We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Albert Estergard. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Albert below.
Albert, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What was the most important lesson/experience you had in a job that has helped you in your creative career?
I’m always scavenging through time and the experiences I must endure to maintain life. Lately I have been thinking a lot about kale. I hate kale. I hate the way it sounds and how it makes my throat feel when I say it. I hate everything about the way it looks, feels, smells, even the way I think about it. I have to work with kale, so many times a week, in so many different ways. I am very good at stripping the leaves from the stems. This is a pretty basic task. Almost anyone can do it fairly easily. This article isn’t about kale though. It’s about me and why I’m so much better than most people that will read this.
That’s not really the point either though. I am talking about kale because of how I do it. Albert plus kale. I rely heavily on experience and muscle memory. I also use my imagination. Based on the feel, I’m picturing the stem and the size and strength of the opening of my fingers, and tapering them as I move my hand from the base of the stem to the increasingly more thin and delicate end that will snap off with the leaves if you’re not careful, but also if you’re too slow and careful.
Even though I hate kale I still respect the ingredient. I do my best to make every move matters, to be as quick and efficient as possible, to protect the product and reduce waste. I am present and focused on what I am doing, not out of need but out of respect for the work I do and how that reflects on me. I am also analyzing how this may positively impact what else I do, and those around me. And that’s just kale. Once I work with my own ideas, writing, and ingredients in my own creative ecosystem my work ethic will drive all these skills I’ve harnessed cooking like a nuclear reactor. What’s most important is having the mind to be present and processing experience into intuition, so you can learn even from something you hate, or that sucks as much as kale.
Albert, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
Encountering an Albert is a pretty special experience all on its own, even when it’s not a good Albert. The kale Albert is the worst. The Albert that was talking about kale is different from the Albert that reads about it, and both are different from the one that thought about it each time. All THOSE Alberts are different from the one you are reading about or picturing, and those two are different from one another.
I like to think I have always been what I am, that I am better at showing those parts and personas to the right people at the right time in the right moment. Comedy Albert is still juggling all those. There’s still so much I want to say, write, and be on stage. Every time I come up with something new while I wait to go up, something while I’m on stage, and even new ways to present stuff I might have only written or thought about, as well as stuff I’ve said several (or too many) times. I haven’t been on stage for a couple of months. I am working on getting the podcast going again, it’s building up in me. It doesn’t have to be perfect. It has to be good enough, it has to be right, it has to be Albert. I get too abstract and try too hard when this happens so I got to get it out. I know there is already a lot in this interview that will not be understood. Luckily, kale will not be one. I’m not trying to just write some good jokes, I’m creating a life and universe that can always access what’s funny and entertaining. I want to make people listen, smile, and laugh as much in the moment as when they think about it and share it.
A friend of mine told me he admires how I don’t care what people think. That has always been there, I didn’t manifest that to be cool or protect myself from getting hurt like the people that need to tell others they are that way. Those people eat kale. There’s so much more that is important to me before validation or emotions of people I do or don’t know. I think about it. Obviously on stage the audience is important. There is so much I want to say, that needs to be said that only I can say. Not because I’m the smartest or funniest. I may not even say it the best or in the way that’s going to matter most. I can’t even write it right yet. I value creativity/new ideas so highly. In my lifetime it’s become (and will continue to be) exponentially more scarce. I’m a superfood, ultra algorithm for what I have never seen, heard, thought. I love so much when I discover those offerings as well. I’m my own full farm-to-table experience with comedy. No one will be able to steal my jokes or act, and even if they try it will be funny. In my experience it may even be funnier, but it isn’t Albert. Neither is kale.
How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?
Every time I do one of these interviews I have so many ideas I’ve been wanting to share. I have to be careful not to step on my podcast toes or kill a bit I want to do on stage. I hate to say it but honestly I think the lack of support has been one of the biggest drives for me creatively. I never got the support I wanted from family. There have been moments in my life where friends really came through for me, but that was mainly emotional and mental support. I’ve had some really great co-workers that I still think of often. The work that is important to me and I really want to do I have never felt I had the support I wanted or mattered. I have not gotten what I have given in that sense, but that’s not the point or how that works. I am better at supporting people. I am hard to support. I may not even accept my ideal support if it did come along.
What helps me most is mental stimulation from genuine expression. In its simplest form that’s just a good conversation. In its best form it’s a masterpiece like Bo Burnham’s “Inside”. Listening helps. It’s one of the true needs for a person to survive after food and shelter. To have one person really listen and hear is one of the greatest gifts you can give. I have done this all my life and I can feel it as it happens. I feel the person being heard, I feel some of the weight lift of their words, mind, and being. I like to think that’s why people really listen when I’m on stage and why I can feel it.
I think what’s most important for a thriving creative ecosystem is the awareness of that ecosystem and its parts, and how they interact with one another. I have been thinking so much about this because my work ecosystem is so bad right now. The cause of that is mainly one person. That’s bleeding over into my creative and home ecosystems now too and that’s why I’m not doing the podcast, on stage, or even going to comedy shows right now. Just try. Even if you suck as much as kale, it will show when you try. It will be good for you and those in your ecosystem. I’m going to say more on this in the podcast so be on the lookout for that.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
I am always unlearning. I unlearn to think differently. I unlearn to challenge myself. I unlearn to make sure I learn right and best. I unlearn to free up space in my brain to learn more. Before I even get through the rules and experiences of the “proper” or “traditional” way I want to tear them apart. I might be further in any of my careers if I could, but it wouldn’t be the way I want. In the 15 years I have been in the restaurant industry I have been so restrained by that mentality and people who believe in it. When I finally end up doing my own food I am going to purposefully and publicly unlearn everything. I want to spit in the face of the entire industry. I was always so stubborn with art but I followed the rules also. I do not agree with that approach. Learn what you want, the way you want. Then unlearn it! I’m going to unlearn as much about kale as I can when I finally get to stop working with it.
Contact Info:
- Website: toonanashoo.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/toonanashoo/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/toonanashoo
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/toonanashoo
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEtbUADqr073YrnFoC55ZhA