Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Clay Newman. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Clay, thanks for joining us today. Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?

I haven’t had a “day job” since things shut down in 2020. That said, I still need to pick up countless side gigs if I don’t want to eat too many pb & j’s. I do a lot of background acting (keep an eye out for a curly headed blur hanging out behind successful actors in your favorite shows and movies). I’ve acted in the occasional commercial, created social media content for businesses, done paid audience member gigs, participated in focus groups, as well as pet/house sitting… there’s countless ways to make an extra buck or two without having to commit to a 9 to 5.

There are a lot of funny people out there asking for work. What distinguishes me is that I was able to get established in a large city before moving to Los Angeles. While most comedians do wind up in Los Angeles or New York eventually, my start in San Francisco has been infinitely useful. I was able to get a lot of club work on my resume which opened the door to work on the road. Quality stage time is tough to come by in LA and NY in general. Most of the money and long sets are in smaller cities. Do what you can to get on the road and start headlining, even if they’re smaller shows. It doesn’t matter how hard you crush at the Comedy Store open mic, you’re still going to need to travel and sell merch if you want to make any money doing standup. Do festivals, try to win competitions, sneak in an open mic or two when you’re on vacation. Just get out there on the road and keep trying to turn it into more road work.

Merch and mailing lists are crucial. Most clubs still pay openers the same rate as they did in the 90’s. Hosts typically get $50 per show and features make a whopping $100, so some clever t shirts could quadruple what you make in a weekend. You eventually need to figure out how to put butts in seats, too. An email list is a classic method if you have a lot of live shows, and there’s always social media if you aren’t working a lot yet. If I could go back to the beginning I would have been way more proactive about building a following.

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

Stop using AI in art. Plain and simple. All AI does is steal previously created art. The entertainment industry is one of the most successful ones in the world. There’s so much money to go around. AI will lower quality with the singular goal of giving executives an even larger percentage of that tasty entertainment pie.

Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

I wish I spent more effort on social media before it got completely oversaturated with standup.

Contact Info:

• Website: ClayNewmanComedy.com
• Instagram: @ClayNewmanComedy
• Youtube: @TheClayNewman

Image Credits
pc: Jim McCambridge