I hate a lot of things and one of them is when people use
the word “journey” to describe anything that isn’t an actual movement from
Point A to Point B in space and time.
Idol is notorious for this: “What a journey you’ve been on,” “Sadly,
your journey is over. Let’s take a look
back at your journey,” et al. So,
looking back on my 2015 year of comedy, I won’t be using that word in any shape
nor form.

… but what a ride it’s been!

Well, I’m not sure that’s entirely accurate, either, but
there have been some big changes for me over the year. For one, I made a point to host shows a lot
less, other than at Crossfire, of course.
I hosted a great deal of shows at other clubs in 2014, primarily at
Maffia, and I enjoyed it, but hosting (in my opinion) limits one to a certain
style. It shouldn’t be a time to test a
lot of new material or even spend much time on stage for that matter,
especially when the lineup is packed. I
wanted instead to do more regular sets, try new stuff and just be however I
wanted up there.

At some point already in 2014, I stopped keeping an absurdly
accurate account of all the gigs I’d done because the total number meant less
and less to me, and if that’s changed at all this year, it’s only to become
even more meaningless. By this point it’s
well over 600, might as well be 200 or 6000 for all I care, really. I found something more fun to count: all the
money I’m making! I say that with a bit
of twinkle in my eye, because I know the amount (which I don’t intend to reveal
here) would be pocket change to an established comic, and it isn’t enough for
me to quit my day job (again), but it was a significant increase over the
amount I made in 2014, which was a significant increase from 2013. This is a trend I’d like to see continue.

It is a wonderful feeling to get paid to perform since I
love doing it and otherwise for my own enjoyment and development and not much
more. I haven’t yet found a way to find
these gigs proactively- I don’t intend to sit down with the phone book and cold
call people, “Hi, I’m Ryan, I’m funny and sorry to interrupt your dinner, but
would you like to pay me several thousand crowns to tell you dick jokes for 15,
30 minutes? Hello?”- but they come to me at a growing pace. Sometimes it’s a booking agent for a website
at which I am a featured performer, sometimes it’s a club owner or a fellow
comic. One lovely development was
getting a gig from someone who just thought about booking an English comic in
Sweden, went to Google and found me. I
hope that continues as well.

The biggest change, of course, is that, since last Spring, I’m
not performing nearly as often as I used to.
Partly that’s due to being steadily employed again, finally, but mostly
due to moving away from Stockholm and having my daughter live with me every
other week instead of every other weekend.
For years, I’ve spent two days out of every fourteen with her, and that
was awful. It’s a much better
arrangement for everyone involved now and I make a real effort to avoid gigs
while she’s with me. Which limits my
chances for stage time. Luckily, and I
don’t know if it’s because of this or if it’s just been a coincidence, since
last summer I have been much more productive with new material, so much so that
I haven’t had enough time on stage to test it all, much less keep working on
it, refining it. This is a good problem
to have.

Socially, 2015 was a bit of a downer, at least for me. I haven’t been hanging out as much with other
comics, before, during nor after shows.
In part because I live so far away and don’t have many options for
getting home after staying late, in part because there is a growing amount of
people I don’t enjoy being around. Not
to say that’s a big number, because it isn’t, but there are a lot of nights I
just want to do my set and run out the door.
I don’t like being That Guy, however, and intend to turn that around in
2016.

Overall, 2015 was a very positive year. I released my first special, Simply
Resistible, and over two people paid to download it! No, the response was far from overwhelming,
but that’s what I expected. I did it for
me and I’m really proud of it, learned a lot, and I’m focusing on putting together
a new show for next year that will probably be called Love Refugee. I helped found a sketch group called OOi and
we released a great deal over 2015 for Season One, with Season Two debuting
early 2016 (including more sketches that I wrote). Crossfire’s Season 3 was very up and down but
the finale was an enormous success, and we’ll be back for a fourth season,
which makes it the most successful club (of the two) I’ve ever run. Not only that, Crossfire will open in a
second city in February as well. There
aren’t many who can say they have clubs running in different cities at the same
time, so I’m proud over what I’ve been able to build, primarily on my own.

Maybe 2016 will be when I get a rookie spot at Norra Brunn,
or even win an award! Either would be
nice, but neither is a focus for me.
Instead I’ll keep on keeping on, chase long sets, money, testing new
material, money, filming sketches, running clubs, and money. Did I mention money?

Oh, and I got married in 2015, but that’s not funny. However, I did use dick joke money to buy her wedding ring, so there’s that.