We recently connected with Max Beasley and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Max, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

When I was fresh out of community college film school at age 22 (yes, it took me 4 years to get an Associate’s Degree), I decided to take the $2000 I received from an insurance settlement, and move from Denver, Colorado, out to LA – with no job or place to live lined up. This was obviously a major risk, as I was only four years into doing stand-up comedy at the time, and had just gotten out of film school with a worthless degree. After driving a large UHaul through the mountain passes of Colorado and the deserts of Nevada, I arrived in LA and quickly found a way-overpriced apartment in the Park La Brea towers, a two bedroom which I shared with 3 other people (all strangers). I worked the opening shift at Starbucks, waking up to the sound of crows outside my window before the sun had even come out- and walking the half mile to work, just to make ends meet. Now, here I am six years later, and with minimal help, I’m still here!

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.

I have been a standup comedian, podcast personality, and live producer of comedy shows for 10 years. I have been a writer and a filmmaker ever since I was a kid, first getting a short story published in my school newspaper in second grade, then later began making videos with my best friend, Graham Epstein, who is now a director in LA as well as founder of the band After.

I started standup comedy and video production in Denver in 2014 under the tutelage of Sam Tallent (Running the Light) and moved to LA in 2018, where I became involved with Howard Kremer’s legendary Squatmelt comedy show. My credits include many podcasts (Earwolf, ForeverDog, Starburns) as well as an appearance on Megan Koester’s Adult Swim special which is now on MAX. I also appeared briefly in MGMT’s music video for “Bubblegum Dog”, directed by Tom Scharpling and Julia Vickerman.

I got into this industry partially by chance, as I was hired to run Assistant Camera for a reality TV sizzle reel shoot as a freshman in college. There I met comedian Sam Tallent, who introduced me to the world of standup through his weekly underground comedy show, Too Much Fun, as well as infamous open mics he used to host.

What I think sets me apart from other people in this industry is my unique take on things. Whether it’s a standup bit, a short story, or a film, I definitely have a very unique sensibility that I think carries through everything I do.

I am most proud of the fact that I have made it this far on my own, and although life as a creative can sometimes get to be too much, my desire to create remains, and so I continue looking for the next thing. This year, I have hosted 3 iterations of my new standup show, Max Beasley Presents, first at Makeout Music in LA, then at the Elysian Theater, and now at the Lyric Hyperion. I am also working on my first novel, which I describe as a sort of Pynchon/Vonnegut/Phillip K Dick roadtrip across an alternate America. I am currently looking for representation for standup, writing, filmmaking, and my novel.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

Something I am currently having to unlearn is comparing myself to others who are pursuing similar goals. In Brene Brown’s book “Atlas of the Heart”, she describes this phenomenon, likening it to a swimmer watching the swimmer in the other lane. Instead of comparing one’s self to the other swimmer, as I have always done, she instead asks of us to just let the other swimmer pass by, say to them, “have a good swim”, and keep doing what we are doing. This is extremely hard for me to keep in mind, as I have seen over the past ten years many friends and colleagues “get” things that I wanted. This breeds jealousy and contempt, and is ultimately demoralizing to what I am trying to do. So now, I am trying to unlearn “comparison”. Something I have found very helpful in this quest is limiting time on social media, and also knowing that my time will come.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I did not have the smoothest childhood, and a lot of the trauma I experienced resulted in mental health struggles – with PTSD, anxiety, and depression. Many times in my creative journey, and in my life, I have felt hopeless, or I have struggled to do anything productive thanks to being in a functional freeze state. I have contemplated the worst, and I have gotten to a very hopeless point in the past. But each time, I always came out the other side of it – because I haven’t yet achieved my goals – and it would be a shame to give up now, after all the late nights jumping from school to work to open mics, or driving an hour each way to do 15 minutes on a show, or self funding a short film with unemployment money from COVID. These are all stepping stones on the way to achieving what I want to achieve, and although it has been a very difficult journey, and I am currently struggling as an artist, knowing that I am working towards achieving these goals ought to be satisfaction enough.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @maxbeasleyy
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Maxbeasleyy

Image Credits

photo of me and Sam Tallent taken by Andrew Bray

photo of me, Jon Daly, and Alec Flynn, and standup shot, taken by Andrew Max Levy

photo of me backstage and me under marquee by Lydia Wonder