Artists of New York

"I think (comedians) have a great responsibility because we’re the few people that are able to get past that fear and actually speak in public." Episode 103: Anthony Moore - Philly, Punchlines, Pressure @allthatandmoore is a comedian based in New York City. "My first nine months of comedy, I didn’t have a bad show." "From that (first) bad show, I couldn’t wait to get on stage again. So that let me know that I really do love this." "Nothing matters but funny." "Performing in your hometown only teaches you how to talk to people from your hometown." "Being (in NYC) has definitely made me more universal and just learn how to communicate better and bring people into my world." "Somebody could get you in…but once you’re on stage, it’s on you." "I try to keep (my material) to my life, because nobody else has my life." "I prefer to write in the middle of the night…(there’s) something about being up late. That’s when my best thoughts come to me." "I think (artists tend to be) people that come from nothing or people that come from wealth. Both of them have nothing to lose." "Get comfortable with the silence." "As a young comedian, all you need is a good five minutes to get you in the door." "Success for me is more so a state of peace — just not worrying."

"If something scares me, I have to do it." Episode 102: Caitlin Cook - Stage Scares, Stall Stories @thecaitlincook is a musician and performer based in New York City. "I got off stage and I was empowered by the fact that I conquered a fear." "I was trying to get as close to art and performing as possible without taking the leap and doing it myself." "There's nothing like performing alone on a stage." "I've just really latched on to history and stories and the way we preserve memories and narratives." "Comedy is (often) seen as...a less elevated art form, and fine art and painting is untouchable in some way." "Humans are the same. We're the same and we do the same things over and over and over again." "There's something about doing 30 shows in a row where you're just like, 'Cool, I can handle anything now.'" "I treated (social media) like a science experiment so that my self-worth was not getting tied in my head to the amount of views I was getting." "It was the most attention that I've ever had in my life." "That show really helped me find my voice and my audience." "It's embarrassing to care if people see you, but it's also kind of the only way forward to build your audience." "The point is not for the reception of it. And the point is not for financial rewards." "I'm looking for safety everywhere, but the only way to really find safety is to do the things that keep scaring you over and over again." "Success looks like a life where I have the freedom to follow a cool idea."

"I’ve got to be like Rocky. I’ve got to take hits and just keep getting back up." Episode 101: Sally Ann Hall - Bombs Built Backbone @mesallyann is a comedian based in New York City. Link to listen in bio @aonypod . "The most inspiring thing I ever saw was bad stand-up." "I started moving up through the ranks, not because I’m super talented, but because I could shake off a bomb much easier than a lot of my peers could." "When I started caring, that’s when I got in trouble." "This is the only job I don’t hate. This is the only job I can see myself doing long term." "I know I’m not the funniest person in the room. I’m not the most charismatic, but I could be the least sensitive." "I’m not a cruise comic, as it turns out." "When I start bombing, my defense mechanism is to just get way more confident." "Sometimes I’m like, 'bitch, I’m a motherfucking comedian!'" "That’s when my imposter syndrome goes away: when somebody looks at me like I’m not really a comedian." "The best training ground in the world is (NYC)." "Rarely are (comedians famous on social media) popular because they’re so funny. It’s about who has good admin skills, who has good promotional skills, and who has, quite frankly, the time and money to do it." "Fame isn’t as important to me as admiration from my peers, people I respect." "I just wanted to not have to have another job. I just want to live off stand-up and not have to do little part-time things here and there." "To me, to not have to have a day job is success."

"I can be of service to storytelling." Episode 100: Gillian Glasco - Roles, Rifts, Reckonings @glasco.gillian is an actress and writer based in New York City. Link to listen in bio @aonypod . "Schools are not immune to what happens in the greater society. They are a function of it." "The love of the work was always there." "When you see people being...storytellers and standing in exactly what they're meant to be doing, it's such a beautiful thing to watch." "You…have to learn to build the muscle and not take (rejection) personally." "You…have to accept that you have to release control." "I think the real testament is sticking it through and understanding that there's a full trajectory of what your life as an artist is going to be, as opposed to a finished product." "Storytelling isn't just about being an actor in somebody else's piece...I actually have the ability to create for myself as well." "Your life is always happening." "Don't put other things on the background waiting for when that job or that career is in the perfect place, because the perfect place doesn't exist." "I think continuing to live your life in its fullness actually helps you stay afloat." “That's always my guiding star in storytelling: what does hope look like?" "I want to pull back the lens of what is that wound that started our discontent, and how do we repair?" "The best way that I can show grace, even to the people that I'm in litigation with, is to tell the truth about how we got here." "To me, the biggest, the most helpful way to get to hope is truth." #gillian #glasco #storytelling #actress #nyc #aonypod

"I always loved and admired people who told the truth, and I realized funny people got away with it more than anyone else." Episode 99: Matt Ruby - Bullshit, Belief, Bits @mattrubycomedy is a comedian based in New York City. Link to listen in bio @aonypod . "In chaos, there is opportunity." "I was doing pretty well on my first couple of gigs. I was like, 'Oh, maybe I'm just a natural and this is going to be great.' And then it was a long, hard process of eating shit and realizing I had a long way to go." "You can just feel in a room when people are not laughing and don't really like you and don't trust you." "Comedy teaches you kind of like a zen attitude…don't get too high on the highs and don't get too low on the lows, and know what's in your control and what's out of your control." "It feels like the worst thing you can do is sell out without selling anything." "This feels more rock and roll than any music thing that I'm seeing in New York." "Comedy just slowly started growing all over me." "I always felt like I was good at seeing through bullshit." "If I've got a skill, it's being able to make those people feel a little less lonely." "A great joke is something that's interesting and surprising." "The point isn't to believe or not believe. It's to believe in something deeper." "Being Jewish is sort of like tattooed on your soul." "Technology is ripping us apart at the seams and poisoning our minds and turning us into morons and making us all hate each other and making us not understand nuance and rejecting complexity in any form in favor of tribalism and ego stroking." #matt #ruby #belief #truth #bullshit #comedy #standup #aonypod

"I love New York. God, I just love her as a living entity." Episode 98: Jen Toth - Catwalks, Canvases, Community @jenscribblesny is an illustrator and model based in Brooklyn, NY. Link to listen in bio @aonypod . "I came here 18 years ago, and I got to New York City because I was scouted when I was in Ohio, when I was at Ohio State." "Coming from the farmlands of Ohio, one can only dream of…being in a big city." "She asked me the question..’.Do you want to be famous or do you want to make money?'" "People want to be famous, but that doesn't necessarily equate to having a stable income or even being happy." "I was very smart with the income that I was earning…I really thought my lifespan of this job was really going to be…10 years." "It's just a job, and in the end, it's clothes. We're not curing cancer." "Even though I live in New York, in my lifetime I will not be able to discover everything in New York." "Don't let social media use you, you use social media." “I…want people to know their community and know their neighborhood." "If I can keep doing the same thing that I'm doing…with the same integrity, and…with the mindset of helping other people along the way…I think that would be successful." #jen #toth #illustrator #artist #model #nyc #aonypod

"It's supposed to be hard. If it weren't hard, everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great." Episode 97: Sean Patton - Comedy, Craft, Conviction @mrseanpatton is a is a standup comedian based in New York City. Link to listen in bio @aonypod . "Just start. Don't take a fucking class." "By the time I got off stage and realized, 'Oh, that's it? I just overcame that?' The door was wide open." "I was a nervous wreck for the 48 hours leading up to that first time I got on stage." "You're going to learn everything you're going to learn in a class for absolutely free in your first two to three open mics." "It felt like people went to open mics to scratch that artistic itch versus nowadays what appears to be this fame itch." "I noticed the quality of laughter over the quantity." "I believe in the concept and the beauty of human flaw." "If we were all just pretty open about our flaws, then I think we'd be in a better place as a society." "Doing what you love for a living does not make life easier at all. It just makes it more yours." "Life doesn't get easier. You just simply get better at it." "The goal should be I get to a place where I can do this for a living on my terms for the rest of my life." "I don't think you should be able to make anyone laugh...I think you should be able to make yourself laugh first." "Don't say it, be it." "I'm just going to lean into what I do. I'm going to let the work do the selling." "Create comedy or whatever your art is on your terms for a living for the rest of your life." #sean #patton #comedy #art #nyc #standup #aonypod

"Part of my purpose on earth is to facilitate creativity." Episode 96: Shawn Bullen - Murals, Mayhem, Migration @shawnbullenidc is an artist, muralist, and curator, based in Manhattan. Link to listen in bio @aonypod . "We spent a week (in NYC) hanging out with our friends, sleeping on floors, just eating dollar slices and doing silly things." "I needed to put (living in NYC) off for a little while so that I could see the rest of the world before I lived in the place that I knew I probably wouldn’t ever be able to leave." "From a pretty young age, I was labeled the art kid in school." "Suddenly, you’re 18, crawling on a rooftop, underneath a train track, over barbed wire, onto a roof, painting your piece in the middle of the night." "If you decide to start pursuing something at a young age and you really stick with it, you will be one of the greats." "It’s a never-ending pursuit of mastery of a craft." "I want to be better so badly." "I’ve never been the type of person who had it figured out." "I knew very clearly I needed to paint murals and have art shows all over the world." "If you’re called to make art, don’t worry about how to make money off of it - just make art." #shawn #bullen #muralist #curator #artist #painter #aonypod

"I showed up in New York to an empty apartment, with nothing." Episode 95: Tucker Eason - Paint, Play, Process @2kreason is a is an oil painter, based in Brooklyn, NY. Link to listen in bio @aonypod . "The more you put in, the more you get out." "I came with no job, no idea what I was going to do." "If I can do one thing, it's outwork everybody." “(Art is) my therapy and also (my) sanctuary and also hiding place and also (my) laboratory." "I am the hardest boss I'm ever gonna have." "West Coast is nice, but East Coast is kind." "If you're also hustling, then you fit right in." "I wanted it really bad." "I'm never gonna let my lack of hard work be the reason I don't make it." "The fact that I can call it a job gives me the permission almost to be in the studio." "The drive to make stuff keeps me in this game, not the fact that there's any kind of financial benefit." #tucker #eason #art #painting #work #nyc #aonypod

"What we do is an act of service." Episode 94: Christina Sajous - Broadway, Birthright, Belonging @csajous is an actor, director, and teacher, based in New York City. Link to listen in bio @aonypod . "You don't think about the money. You don't think about the fame. You think about what you actually love to do." "I found love in finding the fun in being an artist, not even knowing that it was something that you can actually make a career out of." "I just want to stay here in New York. I want to work in New York." "One of the best things about being an artist is that you truly have to believe in yourself." "Why tell stories if you don't believe that you are capable to tell them?" "I wanted to start working as soon as possible." "I auditioned and it kind of chose me, and because it chose me, I chose it." "When I looked at Broadway, I was like, ‘Oh, I'm supposed to work there.’” "Where I feel like I belong is living inside of the authenticity of what I fell in love with as a toddler." "I think I would be confused if I've gone through this lifetime not doing Broadway." "You have to make sure to always bring yourself back to the center of you being an artist." "Survival also comes from being humble and having a sense of humility." "As long as I can put food on the table and feed my dog, Romeo, I am very successful." #christina #sajous #art #acting #broadway #teacher #nyc #aonypod

“If I had been a rational woman, I would not have done any of this." Episode 93: Hilary Fitzgerald Campbell - Cartoons, Chaos, Catharsis @cartoonsbyhilary is a cartoonist and comedian based in New York City. Link to listen in bio @aonypod . “What if I just go do something really nuts?" "Nervous breakdowns have gotten me out of a lot of things." "I feel like New Yorkers have such intense solidarity…we're all fighting to get through the day." "I just want to make my own stuff." "He told me, ‘Don't come back until you've drawn 500 more cartoons,’ and I came back the next week." "I'm used to being a poor girl…I can be very crafty with a dollar." "The real, more common eating disorder is a very quiet one that you're hiding from everyone, but is maybe, probably, ruling over your life." "I didn't think I had earned protein often, which was a crazy thought I used to have." "There was a point in my life when I was like, ‘This will never end. There's no way out of it. And it turns out there's totally a way out of it.’” "Art was giving back to me so much." “This is very obvious how the book ends…it ends in so much self-love…I love my body and that's cool." "Art has its purpose and is extremely needed." #hilary #fitzgerald #campbell #comedy #cartoons #nyc #aonypod

"A big part of (becoming an artist) was just pretending like I already knew what I was doing." Episode 92: Ella De Leon Detlefsen - Business, Belief, Becoming @deleonella792 is an artist based in Manhattan. Link to listen in bio @aonypod . “(Art) helps you step into a dream world and see things through someone else’s eyes." "I always talked about being an artist as a kid, and I always said I had these big dreams, and I never really did anything with it." "I have complete creative control over how (my work) turns out." "I come home and then I just draw until I go to sleep." "You have to be okay with making really bad art that you’re not proud of, that will probably never see the light of day." "Not everyone is going to like you. Not everyone is going to like your art." "You have to be able to fall flat on your face in front of other people and look like an idiot." #Ella #Detlefsen #art #painting #nyc #aonypod