ honor in Illinois. My podcast SINGLES ONLY! was accepted into to the prestigious SWSW in 2020 and was voted Best Podcast in Chicago (2022). I have 2 comedy speials, a Dry Bar special “Always a Groomsman” dropped in April, 2023 and my special “Middlewestern, Middle Eastern” with Helium Comedy Studios dropped in April, 2024. I was one of two Americans invited to the Halifax Comedy Festival in May, 2024.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?
I think people think comedians just work 1-2 hours a night doing shows, but thats not the case. We have very busy lives. And our hours are usually messed up. To begin with, there is the writing. We have to write jokes or prepare our material. Some people write on computers, others pen to paper and others write on stage, doing smaller shows or open mics.
Next, is the bookings. Most comedians don’t have agents so we have to send emails too 1000s of venues a year in hopes of locking in 50 weeks of bookings. Lot of non responses so ghosting in dating is nothing compared to a comedy club! They you have to travel, which means booking hotels and flights.
Then there is promotions and social media. Getting people to shows, which requires personal emails, texts and social media help as well as traditional media (radio, tv, press).
The actual show is the fun part of the show but nobody thinks about how we got to that point. And I’m not even covering the starting at open mics hell.
How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?
Supporting the arts is important. It’s so sad to see the administration cutting the arts programs and public creative shows. As for comedy, the best way you can support comedy is following and sharing your favorite comedians on social media, going to their shows, telling others to go see the comedians when you know people coming to their towns.
It is so grass roots but it is also so beneficial.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.paulfcomedy.com
- Instagram: @paulfarahvar
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/paulfcomedy
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulfarahvar/
- Twitter: @paulfarahvar
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/paulfcomedy
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/whyareyouawake
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/paulfcomedy
