Creative Space with Jennifer Logue

Comedian Pat House On The Journey to Doing Standup Professionally and Finding What's Funny

• Jennifer Logue

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On today’s episode of Creative Space, we have the pleasure of speaking with the incredibly talented stand-up comedian Pat House.  A Philly native, Pat has been a regular performer at comedy clubs, casinos and theaters all over the country. He’s also opened for Sebastian Maniscalco, Tom Segura and most recently, Dan Cummins and Brad Williams. His second album, I Heard Enough Yesterday reached #1 on iTunes and his third album, I’m Here peaked at #2 and you can hear both of them on Sirius XM. 

On the podcast, we talk about Pat’s journey from doing his first open mic in 2004 to touring the country performing standup professionally. We also dig into his creative process, and how much of it comes down to a daily writing practice which has culminated in over 100 notebooks of material so far. But the other half of it is getting that material in front of an audience as much as possible. Whether you’re an aspiring comedian or not, there’s a ton to be learned from Pat when it comes to craft, putting in the work, and loving what you do.

For more information on Pat House, visit: pathousecomedy.com.

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SHOW NOTES:


0:00—Introduction

2:10—How we met 

3:58—Growing up watching SNL, Letterman and Leno

4:48—Pat’s first time doing standup 

6:30—Looking up to Dave Atell, Steven Wright and Chris Rock

8:16—The only way to work on new material in comedy

9:30—On standup becoming more and more fun

10:17—Pat’s definition of creativity

11:00—The comedian’s creative process

11:45—Finding the humor in everything, even sadness

15:00—Pat’s journey to to doing comedy professionally

17:00—On finding inspiration from bartending, his parents, and life

18:30—”Nothing to me is funny without me being angry, annoyed or mad first.”

19:00—On the joys of writing in notebooks 

21:30—Pat’s writing routine

23:30—A big misconception about standup comedy 

24:44—Throwback to that time we saw Woody Harrelson 

25:40—Keep writing and gold strikes

27:15—It took Bill Maher 10 years to get his first hour

28:49—What makes a great set for Pat  

30:00—The challenge of the Friday late show

31:37—The worst thing that ever happened on stage

34:42—The rise of internet comedians 

38:28—What’s something a non-comedian wouldn’t understand?

40:32—Pat’s top three moments from touring in the last year

43:36—What goes into creating a comedy album? 

45:35—Advice for aspiring comedians 

46:16—What’s next for Pat


Jennifer Logue:

Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of creative space, a Podcast where we explore, learn and grow and creativity together. I'm your host Jennifer Logue and today we have the pleasure of speaking with the incredibly talented and hilarious stand up comedian Pat house, a Philly native Pat has been a regular performer at comedy clubs, casinos, and theaters all over the country. He's also opened for Sebastian Maniscalco, Tom Segura, and most recently, Dan Cummins and Brad Williams. His second album, I heard enough yesterday reached number one on iTunes, and its third album, I'm here peaked at number two, and you can hear both of them on Sirius XM. Welcome to Creative Space, Pat.

Pat House:

Thank you. That was a fantastic intro.

Jennifer Logue:

Oh my gosh.

Pat House:

Thank you. Thank you.

Jennifer Logue:

You have a fantastic journey. So far. It's

Pat House:

never ending but yeah, but no, thank you. Thanks for having me. It's awesome to chat with you again. It's been a while.

Jennifer Logue:

It's been a while. I mean, I think I've gone. Okay, so out of every one I've had on the podcast so far. I'm pretty sure we go back the furthest.

Pat House:

Okay, we probably do. I mean, we had to have met when we were 14 or 15. Freshman year of high school. Yeah. So. So that's a round the 25 year mark.

Jennifer Logue:

Oh, my gosh.

Pat House:

I'm sorry. I apologize.

Jennifer Logue:

No, it's fine. It's awesome. Because you were both in band? Yes. In band. I played the flute. You were

Pat House:

I played the trumpet, which I have no idea why because I played the saxophone all throughout grade school. So why did I switch it up? And do a totally different instrument? I have no idea why I did that. I have no idea. But yes, we did the band freshman year and then you and I jumped ship immediately.

Jennifer Logue:

Oh my gosh, I know. I forgot that. We were both quitters.

Pat House:

Yeah, yep. We were you. We up sophomore year, we had to take Jim and health class with the freshmen.

Jennifer Logue:

Oh my gosh.

Pat House:

Yup. And look at us now. So bad? Not at all. Not at all.

Jennifer Logue:

Sometimes you got to try new things.

Pat House:

Absolutely. You know, I'm on and I'll have you on my podcast. Once I get that up again. The two way street. Oh. Awesome. I'd

Jennifer Logue:

be honored. So Pat, your career? You're hilarious. And thank you. I would love to know more about your journey. I think a lot of listeners out there would love to know. How did comedy first come into your life.

Pat House:

It's just my dad would watch stand up when I was a kid. And I would watch Saturday Night Live and Letterman and Leno. And ever since I was very, very young. I was aware of stand up comedy and humor in general, mostly TV and movies. But I remember specifically, watching my dad watch stand up and I was just drawn to it. Like I didn't understand what the jokes were. I was always like, I was a young kid, like four or five, six years old. I don't comprehend what these adults are talking about. But I just remember seeing these people on TV like holding a microphone and making people laugh. And that really stood out to me, even at that young of an age. So cool. I didn't realize it was that early. Yeah, it was it was embedded pretty early.

Jennifer Logue:

Well, when did you first try stand up?

Pat House:

October 13 2004. At the last house in Philadelphia, la FSW was a comedy club on South Street. And I signed up for the open mic Jeff King who was in our grade. Yes. went with me. And he watched me do my very first set.

Jennifer Logue:

Wow. So that was sophomore year of

Pat House:

sophomore year. Yeah, the very beginning. Yeah.

Unknown:

How did it go?

Pat House:

The first two times I would do the open mic on a Wednesday. It went very well. My first time went very, very well. My second time went very well. And then I bombed for months and months after that. But that's pretty normal for a lot of comedians, as I find out like on my podcast, a lot of comics. Do well the first time because you're excited there's energy this is something brand new. It's like a high you'd you just have all this adrenaline and then like, you get your ass handed to you the next the next couple of times. But that's when you learn to figure stuff out. Why isn't this going well? Is this not funny? Am I doing these jokes in the wrong order? That's when you start to put it together. that, you know, you. You take a couple of beatings and it makes you better basically.

Jennifer Logue:

Yeah. Because you're getting to that next level to Yes.

Pat House:

And you stay at the bottom for a while, you know, doing open mics and all that kind of stuff. But it was it was a lot of fun and I think about those days all the time.

Jennifer Logue:

Oh my gosh. So who your you taught? He touched on a few of them. But who are your earliest comedic inspirations, especially when he first started, you know, going on the circuit

Pat House:

went? Dave Attell is one of my favorite comics of all time. He's actually in Philadelphia this weekend. I'm going to go catch him on Sunday. I haven't seen him since before COVID I was a huge Dave Attell fan. I love his standup I loved his shows that he had on Comedy Central Insomniac, I was so cool that in college I had a David tell poster in my college dorm room. But I can name a million comics. I love Steven Wright is one of the first comments I saw on TV that I laughed at and you know, tried to remember his jokes and would quote them. And, you know, it goes without saying I love Chris Rock. I love Chris Rock stand up. I remember watching him when I was young, and he's still getting better and better to this day. I've seen him a couple times. I've seen him a couple times in small intimate venues, which is cool, like, not the big 3000 seat 5000 seat theater. Like I've seen Chris Rock work on stuff at the Comedy Store in Los Angeles and the comedy cellar in New York City. So those are just three to name a start, but yeah,

Jennifer Logue:

I saw him at the comedy cellar by accident. I was. He wasn't on the line up in little pop. Yeah, it was my friend's birthday. And me and my best friend were sitting at the very front like at the stage. And like, ladies and gentlemen, welcome Chris Rock. It was crazy.

Pat House:

The Comedy Store in Los Angeles and the comedy cellar in New York City are known for like the Poppins. They don't advertise it. But I saw Ray Romano do a pop in at the comedy cellar. And there's been like, Marathon nights where it's like, everybody's in town and like Chris Rock will go on and bring up Seinfeld. And then Seinfeld brings up Dave Chappelle. And it's just like, it's rare. But it happens.

Jennifer Logue:

That it's helpful to for them to test new material.

Pat House:

Yeah, because it doesn't matter how famous or successful you are, as a comic, new material is still new material, and it needs to be worked on. And there's only one way to work on it. And that is get on a stage in front of people. That is the only way I can say stuff out loud in my hotel room. Doesn't mean anything until you get up there.

Jennifer Logue:

Wow. So getting back to your early experiences. I got to ask when you were younger. Did you like performing? Did you know you wanted to be a performer?

Pat House:

Not at all. I never acted. I never did any theater. I never did anything. I never stepped foot on a stage until that night. I tried to stand up. Well, were

Jennifer Logue:

you nervous? No, I

Pat House:

was excited here. I wanted it. I was I was I it was something I really wanted to do. It had been on my mind for a while. It been on my mind for like two or three years probably. So once the time once I finally got the courage and the ability to go to the laugh house open mic. I was excited. So no, it was not nerves. It was a let's do this kind of thing. Yep.

Jennifer Logue:

Rock on. It's awesome. If you could pick one defining moment in your life that has helped shape you? What would it be? And why?

Pat House:

One defining moment in my life, I don't know. Well, I guess it would be making the decision to do stand up. I mean, that's certainly something that because I started doing stand up, it'll be 19 years this year. I'm 38. That's officially half my life. And it's getting more and more fun every year. So I guess that would be the defining moment, I guess that time. The very first time I stepped on stage at an open mic and it went well. And I could hear the audience laugh and I just had that power and command and I was just hearing the laughter and I was like it was a game changer. And I'm still chasing that sound and that high in that euphoria every single night.

Jennifer Logue:

Oh, that's awesome. So this is creative space. And I asked this question of everyone. But what is your definition of creativity?

Pat House:

Creativity to me would be like, just I guess, showing the world who you are. I mean, there's all sorts of creativity there's obviously stand up and there's writing and there's drawing and there's music. I think creativity just comes from everybody's uniqueness and putting it out there how they see the world. You know, yes point of view, and stand up or a story or you know, putting your emotions into a song or a poem. I feel like creativity is just showcasing who you are.

Jennifer Logue:

Yes, and something I'm really curious. It's about what's the creative process of a stand up comedian.

Pat House:

It's different for everybody. And I will say most comics are lazy. I try to write every single day. And I don't always do that. But I'm trying, I'm doing so far good so far this year. But I feel like in general, comedians need to just report what we see in the everyday world. You know what I mean? Like, if the cashier at CVS was rude, or if you're going through a breakup, or you know, something crazy happened to you on vacation, or your parents, whatever. The creative process is just filtering that and finding what's funny in everyday life situations. And even a lot of horrible, sad, tragic stuff can actually be really, really funny. Like, I mean, my stepdad is 83, he had a major health scare. A year ago, it was a very scary time. And like he was in a coma. And we didn't know if this was it. But I walk in his hospital room, and on his patient information board, it said, caution, high fall risk, and I'm like, he's in a coma. He's like pulling anywhere. So like, so there's, there's humor in everything, even in stuff where there's like, sadness and pain, you know what I mean? And it's our job to make that funny.

Jennifer Logue:

Like, as a stand up comedian, you're really, I think all artists are doing a service for the world, because we're helping people deal with their emotions, maybe people who don't create day to day. But as a stand up comedian, it's even more so because you're able to take really difficult subjects, or if someone's going through a tough time. I know when I'm having a tough time. The only remedy is watching Senate comedy. I'm just laughing my butt off, you know. Yeah. And,

Pat House:

and I hear that a lot from people. And I forget that too, because I get lost in the fact that it's a job. And I like travel and right. I forget that, like people actually watch stand up to laugh and enjoy it and forget about their problems, because I'm so focused on it being a job that I typically forget that so I'm glad you said that, because that's a reminder that I needed.

Jennifer Logue:

Yeah. Oh, I'm glad I could bring that up. Because yeah, you guys are doing a service for people. And now the world is so crazy right now.

Pat House:

Yep. That's one way to phrase it. Yeah. Yeah.

Jennifer Logue:

And something else I wanted to bring up. It's also tough to be a stand up comedian now, because I feel like it's so easy to offend people. But that's part of what makes setup comedy. Awesome, too. It's like when you're like, Oh, my God, that's totally me.

Pat House:

Yeah. Yeah, the point is, I mean, at least for me, all comments are different, but I want to make it relatable. You know, whether it's something funny or embarrassing or quirky, I love when people relate to something I'd say or be like, Oh, my God, I do that too. Or that happened to me a couple years ago, that's making it relatable is the most fun.

Jennifer Logue:

How do you know what's too far?

Pat House:

Um, I don't know, I don't really push the envelope of stuff. That's too crazy. I mean, I like I curse. And I talk about sex or whatever. But I don't like I don't do anything political. I don't get vulgar. So that's not really an issue I've ever had some comments for sure. But that's really nothing that ever came my way. I really can't even think of a time where somebody was truly offended or anything by supply something I said, Because I mean, I just talked about bartending. I talked about fast food I got, you know, I'm not pushing the envelope here. I'm just trying to make my awkward stories funny.

Jennifer Logue:

But it's relatable. And, you know, do you want to talk about your journey to doing this professionally?

Pat House:

Yeah. I mean, in a nutshell, I just started doing open mics. And around Philadelphia, where any lunatic can sign up and open mics are a you get everything across the board. You get people who are truly actually talented. You get people that are absolute insane nutcases. You get everything across the board. So once I had done a couple open mics and got my feet wet, I started to make some friends. And just like everything else, networking, you know, I met my friendship Chantry and and he was like, Oh, they have an open mic at here on Mondays and I'm doing this show on Friday. Come hang. So everything just started to snowball, but it just really comes down to getting out there and networking and then I eventually worked my way into a couple of comedy clubs and then met some bigger more. not famous, but comments with bigger names, bigger notoriety, and then a couple of those guys took me on the road like Sebastian and Tom segura. Wow. So everything was just a gradual snowball. And it's still doing that to this day. I'm starting to headline more. And it's a never ending. Grind, but the grind is fun. It looks

Jennifer Logue:

like so much fun. You're always touring. It seems like

Pat House:

I travel a lot. Yep. Come on. You live from a miserable day in Buffalo, New York right now.

Jennifer Logue:

Apple is not so bad by but it's pretty cold.

Pat House:

Actually, it's really not that bad for January and buffalo. It's like, it's like in the 40s. Today, it's really not bad. I've been here before where the high was like five. So I lucked out by getting a tolerable weekend here. It's just gray and miserable. But I'll take that over sunny and 12 degrees where I can't do anything.

Jennifer Logue:

True. Yeah. When it's cold. I don't want to be anywhere outside. Yeah, it's like a

Pat House:

cool physical city of the really, there's a lot of cool spots in Buffalo. And the comedy club here is great. It's a helium, the same club that started in Philadelphia. So awesome. They got a good, good club up here.

Jennifer Logue:

So these days, where do you draw inspiration from

Pat House:

out my front door? I mean, I still have a day job where I bartend a couple couple days a week, and I get a lot of material. From there. I get a lot of material from my parents. Yeah, it's just everyday life man that that's that's what's intriguing to me. I just because we all see annoying or frustrating stuff every single day. And I just enjoy you know, talking about that kind of stuff. Like my act is 100%. Or I should say 95% autobiographical. So I just find inspiration by walking out my front door or walking out my hotel, and walking outside. Just seeing the world

Jennifer Logue:

and having an opinion about it.

Pat House:

I mean, I need people to do annoying or stupid stuff. So I can also I can have a job but yeah, so I need as much as I can't stand a lot of people I need them to do stupid stuff, so I can go to work.

Jennifer Logue:

I see sometimes, like I feel like inside of all of us is a little Larry David.

Pat House:

Oh, yeah, absolutely.

Jennifer Logue:

Not all of us are brave enough. Or talented enough to make it funny to other people to hate it. You know?

Pat House:

Well, here's something that is just indigenous to me, but I guess a lot of comments as well. Like nothing to me is funny without me being angry or mad or like annoyed first, like somebody will do something. And I'm like, look like that woman is being so mean to that guy or whatever. And then I get like mad. And then like five minutes later when I calm down, I'm like, oh, it's actually kind of funny. So that's how pretty much everything works for me. I have to be angry or annoyed first, then when I pull the curtain back I'm like, oh, that's kind of funny. Do you have a little book I guess? Oh god. Oh, yep. Yep, I go through notebooks all the time. I still hand right 90% of my act. You know I have papers everywhere. That's part of a setlist from last night. And then here's like the printed list of stuff I'm working on now that I can cross off what I want to do so this guy No I love and I love when I'm hanging out with with other comics or other artists in general. And I see their notebooks I love asking people the method to their madness because some people like only write in Sharpie some people write bullet points. People write in all caps. So people write I love it. I love looking at people's method to their madness.

Jennifer Logue:

Oh my god. Same here. And with handwriting. I need to write things by hand too, because I just feel like it's not the same. I don't have the emotional reaction if I'm right if I'm typing. So I just I my notebooks. I look like a crazy person. I owe

Pat House:

two books. Me too. I have a ton of them. I travel with them. I'm also obsessed with buying them everywhere I go. I love buying notebooks and I usually give a ton away like when I work with with other comics. I just give them notebooks. I went to Ireland three years ago, I bought 40 notebooks. Oh my gosh, okay, you have maybe four zero on one trip. But I mean, I could go to like, like I'm in Buffalo. I'll probably come home with a notebook. I'll go to a bookstore tomorrow. Like, oh, this is really cool. And come home with it. I'm pretty obsessed with buying notebooks.

Jennifer Logue:

Love it. Yeah, it's just that physical connection to the paper.

Pat House:

Yes. It's very cathartic to Yeah, like Yeah, I really like to see people hand writing stuff as opposed to just throwing it all in the computer. Now I do have stuff in my computer like more organized lists, but I mean, I love the simple act of writing stuff out.

Jennifer Logue:

Yes. And then that's nice going back to like if you date stuff. What was I like? What Thinking back then about this? Do you write every day? Yes, I am crazy. I love it. Like, I don't know, it's just, I guess my medium has always been writing, whether it's like writing songs or writing, you know, articles or essays or, you know, short films, whatever. But now Yeah, I mean, I start every day with just writing

Pat House:

it really? I'm trying to do it first thing in the morning. It's not Do you like, No, we both went to Catholic school. Do you like date? The top of the page? Oh, my gosh, I do. I do, too. And I normally, I just realized this recently, and I'm talking within the last month, I start off every single day by like writing about the weather. I have no idea why. I will write like January 20. I put my location I wrote buffalo downtown Starbucks this morning. And I'm like gray and dreary, light rain. I don't know why I do this every day. But that's how I start. It's weird.

Jennifer Logue:

I think that's nice. Because then you have context. You're setting the scene?

Pat House:

Yeah, just for myself, though. Like, if I scroll through this notebook, two months from now, I'm not gonna give a give a crap that it was gray on the Thursday I was in Buffalo, but that's how I start my page every single day. date, location? Sometimes the time not always. And then the weather.

Jennifer Logue:

Okay, yeah, for me. Like usually

Pat House:

gonna gonna ask you How does your page start and the first thing in the morning, it's the date.

Jennifer Logue:

And then I just do this three things that I'm grateful for, just to get me out of my funk in the morning. To be like, for some reason, my brain is very much like a jumps ahead, I jump at too much. Like, that's just me naturally. So it gets me grounded, like, Okay, right now is three things. And they're always different. And it's nice to like, think about three things in the present to do that. And then that's like a separate section. And then I jump into the rest whatever's on my mind. And I write throughout the day, like if I have an idea, like if someone says something, you know, I'm an advertising right now for my day job. So like, you know, we're working on a concepting project, like it just constant imaginative play all day long to figure out these to how to tell these stories. And like, as the day goes on, I just write every idea that comes. And it's not always like, yeah, it doesn't always have. It wouldn't make sense to most people probably, it's not like worse. It's not always like a journal of like, do your diary. Today XYZ happened and XYZ happened. It's like, it could if it was a memorable enough experience. And, but,

Pat House:

but to you, it's just you going about your day, like it's, I feel like a big misconception about stand up is like in my, in the past 20 years or so. I have probably filled close to 100 notebooks. And I feel that only less than 5% of what I write is actually usable. Yes. And I feel like that's pretty indicative of comics, and probably most writers in general. I mean, I have been doing stand up for almost 20 years, but I only have three albums. So that means in 20 years of writing, I have three hours of usable stand up that I really like.

Jennifer Logue:

But you have to do it every day because it keeps your muscle. Yeah, strong. You don't get to the good stuff without you actually you remember Calvin?

Pat House:

We went yeah, we went to lunch. We saw Woody Harrelson that day. Yeah. Oh. Oh, that's yeah. He was leaving the restaurant when we when we walked in, because okay, I'm obsessed with the movie Kingpin. It's one of my favorite movies of all time. And I was like, There's Roy Munson. Like he's done Natural Born Killers and White Men Can't Jump. I don't care about any of that. I was standing right next to Woody Harrelson. I was like that is Roy Munson from Kingston.

Jennifer Logue:

Oh, my God. Oh, Calvin brought up on the podcast about creativity. Like it's like a hose. And when you first turn on a hose, you have like, you know, some of the old water like the dirty water comes out. And then you know, as it as you keep running the hose, fresh water comes out. It's more forceful. And it's like, every time you start the engine backup, you're not every idea is gonna be great. Yeah, and it's

Pat House:

totally true. I wouldn't even say most aren't the most are every now and then. Now, do you have this thing with your writing to like, do you know when you're writing something good? Do you feel differently? Because every now and then, and it's it's rare? It's infrequent, but every now and then an idea will strike or I'll figure out a way to word a joke differently and I'm like, this is going to work. I don't have to mess around with this anymore. I don't have to tinker with it. This is good. By the way it is, you know,

Jennifer Logue:

yes, there have been a few, like, intuition for me is what tells me like, we'll just ideas with projects to pursue. Like, with this podcast, it wouldn't the idea wouldn't leave me alone. Yeah, so that is like, oh, man, a lot of work, then I had to get over that. But then it's like, I know I have to do this. So when something won't leave me alone, I think it could be a good idea.

Pat House:

But then yeah, if something's gnawing at you, yeah. Yeah. But then sometimes

Jennifer Logue:

with certain songs or words, it'll, you know, maybe one out of like, 5000 I'll have that feeling.

Pat House:

Like, I didn't say it is very infrequent. I mean, this notebook is half full. I'm halfway through it. And I think I'm only saying two or three things, two or three things in it on stage. The rest is just kind of crap, really. But that's just how it goes. Keep writing and gold strikes.

Jennifer Logue:

Yeah, yes. There's gold in there. You got in mind for it, though?

Pat House:

Absolutely. Absolutely. It's work. It is. Work when people you know, go see a stand up. They just see them for one hour. Well, it was Bill Maher, famous comic Bill Maher. He, it took him 10 years to get his first hour. So you see him, you know, 2030 years ago, the comedy club do that hour that took him 10 years to build. Wow. And I'm so that's the creative process, you know? And same thing with a band like it took Queen forever to record Bohemian Rhapsody. It's a six minute song. You know what I mean?

Jennifer Logue:

It takes work. We don't see the process of it. No,

Pat House:

you don't you just see the final product, or the live show? And you're like, Oh, that was cool. Well, they spent half their lives preparing for that two hours, you know? Yes. But it's worth it. It is totally worth it. And that's something that you can't explain to people that don't do what you do. You know what I mean? It's like, the sacrifice. Because it's also the reward the sacrifices typically worth the reward?

Jennifer Logue:

Yes. Because you do have to take time out of your day to do this. Oh, yeah. And ours. Yeah.

Pat House:

And then that's hours out of your week, and then out of your month, and then out of your life. And next thing, you know, you're like, holy shit, I'm 40. And, you know, I mean, we're not there yet. But you know, we're

Jennifer Logue:

not not yet. Don't remind me, oh, my God. I'm taking my collagen supplements and like, keep myself together. So, for you, Pat, what makes a great set.

Pat House:

A great set is obviously when the crowd is with you, when there is when you have great timing and great pacing, and the crowd is with you. And they're laughing at all the right spots, and they're laughing at the little nuances and smaller jokes. All of that is part of a great set. But I find that of course you want big laughs That's the literally the sole purpose of being a comic is to get laughter. I love when I'm having a great set. And when I'm doing the setups, the crowd is dead quiet. I love when they're hanging on every word. And then the laughter hits and it's thunderous. And then you get into the next thing, and they're quiet again, because they're hanging on every single syllable. You're saying, that is the best. I love them quiet and listening just as much as I love the reaction when they start laughing.

Jennifer Logue:

Oh my gosh, I want to pay attention. That's next time I go to see comedy, like different types of audience reactions.

Pat House:

Oh, there's I mean, last night, I had a woman burp in the front row just out loud, like an animal. You have it on video. I'm going to I'm going to post it later. I'm going to edit that video down and put that on social media later. I'm like, What is wrong with you?

Jennifer Logue:

Let's do that in your podcast show notes. They were

Pat House:

they were a good crowd. But they weren't one of those crowds where they were perfect and hanging on every word. They were great. Lappers and they were fun. But yeah, there's the audience reactions. It's different every single show every crowd every night, every single show.

Jennifer Logue:

Yeah, I just never thought about that. Like the kinds of experiences you must have on stage having done this for so long.

Pat House:

And yeah, it's been a while. Yeah, to see I mean, I've had you know, bad crowds are out there just like anything else. Sometimes they're just not with you. Maybe they're drunk. Tonight, today's Friday, so we have two shows to Night, and there's a good chance that that 10pm or 1030 show tonight is going to be drunk. They were at work all day. Now it's 1030 on a Friday and the show is just getting started. They might be tuned up Friday, late shows. Steve Martin famously said, somebody asked him why he quit stand up. And he said, because of the Friday late show. Oh, that's a that's a quote. He said forever ago. So yeah, they're not, uh, they're not all winners. But that's how you get good. You deal with the rough crowds. If it's not going well. And you'd have to do 40 minutes, you got to stay up there and do your 40 minutes and figure it out. So it's

Jennifer Logue:

what's the worst thing that's ever happened to you? On stage?

Pat House:

I was had three beer bottles thrown at me and I was almost punched in the face. Oh, my God. March 7 2008, at the townhouse in media,

Jennifer Logue:

and the idea is don't go.

Pat House:

That's that's not a shocking Delco story that's almost natural for them. Speaking of Delco, like I said, I'm in Buffalo, New York right now, there was a couple in the front row last night from Drexel Hill. Oh my gosh, I'm like, This is unbelievable. You can't make this up.

Jennifer Logue:

You can't escape Delco? No.

Pat House:

Oh, yeah, I was attacked on stage that was probably actually that that was like the worst. I mean, I've had bad sets where I felt emotionally worse than when I felt when I was physically attacked. Oh, man, but that's part of the deal. You know, bombing and having rough sets make you a better comic. So in order to become a good comic, you really have to have a lot of those bad nights. But then you learn your you learn every time you have a bad set, you learn what to fix for next time. So you know, it's not all bad. And I'm sure it's the same thing with writing or being a musician and having a rough live performance or whatever, you know,

Jennifer Logue:

is a constant evolution and just learning how to be gentle with yourself to and to like reframe how you're looking at the experience, like it's not a failure, it's just an experience. It's a teacher.

Pat House:

Yes, absolutely. But, you know, most artists and creative people, we tend to beat ourselves up. So I'm trying to be a little more forgiving with that this year, than I have been my whole entire life.

Jennifer Logue:

Oh, my gosh, I hear you on beating yourself up like that is? Yeah,

Pat House:

that we all do. Because it would be weird. If we went through life or our creative endeavors thinking it's great all the time, then there would be nothing to fix. You know what I mean? There's always something to work on.

Jennifer Logue:

And it gives you depth to it does. You know,

Pat House:

we need to not be so hard on ourselves if we don't like something or if it wasn't exactly how we wanted.

Jennifer Logue:

Yes. I was talking to another artist on the podcast, and she talks about how she burns. She's a visual artist, okay, and she's working on something. And the painting just not going in the direction she wants it to. She burns it. She has a burn pile.

Pat House:

That's just badass, actually. That is. I mean, I save everything though. As much as I would love to be like, oh, there's nothing funny in this notebook. And like Chuck it in a dumpster? I can't. They're like my babies still. You know,

Jennifer Logue:

there might be an idea in there for writing is a little different, I think. Yeah, everyone's different. But, but a burn pile does sound pretty cool. It sounds cool, right? It's very cathartic to just, I'm going to start fresh.

Pat House:

Yeah, if you don't like this, that's like one of the most destructive ways to get rid of it. You're like, this is trash. I'm actually going to set it on fire.

Jennifer Logue:

It's what you she said that I was like, Oh my gosh, I love this. What is the greatest challenge you faced in your career so far? Um,

Pat House:

I don't know if there's, well, okay, I could say that. I don't if there's any challenges, per se, it's always a grind. You want to get bigger gigs, better gigs, more gigs, more money. Okay, I made X amount of money on this gig last year. Can I ask them for double the pay, there's always little challenges along the way. But that's part of the process and part of the grind. I will say now, and probably ever since COVID. A very interesting dynamic and comedy is comedians moving to like, tick tock and Instagram. Like it used to be, you know, you go to the comedy clubs to see the comics but everybody was making videos at home and like there was a rise of like internet comedians. So those people that had huge massive followings are now performing in comedy clubs and less of the comics like myself, who were just born and bred stand ups, you know, are competing with them to get in the comedy clubs. So that's something since the pandemic that is a shift, but I'm lucky enough to you know, be busy and have a great network of comedy clubs that that use me and all but A lot of people are doing putting their standard clips online. And it's just weird, and oddly frustrating, I guess. Because I'm like, I don't like doing that I like I don't mind posting a clip here or there. But like, I feel like I had to be like Steven Spielberg. Now I have to like, film a set, edit a clip, put the captionings put a goofy logo, and then put 50 hashtags, hashtag funny. Hashtag stand up hashtag French onion soup, whatever the hell. And then, and then just watch it sit there and get like 12 views? Yeah, I mean, it's like soul crushing.

Jennifer Logue:

Yeah, it's like in the age we live in now, every creator needs to have this understanding of the algorithms. And

Pat House:

yes, and so sick of that word. But you're I mean, you're right. And I say it 10 times a day. It's like, I've had videos get a substantial amount of views. And it's always like the ones that I don't care if they do well or not. But the videos that I take time, let's say this joke took five years to get where I want it. And then I finally put the clip online. And after like, a month, it just has like, 100 views on like, that's it?

Jennifer Logue:

Oh my gosh, yeah. And it's just so much to do on your own to. Yeah, all these steps.

Pat House:

I know. Like, I feel like half of my career now is like watching myself, and listening to myself and editing stuff to put online and I'm not even focusing on the real act that I have to do twice tonight live. Right,

Jennifer Logue:

right. There's just all this extra extra stuff that we have to worry about as creators, and it takes away from the art itself. And that's something that frustrates me over and over again, but I'm trying to embrace it.

Pat House:

I'm trying to, to I hear Yeah, it's a hard adjustment. But a lot of comedians have gotten popular on Tik Tok. So I'm making sure to post like two or three videos a week and give it a shot. Because it's it can't hurt. It's just annoying. It's frustrating.

Jennifer Logue:

It's time consuming. You know, if you have someone to help do that.

Pat House:

I, you know, I have some people that I'm trying to learn it myself. So I don't have to use other people. But like, sometimes I just have friends that told us do such a better job. Yeah, yeah. So sometimes it's worth paying somebody to do something to just get it off your plate, and have it done the right way, as opposed to some half assed crap that I'm gonna throw out there.

Jennifer Logue:

That is so true. That's a lesson that I need to I need to learn. So we talked about this a little bit. But what's something about being a comedian, that someone who's not a comedian wouldn't understand.

Pat House:

Probably the fact that like, we touched on a little bit that it just takes years to get an act together. Like it's everyday writing. It's, it's also like, also, people are different in different places, like the crowds in Buffalo, here are different from crowds in Portland, Oregon. And the people in Portland, Oregon, are different from the people in Florida. So I like I'm not saying I'm good here. But like, I didn't think I became a good comic until I was on the road for a couple of years. Because you see so many different demographics and audiences and you, you can become a good comic in your hometown, but you become a much better comic once you start working the road. So I don't think people realize how much goes goes into it. But like, like we said, you know, I have 100 notebooks filled and all and, you know, three albums. So I don't think people realize how much actually goes into it. And like they see the good stuff you're doing on stage. They didn't see the 3000 Horrible open mics that you did to get there. He's not just going up on stage and stuff works the first time. It's not how it works, you know?

Jennifer Logue:

How do you adjust? Do you just you're set for different audiences like,

Pat House:

sometimes, but I feel like all the stuff I do now is pretty universal. I mean, I have a giant. I have Wendy's story, a Domino's story. Like I can do those anywhere. Because people you know, because they're everywhere. I feel like what I do now is pretty universal. But I do like to open up with some local stuff right off the top, like I have. Once you've been to a cities a couple times each, you get more material, but like, I could do a minute or two off the top, you know riffing about the city or something that happened that day in that city, you know?

Jennifer Logue:

Oh, cool. That's a way to bring people in.

Pat House:

Yeah, absolutely. It's a good way to get the show started.

Jennifer Logue:

Awesome. So you're always touring now, I always see you, you know, Facebook in different places. And what have been your top three moments from touring in the last year?

Pat House:

Oh, man. Oh, in the last year. I love the Pacific Northwest. So I love anytime when I get to perform out there. One of my favorite comedy clubs is Tacoma comedy club in Tacoma, Washington right outside Seattle. And I'm obsessed with Mount Rainier. It's it's I've had this obsession with that mountain since I was a kid and from your hotel room them that the comedy club puts you up at. You can see Mount Rainier from the room. So I just sit in that hotel room and just stare out the window. Any time I'm there. That's a lot of fun. In the last year, last year, my last album went to number two on iTunes. Bo Burnham was number one, and it was like impossible to knock him out of the top spot. I mean, there were way way more successful comedians than I am that could not come out of that number one spot. So I knew I wasn't going to get to number one again. But that was still pretty cool. I'm just happy to be doing this actively. I love traveling. And I I'm loving stand up more and more. I think I'm getting better at it. I'm having more fun. I'm getting better gigs and more opportunities. And I'm having more fun. The longer I do it.

Jennifer Logue:

That is so beautiful. Oh my gosh. And also you charting like number one number two on iTunes pet that's such a big deal. It's such a It was

Pat House:

cool. Yeah, it was cool. Yeah, it was wild. I'm not gonna lie. It was when my second album was number one. It was crazy to see that. Ahead of it was Jim Gaffigan. John Mulaney and weird owl two through four. And I was I was at number one for almost a week. That was pretty wild. Okay, something else people might not realize. I'm glad you said that. Yeah. So when my albums were at number one, and number two, I was on my phone. Constantly. I texted I think every single person I knew I was constantly on social media. Can you share this? Can you share this, I emailed all the comedy clubs I work on like, Can the comedy clubs Facebook account share this can the comedy clubs Twitter, retweet this, so it was cool. And it was awesome. But it's also super stressful when successful stuff like that happens because I want to capitalize it and bank and get the word out. But I was on my phone like 16 hours a day that week just trying to get people to share it. So it's not like I was sitting back with a cigar in a whiskey on the rocks enjoying it, like I was hitting up every single person under the sun. Yeah, but as part of don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it. But it's not like, you know, I'm not sitting in a comfy chair. Like I said, enjoying a drink, I'm hitting the pavement even harder now, because I have to jump while the iron is hot strike while the iron is hot.

Jennifer Logue:

We can evolve the language jump strike while the iron saw it all. So you recorded three albums. And we just talked about your last to reach number one number two on iTunes respectively, what goes into creating a comedy album,

Pat House:

just all the material that I like at the time. And then once I get enough material, good material that is around like the 45 to 60 minute rage, it's time for me to throw it on an album and record it. It's just a matter of when I get that amount of material. And I performed it enough around the country and it's time to throw it on an album. So it's just a combination of and then every time I release an album, I go on like a writing team because I don't want to do too much of that stuff anymore. So it's always fun to start a new after an album has been released. I mean, III still, I still do those jokes sometimes and keep them in my back pocket. But I mean, when an album comes out, I try not to do that material. Because I want new stuff. So it's like a fresh page after an album comes out. Oh, oh, that makes

Jennifer Logue:

sense. Because people are buying your album, they're gonna be familiar with all of that.

Pat House:

Yeah, and I'm not famous enough to where like, I have a huge following that's gonna know my jokes verbatim. But I mean, it's still, you still always want to get better anyways, and you get tired of doing the same jokes after you know, a year, two years or three years of doing the same act. You're building an act and you're working on something. But doing the same stuff night after night does get pretty boring and monotonous. Okay, so

Jennifer Logue:

then when you're ready to create the album, how do you choose a venue?

Pat House:

Well, I am a coward. And I did all my sets in front of a hometown crowd here at helium. Like, I mean, I have a lot of friends that are like, I'm gonna record a Boston I'm gonna record in San Francisco and like, I can't draw people in those cities. I'm doing my stuff at home, in front of my friends and family who are supportive. And I'm doing it at my home comedy club because they're supportive. It's like I've done all all three of my albums were done at the helium in Philly.

Jennifer Logue:

What advice do you have for aspiring comedians out there?

Pat House:

The only and the best advice is you have to keep writing and you have to keep getting on stage. Like I said earlier, I'm working on new stuff right now. I will practice in my hotel room before the show tonight. But you have to get on stage you have to get on stage ever since I started and I will say asking people for advice. That's all I heard was keep writing get on stage as much as you can keep writing get on stage as much as you can. That is literally it. That is the best advice. That is the most helpful advice and it's shortened to the point, keep writing and get on stage.

Jennifer Logue:

What's next for you?

Pat House:

Next for me, I have a couple fun ideas in mind, I have a couple of cool things I'm going to announce later this year, I'll divulge one of them now. I am on a personal mission to do stand up in all 50 states. Cool. I'm at 32 right now. But in November, I am doing stand up in Hawaii. I am going to open for my friend Dan Commons in Honolulu on my birthday, oddly enough. So just I'm working the grind more, I'm getting better at business stuff. I have a list of stuff I need to do every day. And I look at that list every day. Even though I've been doing this for 18 years, I kind of half assed stuff sometimes. But so far in 2023, I've been very good and diligent about doing stuff every single day to help my career. So I'm just going to keep that on the up and up. I love it. And then I'm going to do shows in Hawaii, and it's going to be I'm not making money on this deal. I'm spending I'm going to spend a lot of money, but I'm not going to make a vacation out of it. So it's going to be worth it.

Jennifer Logue:

Oh heck yeah, the trip took the opportunity to go to Hawaii that's like, absolutely. And then your happiness to

Pat House:

it is and it's probably going to be a once in a lifetime thing. But I mean, Hawaii is really, really far away. So this is going to you know, this is cool opportunity to help me get closer to doing stand up in all 50 states.

Jennifer Logue:

Yes. And I will be at 3933

Pat House:

Well, I'm it's 32. Now, I think I'm no no 3032 Now, so I think I think I'm going to Kansas and Oklahoma before I get to Hawaii, so I don't know what number that will be, but it's certainly a big one to cross off the list.

Jennifer Logue:

That's so cool, Pat. I love it.

Pat House:

Thank you.

Jennifer Logue:

For more on Pat house, visit Pat house comedy.com. And thank you so much for tuning in and growing and creativity with us. I'd love to know what you thought of today's episode. You can reach out to me on social media at Jennifer Logue or leave a review for creative space on Apple podcasts so more people can discover it. I appreciate you so much for being here in the beginning stages of this. My name is Jennifer Logue and thanks for listening to this episode of creative space. Until next time