Seventeen years ago, Myles Weber got his start in comedy, and he’s come a long way since then. Today, his stylings have led to tens of millions of online views. What’s his secret? Find out in this week’s Take 5.
You have a 707 tattoo on your left arm, with an upside-down smiley face. What’s the
significance?
That’s actually a joke that I do. I grew up in a little hood town in the 707 area code (Vallejo, California) and 707 upside down is LOL and that’s ultimately how I stay out of trouble.
You’ve racked up 80 million views across all the key social platforms. What’s the key to
getting those kinds of numbers?
You take a lot of at-bats. How do you connect 80 million times? You swing three billion times. This year I’ve made it a point to post every day. So much of it is luck and playing the numbers game. You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. If you’re posting five, six, seven times a week, now you’re getting 300 shots in a year.
You used to do standup on cruises. How is that different than land-based gigs?
They are very different. When people are on cruises, you have to play the real safe hits. They are on vacation, they don’t want to get too heavy. If you do anything political they don’t like, if you bring up certain names or topics they don’t like, they are off to guest services complaining. On land, at a comedy club, it’s like a home field advantage for us. A comedy club setting, you can go further with ideas and the audience is more patient. You can really build a story and paint a funny picture with a big payoff at the end.
How do you handle hecklers? Because there’s always that one guy.
With the greatest of glee. I made a name for myself early on in my career for handling hecklers. But someone coming after you – they are trying to distract from the show, they are shooting verbal bullets – I haven’t been properly heckled in four or five years. I was raised in the hood. If I didn’t have 40 “Your mama …” jokes in my back pocket, I’d get chased home.
For a comedian just starting out, maybe in your online class or a class like those at Comedy Plex, what advice do you have?
Get on stage. I got advice from Louie Anderson when I was a young comic. You have to get on stage 1,000 times as fast as you can. That’s the first part that’s important. The second piece of advice is, when you’re serious about pursuing this, I always recommend, pick five relationships in your life that are important to you. Those are the relationships you’re going to feed and water. I have seen comedian after comedian after comedian sacrifice relationships.
Get on board with Myles’ online exploits by visiting his website first, which is the gateway to all those online views he’s been able to accrue, including on Instagram and Facebook. Obvs, come check him out at Comedy Plex on at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday to join the fun.
Take 5: MYLES WEBER