We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Laurence E Gibbs a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Laurence E thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Are you 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?
My pleasure, and I appreciate being invited to share about who I am and my journey as a “Creative” in the “Acting” and “On-Camera Personality” realms of Entertainment. This is awesome!
Like all Creatives, we all dream of doing what we love, what we are passionate about and what we feel we were meant for as a living and to be hopefully successful at it by actually making a living at it.
Over these many, many, many years of wanting to do nothing more than to entertain people as a Movie Star, Television Star and over all Celebrity, I can tell you that wanting it, and actually “Making It” (a more than sustainable living), are unfortunately two different things for a greater amount of us striving to…well…”Make It”.
Over the years though, with a few projects that I have been fortunate enough to be a part of, I have come very close to making it and felt that this was it! I finally made it! Only to unfortunately not have done so.
Have I had some successes? You betcha, there have been some successes with doing a few commercials and other paying gigs here and there. Again though, just unfortunately, nothing sustainable to where I could tell people, when asked, that THIS is what I actually do “for a living”.
In regards to those other projects that really could have been the ones to allow me to “Make It”, and that I feel incredibly fortunate to have been a part of…it would have been –
“The T Channel” – Technology and Lifestyle Network! In which I was a Writer and Co-Host for a segment called – “The Ultimate Gamer” in which we discussed ALL THINGS GAMING! This was during the whole dot.com era between 1996-1998 and was ahead of its time, just as Cnet and ZDTV were just emerging onto the scene. I ended up being a Writer and Co-Host for a couple of others on that Channel before it ended in 1999 (cue in “Prince”). Great times!
Second was my own offerings, starting with “Monkey Toss TV – Wild Entertainment”! Which then morphed into “Alter Egos TV” and then to “Comics, CONS & Beyond”! It was with this that I was very, very fortunate to have covered some amazing and AWESOME events! From San Diego’s International Comic-CON, WonderCon and even a few Spike TV Award events all the way to some UFC Fighting events! with all of these I have the great fortune and opportunity to interview some AWESOME Celebrities, like Tobin Bell (SAW), Sid Haig (House of a 1000 Corpses), William Shatner, Samuel L. Jackson, Rob Zombie, Ozzy Osborne and so many others who were absolutely AMAZING and a BLAST to interview!! Not to mention all of the INCREDIBLE FANS!! Because, if it was not for the Fans, where would all of our Entertainment Industry be?!
At the end of the day, I have been very, very fortunate to have done what I have done at the times I was out there being in the thick of it, and have so many very fond memories of doing so that will last me a lifetime.
Now, does that mean I am finished? Oh-Hell-NO!! I am still trying to make the dream become a REALITY by networking like CRAZY to get some long-lasting and lucrative, sustainable Gigs!!
Additionally, I also have my “My Ripped Off Movie” (a very funny [If I do not say so myself] Sketch Comedy/Parody Movie influenced by “Kentucky Fried Movie”, “Hollywood Shuffle”, “National Lampoon’s – Movie Madness, to name a few”) that my “Main Character Dudes” and I (“The Schmuck in Charge) have filmed and am currently trying to get out there, and a Historical and paranormal Documentary series that is so very necessary in today’s horrific climate of the most virulent and frightening Antisemitism that has been seen since the Second World War, my series called “Inhumanity’s Haunted History – The Haunted Holocaust”.
I am hoping that the Universe aligns and grants me at least my series, so that the team that I have gathered and I can do something that truly is meaningful and will hopefully make a difference to history and hopefully make this world a safer please, not only for us Jews, but for all who are persecuted just because of who they are. And hopefully, hopefully, my series will allow me to leave a very impactful, meaningful and positive legacy to my children. Because at the end of the day, they are the ones for whom I am truly doing all of this for.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
Dang! My first overly drawn out answer wasn’t enough for you? Lol.
As introduced by you earlier, my name is Laurence E. Gibbs, and I am a father of three amazing and wonderful children (now young adults) who really are my inspirations for wanting to succeed in my creative and entertainment endeavors, making the dream and passion, a reality.
How did I get into this insane industry that I love so much? Well? It all started with the Golden Age of Hollywood and being a product of the 70’s and too much damn television! Lol!
I grew up watching the Classics, who would greatly influence me in wanting to be just like them. Those influences include Lon Chaney, Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, The Marx Brothers, The Three Stooges, Abbott and Costello, Charlie Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy, Danny Kaye, The Friar’s Club Celebrity Roasts (the originals), the Variety Shows of the 60’s and 70’s, Star Trek, Rod Serling/Twilight Zone, Al Pacino, Robert DeNiro, and Robin Williams, amongst many others.
I knew growing up watching them, I knew that this is what I wanted to do for all of my life!
What I am most proud of is pretty much all that I have accomplished over these last 35 years…yes…I am that damn old. You happy now?! ;)…is that I have really done more than most, living the dream in some capacity with all that I have accomplished. And with that, and all of those I have had the honor and pleasure of interviewing, sharing some camera time with and just having some amazing conversations with, I really just consider myself more than incredibly fortunate.
Again though, I am hoping that my series “Inhumanity’s Haunted History – The Haunted Holocaust” is picked up, funded and allowed to become a reality, and I am able to leave again, a very impactful, financially, socially and historically positive legacy for my children. If I am fortunate enough to have that and my “My Ripped Off Movie” to become a reality, well…than all the better!
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
My life’s journey in pursuing being in entertainment was, in the beginning at least, a way to be free from the normalities of life. To be in the spotlight, entertaining those around me and to feel acceptance, love and appreciation.
As many of us know, not only as Creatives, but just as human beings, we long to be accepted, to be appreciated and to be loved. And as Creatives, we have that drive and chance to do so through our Arts on a grand and ever forward scale.
Additionally, being in the Entertainment Industry as an Actor/On-Camera Personality, I get to play a plethora of roles and be whatever character that I am cast for and want to be. I get to Live another life and feel what it is like to live outside of myself and who I am. It is an exhilarating escape and again, indescribably freeing.
Over the last couple of decades now, my dream is no longer about me and what I hope for and what I have worked incredibly hard to achieve. For over 25 years now…it is all about my children and leaving them with a positive and secure legacy. My children have seen me in many roles, but they know that the best role that I have ever had, and that I have been truly blessed to have, is that of being their father. They are what drives me to keep trying to make magic happen.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
The most rewarding aspect of being a Creative? The freedom to live life on your terms. To carve your own life path and to be able to support your family doing what you love, what you are passionate about and to hopefully, bring some happiness, excitement, escape, joy…and even some frights…if only for a little bit for those who want to experience all of those feelings with me as they watch me on the screen.
Having the Fame and Mega-Fortune, if we are so lucky to have achieved that level, is just icing on the cake.
I hope that this glimpse into who I am and my struggles, my drive and my journey will inspire others to keep going, to keep dreaming and to keep trying to make magic happen. I would say “Stay inside Insanity”, but I don’t want Richard O’Brian to send Eddie (Meatloaf) after me. ;)
Thank you all again for allowing me this opportunity.
Contact Info:
- Website: imdb.me/LaurenceEGibbs
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LaurenceEGibbsActorFanPage/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurenceegibbsmonkeytosstv/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MonkeyTossTV
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/@myrippedoffmovie5388
Image Credits
Geromi Bram Gibbs – My Son.