Happy Thanksgiving! 

Happy Halloween! I tried dressing up this year as my favorite character from the show Mad Men, which is Don Draper, played by Jon Hamm. Don Draper is a suave, confident, good-looking ad man who wears a suit. Unfortunately, the only part of the costume I was able to nail down was the suit. It turns out that when Jacob Williams wears a suit it looks less like Don Draper and more like Richie Rich. When I was younger I was so obsessed with Halloween that instead of having cake at my birthday celebrations I would put candles into a pumpkin pie. Instead of having traditional parties I would do magic tricks and set up my home as a haunted house for kids to go through, because if my party was creepy I wanted it to be on my terms. Since Halloween has always been my favorite holiday, I used to decorate the yard of my house months in advance with as many frightful elements as I could coordinate — life-size masked dummies, gravestones, dry-ice. My friends down the street nonetheless were able to outshine me eventually with the use of a baby-monitor system used to talk to passersby on the street via a dummy which was suspended over the sidewalk and voiced by someone on the porch. Since I often come across as shy and unassuming in my everyday life I sometimes feel a desperate compulsion to find imaginative ways to attract people’s attention. And I think my desire to create the illusion of a non-boring presence explains my obsession with things like Halloween and stand-up comedy. In any case, Halloween is a special time of year for me because it is a day when you can be anyone or anything you want to be. Except for Don Draper. Happy Halloween,Jacob WilliamsJacobWilliamsComedy.comtwitter.com/MrJacobWilliamsfacebook.com/JacobWilliamsComedyyoutube.com/DrGigglesComedyjacobwilliamscomedy.tumblr.comrooftopcomedy.com/JacobWilliams  Upcoming Shows: November 4Private Party, Detroit, MI November 8Comedy Sportz, Chicago, IL
November 18
The Landing at Fort Harrison, Terre Haute, IN November 19Koo Coo’s Nest Comedy Club, Rothschild WI
November 23-26Comedy Cafe, Milwaukee, WI
November 30 - December 4Comedy Caravan, Louisville, KY 
December 16-17Mason City Limits, Mason City, IL  NYEBob and Tom All Stars TourFox Theater, Bakersfield, CA
2012
January 18Private Party, Schererville, IN
February 22Diamond Jo Casino, Dubuque, IA February 23Burlington, IA
Feb 24-25Penguins Comedy Club, Cedar Rapids, IA March 27-31Funny Stop, Akron, OH
September 6-8Mark Ridley’s Comedy Castle, Royal Oak, MI

On the first episode of the “Jacob’s Chatter” podcast, comedian Jacob Williams discusses waterparks, theater, and some recent experiences from doing stand-up on the road.

http://www.archive.org/details/JacobsChatter1WaterparksTheater

Hello,

I have had a crazy last few weeks doing shows in Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, etc. On a recent trip to Minnesota I had a chance to visit the Mall of America which is a giant place with over 400 stores and a theme park with over 30 rides in the center of the mall. A lot of times when I am in a regular sized mall I get really bored, so it was nice to mix things up and be bored in a giant mall instead. 

One of my favorite things about Mall of America was the Lego Store, which took me back to memories of being a young child and building imaginary things that I always thought would be cool to have in real life, like dinosaurs or siblings (since I was an only child). One of the coolest things about the Lego Store is that there were giant figures made out of Legos all around it, including a 34-foot-tall, 10-ton robot. You can tell that there is an obesity epidemic in America when even the toy robots are overweight. 

Anyway, it has been a fun journey seeing new parts of the country and I hope to keep exploring more in the future. If you would like me to perform in your city or town I would love to do that and it is mostly just a matter of figuring out a good time and place and whether we can get people to come. I have started doing more private parties in addition to traditional comedy venues, and I am happy to be learning that both can be a lot of fun. I am really excited about a lot of my upcoming shows, such as the final round (of three) in the Funniest Person in Cincinnati contest on Wednesday, August 10. The winner will earn the title of that contest, as well as a feature week at one of the best comedy venues in the country and a spot in the Brew Ha-Ha Comedy Festival. I believe that show in Cincinnati is already sold out, but hopefully I will see you at another show soon, so please stay in touch!

Jacob Williams

JacobWilliamsComedy.com

twitter.com/MrJacobWilliams

facebook.com/JacobWilliamsComedy

youtube.com/DrGigglesComedy

jacobwilliamscomedy.tumblr.com

rooftopcomedy.com/JacobWilliams 

Upcoming Shows: 
2011August 3
No Exit Cafe & Skores Club, Chicago, IL

August 8
Blatantly Blasphemous Stand-up Show, Chicago, IL

August 10Go Bananas, Cincinnati, OH(Funniest Person in Cincinnati Contest: Final Round)
August 17Skores Club, Chicago, IL (headlining)
August 18She-nannigans Comedy Challenge, Chicago, IL
August 27Cigars and Stripes, Chicago, IL (headlining)
September 1
Czar’s, St. Joe, MI  
September 3Cancun City Stand-up Showcase, Des Plaines, IL
September 17Dells Comedy Club, Wisconsin Dells, WI
September 21Pocatello, ID
September 22Idaho Falls, ID
September 24Chuckles Comedy Club, Boise, ID
November 10
The Landing at Fort Harrison, Terre Haute, IN

November 11-12Laugh Comedy Club, Granger, IN
2012January 18Private Party, Schererville, IN
More Shows TBA, including a 2011 appearance on the Bob and Tom All-Stars Tour!

Hi friend, 

I just wanted to let you know that today a new video clip of mine on rooftopcomedy.com is being featured as part of their Daily 8 — which I am really excited about. If you haven’t heard of the rooftopcomedy.com or the Daily 8 before then my question to you is what have you been doing with your life? 

In all seriousness, Rooftopcomedy.com is a great website where you can see clips of some of the best up-and-coming and established comedians performing at great comedy clubs around the country. The Rooftop Comedy site films many shows every day and then selects some clips from comedians to put on the site and highlights several of those each day on features like the “Daily 8” on their homepage. Rooftop is a great place to go to watch comedy clips from lots of different talented comedians, and if you want to see my clip you can see it today on the homepage at rooftopcomedy.com, or any other time at my profile rooftopcomedy.com/JacobWilliams (not to be confused with the profile of another comedian on this site whose name is also Jacob Williams. I’d like to think that the comedy I do is as unique and original as possible, but apparently my name is not.)

Anyway, I hope that you like the new clip, titled “Bad at Track” and I hope that you have a great day! If you want to see some of my 140-character movie reviews, you can do that at  twitter.com/MrJacobWilliams !

Jacob Williams 

JacobWilliamsComedy.com, twitter.com/MrJacobWilliams,  facebook.com/JacobWilliamsComedy, youtube.com/DrGigglesComedy,  rooftopcomedy.com/JacobWilliams, jacobwilliamscomedy.tumblr.com

Upcoming Shows: 
June 30
Spring Lake Holiday Inn, Spring Lake, MI 

July 1
Bella Vista Inn, Caseville MI

July 2
Idle Hour Yacht Club, Algonac, MI

July 5 
Village Pub, Pentwater, MI 

July 6 
Leelanau Sands Casino, Suttons Bay, MI

July 7 
Turtle Creek Casino, Peshawbetown, MI

July 8-9 
Wisecrackers Comedy Club, Merrillville, IN

July 10 The Spot, Chicago, IL

July 16 Two-Hour Comedy Hour @ Gallery Cabaret, Chicago, IL

July 20 Whiskey Roadhouse, Rockford, IL 

 
July 21 Rookies Sport Pub, Stevens Point, WI

July 22-23 
Goonies Comedy Club, Rochester, MN 

 
July 27Go Bananas, Cincinnati, OH (Funniest Person in Cincinnati Contest: Semi-finals)

July 30
Dubh Linn Irish Brew Pub, Duluth, MN

September 1
Czar’s, St. Joe, MI  

November 10
The Landing at Fort Harrison, Terre Haute, IN

November 11-12 Laugh Comedy Club, Granger, IN

More Shows TBA, including a 2011 appearance on the Bob and Tom All-Stars Tour!

I just got a call today informing me that I won the Bob and Tom/Busch Light Comedy Contest! As the winner of this contest, I will be performing on a show for the Bob and Tom All-Stars Tour in the near future, with details about the city and show date to be announced soon. This is great news to me to top off a great weekend performing on shows with Tom Green in Louisville, KY.

Working with Tom Green over the weekend, it was great to see the vast number of people who would come up to him at clubs and bars after the show, recognizing him from some of his many TV/movie/magazine/internet/live appearances and say, “You’re great! Can I get a picture with you?” Very rarely someone would also recognize me from the comedy show and say, “You were good too! Can you take a picture of me with Tom Green?”

I quickly realized the star-power of Green in part based on the fact that every time I entered a new bar or club with him, the DJ would actually announce over the loud speaker “Tom Green is in this house!” And the place would go wild. I don’t think my name has ever been used to hype up any type of social event - not even my own birthday parties. In fact in high school, my appearance at parties was often was often interpreted as if a canary had died in a coal mine: “That’s a bad sign, let’s get out of here quick, before things REALLY go downhill!”

Overall, it was extremely humbling and enjoyable to spend a weekend working with someone as funny, friendly, and well-known as Tom Green. Although I am not as famous as him yet, I feel very fortunate to have some of the best fans and supporters in the world. Thank you to everyone who voted for me in the Bob and Tom Contest! While I do not know all of the names, I would like to thank all of the people who shared their support with me, including ones I know: 

 Jim,  Claire,  Elissa H,  Scott K,  Sam O,  Patrick P,  Bobby S,  Nancy F,  Heather E,  Amanda G,  Kathy S,  Amy T, Davis,  William B,  Lia S,  Liz H,  Tim M,  Mark Ch,  Ryan W,  Jessica C,  Steve B,  Kat R,  Jon P,  Trey,  Kristin B,  Tim L,  Samantha L,  Jennifer M,  Turner S,  Katie S,  Simone D,  Mark J,  Street R,  Melody D,  Marti C,  Rose Y,  Sierra,  Marlee,  Julia K,  Ted,  Nick S,  Tyler J,  Olivia F,  John B,  Sara B,  Emily S,  Phil Y,  Amanda E,  Seth G,  Mike M,  Mark Ce,  Linda T,  Ricardo R,  Jenn B,  Pete W,  Joe R,  Maria L,  Mark O,  JD R,  Melinda B,  Kevin R,  Jeff S,  Sam E,  Sydney S,  Joe C,  Tyler I,  Clara B,  Sharon S,  Elsbeth,  Anna E,  CJ H,  Thu P,  Eric H,  Cara H,  Hannah K,  Ari B,  Craig M,  Evan B,  Brian K,  Amani E,  Emily Q,  Audrey M,  Jeanne W,  Jamie G,  Ian J,  Drew C,  Alex R,  Foster S,  Dan L,  Jacob R,  Elizabeth H,  Brad H,  Ally B,  Eric K,  Emily W,  Carrie E,  Cassy G,  Emily M,  James W,  Anna V,  Drift R,  Drew F,  Elaina L,  Ellery H,  Aaron K,  Bill C,  Cory K,  Anish S,  Amber M and everyone else who voted for me in the contest!

Sincerely, 

Jacob Williams

Upcoming Shows: 

June 17-18  Jukebox Comedy Club, Peoria, IL (feature for Bob Zany)

June 24  Hammers, Joliet, IL (headlining)

June 30  Spring Lake Holiday Inn, Spring Lake, MI 

July 1  Bella Vista Inn, Caseville MI

July 2  Idle Hour Yacht Club, Algonac, MI

July 5  Village Pub, Pentwater, MI 

July 6  Leelanau Sands Casino, Suttons Bay, MI

July 7  Turtle Creek Casino, Peshawbetown, MI

July 8-9  Wisecrackers Comedy Club, Merrillville, IN

July 10  The Spot, Chicago, IL

July 16  Two-Hour Comedy Hour @ Gallery Cabaret, Chicago, IL

July 21  Rookies Sport Pub, Stevens Point, WI

July 22-23  Goonies Comedy Club, Rochester, MN 

July 27  Go Bananas, Cincinnati, OH  (Funniest Person in Cincinnati Contest: Semi-finals)

 July 30  Dubh Linn Irish Brew Pub, Duluth, MN

September 1  Czar’s, St. Joe, MI  

JacobWilliamsComedy.com

twitter.com/MrJacobWilliams

facebook.com/JacobWilliamsComedy

jacobwilliamscomedy.tumblr.com

youtube.com/DrGigglesComedy

I mentioned before that I am a finalist in the Bob and Tom All-Stars Tour, but as an incentive I would like to let you know that everyone who votes and sends me a message saying you voted will get a special mention (full name optional for anonymity) in my insanely popular blog/email list! Thanks for everyone who has voted so far! The contest runs today through this Sunday, June 12th, and you can vote once a day at 

http://www.bobandtom.com/pages/busch-light-open-mic-contest

Jacob

Upcoming Shows:

Hi Friends and Frenemies,

I just moved into a new apt. in Chicago and “apt.” is an appropriate abbreviation because I am “apt” to want to move into a bigger place eventually. Parking in Chicago can be tricky — luckily so far I have not had any trouble consistently finding open spaces which are conveniently located within a brisk 1 to 100 miles of my apartment

Although I have spent most of the last week and a half or so in Chicago, I have been lucky to do some shows outside of it as well, including Round 1 of the “Funniest Person in Cincinnati Contest” last Wednesday, which involved 10 hours total of driving for 7 minutes of precious stage time. Road trips by yourself are exciting because at least you know you are going to always have good company and no one in the car will get mad at your driving. People in other cars might get mad, but it’s hard to tell unless they really want you to know. On this particular road trip there was a lot of construction, which can be confusing because it’s sort of like seeing a play being rehearsed before it’s ready for the public: the illusion of completeness is broken and you are scared you might hit accidentally hit someone with your car (especially if it is a very poorly designed play rehearsal that allows running cars near actors).

Fortunately I made it safely to the show and was funny enough to make it through the first round of the  “Funniest Person in Cincinnati Contest” (the second round will be later this summer at Go Bananas Comedy Club). When I told some people I was doing the Funniest Person in Cincinnati Contest this year, one of my Facebook friends pointed out that I do not live in Cincinnati, which is true. Luckily, as I explained to him, it’s the “Funniest Person in Cincinnati Contest,” not the “Funniest Person in Cincinnati Who-Also-Officially-Lives-There Contest,” so as long as I am geographically located within Cincinnati at the time of the contest, and I demonstrate that I am one of the funniest people there at that time, then I have a chance of moving on through the competition.

Speaking of contests, I just made it into the final 5 of an online contest for a chance to win an all-expenses-paid trip to perform comedy on the Bob and Tom All-Stars tour. If you are not familiar with Bob and Tom, it is the name of a popular radio show which is syndicated throughout many parts of America and which has helped launch the careers of a lot of popular comedians. Obviously it would be a huge opportunity to perform on a live show with the Bob and Tom All-Stars tour, so if you would like to help me accomplish this goal, please vote for me by selecting my video (“Childhood Aspirations - Jacob W.”) and clicking “Vote” at this link:          

http://www.bobandtom.com/pages/busch-light-open-mic-contest                                                               

The contest is open this week until June 12th, and your computer will allow you to once per day.

So those are some things that are new with me, which you probably did not know previously unless you are stalking me, in which case I am flattered because as a comedian I love attention. If you would like to give me some of your attention though in a less creepy way, I hope to see you soon at one of the upcoming stops on my After School Special Tour. I am very excited to be doing comedy in Louisville, Ky on June 10-12 with Tom Green (who I met at Pauly Shore’s Showtime special in Vegas in January). I have a number of other shows coming up as well, including some ones which were just added: Zanies downtown comedy club in Chicago (this Monday June 6th), Comedy Club on State in Madison, WI (Thursday June 9th) and a show in Stevens Point, WI (July 21). Full dates are listed below.

I hope to see you in one of the cities on my tour soon, or if there is a city not on the tour which I am not scheduled for that you would like me to go to, please let me know and so we can figure out a solution. Have a good afternoon or evening or morning or whichever time it is when you happen to be reading this.

With Warmth,

Jacob Williams

JacobWilliamsComedy.com, http://twitter.com/mrjacobwilliams, youtube, Facebook, tumblr, old rooftop comedy clip, etc.

After School Special Tour 2011 - Upcoming Dates

June 6
Zanies, Chicago, IL

June 9 
Comedy Club on State, Madison, WI

June 10-12
Louisville Improv, Louisville, KY
(with Tom Green)

June 30
Spring Lake Holiday Inn, Spring Lake, MI

July 1
Bella Vista Inn, Caseville MI

July 2
Idle Hour Yacht Club, Algonac, MI

July 5 
Village Pub, Pentwater, MI

July 6 
Leelanau Sands Casino, Suttons Bay, MI

July 7 
Turtle Creek Casino, Peshawbetown, MI

July 8-9 
Wisecrackers Comedy Club, Merrillville, IN

July 10
The Spot, Chicago, IL

July 21
Rookies Sport Pub, Stevens Point, WI

July 22-23 
Goonies Comedy Club, Rochester, MN

July 30
Dubh Linn Irish Brew Pub, Duluth, MN

September 1
Czar’s, St. Joe, MI 

This is a big week to me — not only because it is the 207th Anniversary of the Lewis and Clark expedition, but also because it is the week of my college graduation. Interestingly, these are both events which many Americans thought might never be possible. If you did not know that I was in college — awesome. It is sort of a scandalous secret which I have been trying to keep under wraps for the last 4 years or so, because I was deeply afraid of it hurting my credibility as a stand-up comedian. If you are doing comedy at the same time as something like college, I think that people sometimes assume that you could not possibly be qualified to perform at a professional level — and based on seeing some of the less-ideal shows that did in the last four years, there were definitely moments when would say that they were right.

I started doing stand-up comedy right about the same time that I started college, in part because I felt that it was something that would get steadily better over time. Sort of like investing in the stock market — except instead of making lots of money over time, my plan was to make lots of jokes. In retrospect, I maybe should have gone for making money instead, because jokes do not always pay the bills as easily as I thought they would. For example, I cannot go to my landlord in Chicago this summer and be like “Hey, you know that electricity cost from last week? I don’t have any cash on me but I’ve got about five new one-liners which I think should just about cover it.” 

Jacob Williams
JacobWilliamsComedy.com
 

Jacob Williams’ After School Special Tour Schedule:

Go Bananas Comedy Club, Cincinnati, OH

June 10-12
Louisville Improv, Louisville, KY 
(with Tom Green)

June 30
Spring Lake Holiday Inn, Spring Lake, MI 

July 1
Bella Vista Inn, Caseville MI

July 2
Idle Hour Yacht Club, Algonac, MI

July 5 
Village Pub, Pentwater, MI 

July 6 
Leelanau Sands Casino, Suttons Bay, MI

July 7 
Turtle Creek Casino, Peshawbetown, MI

July 8-9 
Wisecrackers Comedy Club, Merrillville, IN
July 22-23 
Goonies Comedy Club, Rochester, MN 

July 30
Dubh Linn Irish Brew Pub, Duluth, MN

September 1
Czar’s, St. Joe, MI