Daily Check-In: The Third Wall is Melting
Holy fuck, what a week.
It’s only been two days since I was last on stage – Monday the 19th to today the 21st – but the time between stages feels like weeks or months. It’s the most bizarre fucking feeling I can’t even describe. When you box, you get back in the ring and it feels like no time has passed. But this gap between stages? That’s a whole different animal.
Life Updates: Moving Forward Through Change
My daughter moved out this week. I got accepted for my new apartment. The wife and I are talking well, and I think we’ll reach a settlement soon on how we’re handling the assets. Even in the most difficult situations, I’m proud of how we’re figuring out how to work with each other. It helps when you always lead from a place of love – though fuck, it’s not always easy.
But if you do lead with love, it gives you faith and hope that everything will work out okay.
Tonight’s Set: Jesus, PornHub, and Georgia Jail
I debuted a new bit tonight – my first religious material. Never really touched that territory before, but I was pissed this morning after posting on Facebook that “Jesus is great, but I think a lot of people could spend more time with Buddha.” That statement pissed some people off, which then pissed me off.
Then I had this vision the other night of Jesus coming, and I had the vision of him ejaculating. Fucking hilarious, right? So I wrote a one-minute bit around that vision. It’s not really about Jesus at all – it’s about religious phrases sounding like PornHub categories. “Jesus is coming,” “The Second Coming” – you can use your imagination from there.
I opened with my usual anarchy bit (landed well with this crowd who hadn’t seen it much), rolled into the Jesus material, then straight into my four-minute Georgia jail bit. The religious stuff got some big laughs – maybe not as big as I thought it deserved, but the crowd was tough to crack. They clapped afterward, fist bumps all around, everyone said they liked the Jesus stuff.
The Georgia jail bit worked well too, especially the callback about making Fleshlights in camo. Good structure overall.
The Comedy Scene: Recognizing Something Special
I try to keep my peace and not talk about myself too much around these younger comics. When they ask about my background, I get excited, but then I worry it sounds like bragging. I’ve done a lot of things in my life, always been aggressive about going after stuff.
But here’s what I’ve realized: there’s nothing more powerful than discipline through hard things. My upbringing, entrepreneurship, boxing, writing bestsellers – they’ve given me an unfair advantage because I’ve made the commitment and I really don’t give a shit about the outcome in terms of ego.
These kids (early 20s, early 30s) get up night after night, write their own material, stand in front of crowds that are mostly just other comics with nobody really paying attention. There’s not a whole lot of validation in this game. To keep doing something with no validation tells me these people have something special.
My whole life I’ve been chasing people who have something special. I’ve created environments where they come to me, but I’ve never found a group like this before. I’m curious and excited to see what the future holds.
The Third Wall is Melting
Here’s the big revelation from this week: the third wall is melting, and it’s melting quickly. I had a raunchy joke and was able to make direct contact with a lady in the audience – pointed at her, talked to her, made a real connection. I enjoyed the fuck out of it.
For anyone following along who wants to know the timeline: we’re almost two months in, at least a mic a week since week three, and the third wall is starting to dissolve. I’m getting more comfortable on stage, starting to recognize people in the audience. It’s not my house yet, but I’m getting there.
I don’t think I’ll get away with memorizing a one-hour bit and executing it start to finish. I think I’d trip myself up. I need to figure out how to stop in the moment, connect with the audience, then get back into the material. That’s the challenge ahead.
What’s Next
We’re booking podcasts for coxout.com – I’ll be on my first one next week. Time to shake some shit up, which should be fun since I have the ability to shake shit up.
I don’t know what’ll happen here, but I know I’m going to have a whole lot of fun. I’ll have an interesting fucking book when this is over, and I’ll have an hour of stand-up. Don’t know how good it’ll be, but I’m sure it’ll be entertaining for some people.
I know my audience and I write for them. If you’re an older gentleman living life, my comedy will resonate. If you’re a younger person who wants to hustle and not be controlled by the world, my comedy will resonate. Anyone else who gets a fucking giggle out of it? Fuck yeah, I like that too.
Still doing it my way, writing the one-liners. What I learned this week: if you have a fun premise to work o
n, writing one-liners becomes a lot of fun. I’ll be looking for more of that.
The journey continues. The third wall is melting. And I’m just getting started.
Ken Cox is documenting his journey from entrepreneur to stand-up comedian at coxout.com. Follow along for unfiltered insights into the comedy grind, life transitions, and whatever other chaos unfolds.
