We were lucky to catch up with Matt Baker recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Matt, thanks for joining us today. Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?

Yes. It’s been the only job I have ever had. I have been doing this full-time since I was 17 years old (minus a two-week stint as a barista).

My journey actually started when I was a kid. My great-great-great-great-great-great step-aunts were the Brontë sisters, so I grew up under the crushing weight of a literary legacy. I spent years trying to live up to it, writing 17–18 hours a day.

It’s tough being 7 years old on the playground, listening to other kids casually break down Jane Eyre, and being afraid to tell them that you’re “technically related.” At that point, my greatest written work was a furious Yelp review about Jamba Juice upcharging for peanut butter.

Still, I started getting some traction. I had an op-ed published in my middle school paper, The Middling News, arguing that the principal’s search of my locker for missing science lab equipment violated at least one amendment (I just wasn’t sure which one). And later, one of my letters to Taylor Swift was read out loud in court, which felt like a real breakthrough.

But to actually answer the question: yes, I’ve been able to make a full-time living from creative work, and no, it wasn’t like that from day one.

It took a mix of persistence, practice, figuring out what audiences actually respond to, and slowly building something that people were willing to pay for. Looking back, I don’t think I could have sped it up much. There’s no shortcut for getting good, getting comfortable, and getting known. If anything, I just started early and figured it out as I went.

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 background and context?

My primary job is performing. I’m a comedy + stunt performer, and I tour my show, The Matt Baker Comedy + Stunt Show, anywhere people need entertainment. That includes theaters, festivals, corporate events, cruise ships, colleges, and plenty of places that make you pause and ask, “Wait. Why did you perform there?”

That work has taken me all over the world, and it’s what I’m most grateful to call my day job.

Alongside performing, I’m also a writer. I write jokes and material for other entertainers, and I’m an author. I co-wrote two kids’ books that teach the ABC’s through conspiracy theories. They are called “C is for Conspiracy,” and the other is alien-specific and is called “U is for UFO”. So yes, I’m finally living up to my extremely distant Brontë literary legacy.

My most recent project is the one I’m most excited about: The Academy of Unusual Skills. It’s part comedy book, part fake textbook, and a very real love letter to being silly.

I wrote it because after nearly every show, someone asks me the same question:
“Where do you learn all this stuff?”

And for years, I didn’t have a good answer.

My show is a mix of balancing, escapes, magic, object manipulation, and a collection of what can only be described as highly refined “stupid human tricks.” These are skills I picked up from other performers, old books, late-night internet rabbit holes, and things you accidentally learn as a kid when your parents leave you unsupervised.

There was never one place I could point people to and say, “Start here.”

So I decided to build that place.

Over the course of a year, I wrote the book I wish had existed when I was coming up. It started as a simple instruction manual and turned into something much bigger:

Half comedy book.
Half skill guide.
A slightly ridiculous roadmap to becoming a more interesting human.

What sets my work apart is that it sits right at the intersection of skill and humor. The goal isn’t just to teach something; it’s to make people laugh while they learn, and to give them something they can actually do.

At the end of the day, whether it’s my live show or my books, I’m trying to solve the same problem: helping people feel a little more confident, a little more playful, and a lot more interesting.

What I’m most proud of is that I’ve built a career out of things that are, on paper, completely unnecessary and yet somehow incredibly valuable.

If there’s one thing I want people to know about my work, it’s this:
You don’t need a reason to learn something weird. You just need curiosity and maybe a little bit of free time.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

Being able to push your own creativity. Being able to look at a blank page and in a few days have something amazing written that you never even thought about before in your life. That is a feeling I hope everyone can experience.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

Support artists directly.

Buy their work. Go to their shows. Share what they create. Tell your friends. That’s the ecosystem.

And whenever possible, put your money in the hands of actual people instead of massive corporations. A thriving creative world doesn’t happen by accident; it happens when individuals are supported enough to keep making things.

If something costs a little more but goes straight to the person who made it, it’s worth it.

Also, and this feels relevant: buy The Academy of Unusual Skills.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://academyofunusualskills.com
• Instagram: comedystuntshow
• Facebook: comedystuntshow
• Twitter: comedystuntshow
• Youtube: academyofunusualskills