But if there *was* value in going through all that (and god there must have been, I spent so much time and money) it was in giving me an opportunity to hone my craft. If you gave James out of college One Shot, I don't know how long he could sustain it.
I had to reach a point where I didn't see colleagues and friends as competition. I needed to find a place where I respected them as artists who I wanted to succeed alongside.
I did the improv, the writing, the auditions, and I bashed my head against the theater system. It mostly brought me anxiety. Thanks in large part to @OvershareAlex I found podcasting, and I finally had a way to apply the skills that I picked up during that nightmare.
Suddenly all the possibilities were mine to control, I didn't need someone's permission to perform.
I came to improv looking for structure but, it was never going to be that. What those classes and shows actually were was a way for me to do something with all that creative energy burning me up.
I could have found that in standup, acting, writing, probably even jumping to YouTube videos or podcasts. But getting all that heat out in improv set me up to have all the tools I needed when I found what I actually wanted to do.
I still had a ton to learn when Alex and I launched The Overshare, but I had the skills I needed to learn those lessons. Ned's words that night helped me calm down and enjoy the ride a bit. The next time I saw Ned (when he wasn't on stage) was when I asked him on The Overshare.
He was recently engaged and we did some ludicrous scenes based on the very sweet story of him asking the love of his life to marry him. Even though Ned was still doing cool stuff I wanted to do, I felt more at ease with myself.
Shortly after that, Ned shipped off to LA and I didn't see him again until a buzzfeed video starring him crossed my timeline. It was so exciting to watch him become a part of The Try Guys. A neat thing to say "I performed with that dude in a strange basement."
I reached out to him on one of my LA visits. I expected him to be wildly busy. He was. But not too busy for me.
In all the rush of excitement asking him about his life, I am extremely grateful that he reminded me I should probably ask him to be on the show. And so now here we are.
I had a great time. Think we made a delightful silly mess and I hope you like it.