I distinctly remember my brother bringing home Chris Rock's "Roll with the New" album when I was in 4th grade. I went to a magnet high school where we all got our own laptops and I used their high speed internet to pirate George Carlin's entire videography. After binge-watching his collection, I decided I wanted to perform.I spent months preparing a 5 minute set covering covered topics like terrorism, school shootings and semen popcicles - pretty progressive stuff for a a 16 year old in 2003.  My dad drove a friend and me to an open mic in Boston for my first performance. I was petrified and couldn't imagine how anyone would find this to be fun. I decided "this isn't for me" and abandoned comedy for a decade.