Come With Me If You Want To Laugh: The Truth in Advertising and Humor

The following blog is not of my words, but from one of my good friends, Matthew Moore (follow him on Twitter here: Mr. Matty Moses). Part of this website and broadcasting idea I am trying, is to instill achievement in others, and that of being remembered. Going out and living. Failing and succeeding. Both will happen, and it’s easier said then done, but I’m going to continue showing the world that I’m here to stay.

I’m still searching for something in my life. Something out there, that which I do not even know what I am searching for. Is it more love? Is it more tangible assets? Is it adventure? Is there a thing as true fulfillment? I don’t know at the moment, but I’ll die trying to find out. I asked my friend if he had anything that came to mind like that and if he would like to contribute anything to this blog. He came up with something that I have known forever; that he is one funny mother fucker. 

Continue reading along, as he was gracious enough to share one of his experiences in life with us (my words are in bold and italics – beginning and end). I’ve known him for over 20 years now and we’ve had our ups and downs, but I can honestly say that we are stronger, as the years have passed us by, for he is the one behind my poker blog. He was the one who had hosted “poker night” that fateful Friday in which I first learned of the game. I owe my poker life to him. Read here to catch up on my poker blog, which has recently been published by the number one poker website in the world, PokerNews: Life Is A Gamble.

I’m even giving my very first blog post on my website to him. As stated above, my idea or thought process behind “Noah Watry TV” is that I just want my voice to be heard. I’m a funeral director by day, poker player by night. That’s sort of become my mantra, but also what I do in life to pay the bills. But, what about the back story to how I got there? I certainly wasn’t born with these two positions in life. I went through many experiences and many spots in life that warrant a story, or a blog. Stay tuned for future posts to find out how I got where I am in life, and as I continue on with life. Broadcasting life as it happens.

But enough plugging me, this is Matthew’s blog. His story. His moment to shine. His mic drop moment. The floor is yours, Matthew…

Noah encouraged me to talk about something I’ve always done and to show the world that I too, can go after something dear to my heart: comedy. And we all should try new things. It may be finally taking those guitar lessons you’ve put off for the past 5 years or going back to college to study astronomy. It could be traveling around your state going from library to library giving seminars about clipping coupons.

One of my passions was stand-up comedy.

Growing up I had always been the class clown. I love making people laugh. It makes me feel like I’m having a positive impact on their life. We would be a lot closer to world peace if more people would just lighten up, although, I actually can’t prove that theory… yet. I made my first attempt at spreading world peace by performing stand-up comedy at a local open mic, so don’t blame me.

There’s always that one guy that thinks he’s hilarious.

Even if that might not be true, you cannot tell him any different. I was/am that guy. I think it’s just the way I was wired, but I always tried to find the humor in every situation. EVERY situation. The teacher would ask “which president was known for wearing a hat” and I would shout out “Santa Claus.”  That’s not very funny, but that was my knee-jerk reaction. My outbursts would normally get me in trouble so I had to learn when and where making jokes would be the most appropriate.

I quickly learned that anytime I could read out loud or get in front of the class I had a golden opportunity to make my peers laugh. English and Speech class quickly became two of my favorite classes. One of the best feelings was when I could get the teacher to laugh along. Nothing tops being 12 or 13, and making an authority figure “break character” and let out a good chuckle at something silly. That’s when I knew I was onto something.

In high school I had teachers encourage me to join forensics, but I had to wake up earlier on my weekends than I did during the school week. That schedule didn’t pan out very well for me. I could blame my lack of enthusiasm on my source material, which happened to be an outdated bit about two old duffers that went out fishing and made jokes about being downwind from one another. Yeah…my thoughts exactly.

I gave up on forensics, and stuck with inside jokes with my friends for the next 15 years.

After 15 years of being the funny guy in the group doing the Chris Farley impersonations at parties (or dishing out observational one-liners as I walked through the store with Noah) I realized, not a lot of money can be made just walking around being a smart ass. Comedy didn’t get me anywhere up to this point so why not try playing the guitar?

Everyone else was doing it.

I decided to start taking guitar lessons (another passion of mine) and the place I was taking my lessons at had a flier for an open mic that was being held at the beginning of every month. I initially thought it would make a great (cheap) date night for me and my wife so I told her about it. She agreed to go and check it out as long as I promised not to go on stage and play any songs. Feel free to laugh at that statement, it won’t hurt my feelings. That following month we went to check it out.

My wife and I made a date out of it, and had a really nice time. At an open mic there will usually end up being a good variety of newer musicians just finding their voice, and seasoned vets with folk songs about the Civil War (not a joke). At times a heartfelt poem would be read that would move the entire audience almost to tears, and then a comedian would go up and tell a joke about how his wife’s nose is so huge you could park two cars up there (we didn’t laugh either).

You’d also be surprised how many 15 year old girls like playing songs by Taylor Swift (no you wouldn’t be).

All said and done we had a great time, and all of the performers did great. As I would come to realize later on, it takes a lot of guts to get up in front on strangers expecting to entertain them. I left the Blueburg Café motivated to get myself up on that stage the next chance I would get.

That entire drive home I thought about going up on that stage and telling hilarious jokes that would get the entire audience slapping their knees (how else do people laugh really?). I have always enjoyed making people laugh whether it’s a stranger at the gas station or groups of friends at parties.

Why not try recreating that on stage in front of an even bigger group of people? 

With that in mind I spent the rest of the month going over all of the different joke ideas and premises I had written down in the past. A lot of times I had just jotted down joke premises or silly thoughts on the off-chance I’ll get to use them in casual conversation. Stuff like the lack of truth in advertising for instance when Subway says “eat fresh” and then they use an ice-cream scoop to serve you some seafood. That doesn’t seem that “fresh.”

I also had some jokes written down where I compare getting your first tattoo to the first time you have sex: you’re not sure if you’re supposed to make eye contact or if you can talk during. It hurts a little bit, and you normally have a cigarette afterward. You’re not really sure if you’re supposed to leave a tip…stuff like that.  I felt like I could get 5 minutes out of my tattoo material, and that was an area I was comfortable talking about.

Jokes about tattoos and sex are funny to a group of people smoking outside of a bar that probably have tattoos (and have probably had sex). Those kind of jokes are not so funny to moms that would much rather their children refrain from all of those activities. So I decided to start off with my jokes about tattoos to an audience of 15 year old girls, and their 50 year old moms. Not the ideal audience for those types of jokes. As I started to remember my material I began to remember how inappropriate it was.

Realizing I couldn’t even tell most (if any) of the jokes I had planned on telling… I froze. 

Luckily my wife didn’t leave me after that embarrassment. She thought about it though, I could tell. To be fair I’ve done way more embarrassing things in the past. Standing up on stage and mumbling for 45 seconds isn’t the worst. That car ride home was as humbling as it gets. Most people are their own harshest critics, and I’m no different. Going forward I had to make sure that I never went through what I just went through (let alone putting another audience through that as well). It was time to regroup.

My wife helped me pick a topic that would be relatable to the audience that was going to be there, and she helped me rehearse my set over and over again until I had those 5 minutes mastered. Now that I was refocused it was time to repeat until the next month’s Blueburg Café open mic. 

“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the ax.” – Abraham Lincoln.

The man was as right as he was tall. And bearded. I learned from my previous mistakes. I invested the time in honing my craft. I knew my audience. I knew my subject matter was relatable to that audience, and I knew my material backwards and forwards.

Before I hit that stage I had some butterflies, but they delicately fluttered away as soon as my first joke landed. It felt like I could do no wrong. I made sure I didn’t speak too fast. I let the jokes land, and I let the audience laugh for as long as they needed. It felt like I was doing a late night monologue on Jimmy Fallon. I was on top of the world! After my set I even had a couple of moms come up to me and compliment my set. They told me how accurate my observations truly were. I had some jokes in there about helping my mom out with her email account, and using Google. The jokes practically wrote themselves.

That was easy (really freaking hard). Now it’s your turn. Whether it’s learning a musical instrument, writing motivational articles, or going up in front on strangers and making a fool of yourself… go for it! Understand that you are unique, and you have something inside of you that is untapped. Don’t just do it because you want to. Do it because you have to. Call it a “bucket list” if you need to. If that’s what calms your nerves before you take the plunge then so be it.

The experiences in life aren’t just about finding your life.

You are going to have to build it. Broadcast it.

A lot of dedication is required to achieve greatness in anything let alone something you want to do on the side as a “passion project”. Keep in mind that not everyone in your life is going to see your dream or vision the same way you do, and with the same level of intensity. I was fortunate to have my wife help me out along the way, but I know I drove her bonkers when I would try out new jokes with her.

Realize that you might have to build your life on your own (not to be a Debbie Downer). That’s where Noah comes into the picture. That’s where this community he’s building comes into the picture. Noah Watry TV isn’t just sharing your story with strangers, it’s about building a support system where you can reach out to your fellow man for guidance or assurance. You are on to something. Even by just reading these articles you’re on to something! You’re taking those first steps to build up the confidence within you to share your trials and tribulations with others. To share your struggle and success with others. I highly encourage you to find what you want to achieve out of life, and along the way, encourage others to find what they want as well. We’re all in this life together, with or without Noah! Haha, just kidding?

-Matt Moore

Thanks for sharing Matt! Catch up on some of his old performances by checking out his very own channel here: Mr. Matty Moses on YouTube.

Let this be just the beginning of what I hope to be many more submissions from friends and followers alike. Share your stories or experiences in life with me and I’ll post it on here, hopefully sparking a conversation, motivating someone else or just finding peace in knowing that the world knows who you are. I want the world to know who I am, so I see no reason to exclude you or anyone else’s life story as well.

-Noah Watry

For more insight and tracking on my daily life; follow me on Twitter, add me on Facebook or even like a pic on Instagram.