In the last couple of years, I’ve been embracing this whole social networking, internet shit, and making contacts on various social networks. A lot of young people have been following me, and if they have something interesting or cool, I’ll follow them back. A lot of them have videos showing off their various skills: singing, playing music or sports, skateboarding, freestyle BMXing, doing gymnastics, dancing or any other number of things that kids do. I try to pass along an encouraging comment from time to time; to keep developing their talents, be mindful and safe, and so forth. I get the sense that many of them hope to pursue careers in entertainment, and it’s with that in mind that I write this. It’s not meant to be an end all, be all guide to the entertainment industry; it’s just my thoughts based on my experience. I’ll get to the advice, but to put it in context, let me tell you about Will.

Today’s Song of the Day is dedicated to a childhood friend of mine, Will. Will always dreamed of being a standup comedian. He still dreams of it, I suppose. Will’s problem is that he never really wanted to do the work involved in being a standup comedian. He just always assumed, incorrectly, that if he met the right superstar, that person would be like:

Yes, Will, holy shit, you’re the cat I’ve been looking for my entire life! You’re the sword, the stone, the holy grail and the whole enchilada!! How many millions do you want to star in my blockbuster franchise?!?

Don’t get me wrong, networking is definitely a part of the entertainment business. The thing is, you can’t just walk up to someone of stature, a total stranger no less, and ask them to just put you on without any track record, resume, samples of your work and so forth. You gotta show ’em what you got. It’s one thing to audition or invite someone to check out your show if you got one; it’s quite another to beg for the keys to the kingdom. Here’s some examples, right from Will’s Twitter feed:

This next one is the all time classic:

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