Dreams vs. Reality

Olympic champion Yolanda Gail Devers once said, “Keep your dreams alive. Understand to achieve anything requires faith and belief in yourself, vision, hard work, determination, and dedication. Remember all things are possible for those who believe.” This quote is inspiring, especially from someone who has achieved much in her life. This quote is also ridiculous and cannot be true for everyone. Let me say that again. CANNOT be true for everyone.


I agree in principle that dreaming is a good thing, planning, belief in one's self, vision, hard work, determination and dedication are all great things. They are principles that will get one far in life, but to say that "all things are possible for those who believe" is slightly misleading. I will get to comedy in a bit, but let's look at the facts: Devers is a gold medal Olympic athlete. She did all of those things and won her gold medal, that she (or perhaps her parents, but let's not go there) always dreamt she would. Great for her, but what about all the other women who did EXACTLY as she did, worked hard, believed etc. etc. etc. and didn't win their gold medal. Their dreams in fact did not come true. One more example of this silliness is Justin Bieber, who starred in a "movie" called "Never Say Never". He too cites that all dreams are possible. Really? So, every fourteen year old who wants to become a pop icon will do so? I am pretty sure the world is FULL of musicians still working their collective butts off for their one break to make their dreams come true.


Let's now discuss this in terms of comedy. Please list in your head your top ten Canadian Comedians working today. Go ahead, I'm waiting, but my bet is that unless you are in the field of comedy, you cannot do so. Now do the same for comics from the United States. Easier I bet. Are comics from the United States better than Canadian comics? Do Canadian comics just not work hard enough, dream enough, have faith in themselves? Well yes for some, but most of them are exceptionally dedicated to their craft. They can map and vision their work to their heart's content, but if their dream is to become the next superstar, what are the chances this will happen? What are the chances that ALL of them who are working so hard to "make it" (whatever "it" is) are going to star in the next big blockbuster and become a millionaire doing guest spots on places that were cool when we were young but have just gone downhill (such as SNL and Letterman). My guess is not very many. My guess is in 20 years, many of them will be doing what they are doing right now, performing comedy (hopefully at a better wage than they are now) at clubs and for corporate gigs.


Wow, am I a Debbie Downer or what? A realist or a pessimist? Believe you and me people I am a dreamer, and I believe people can go far in their lives. I do not though subscribe to this notion that hard work will get you everywhere you want to go. There is much more, such as timing and luck that play a big part as well. We at JH5 are dreamers; we dreamed of putting on a gala event at Centrepointe Theatre. We did it. We dreamed of putting on an Aboriginal themed show, and we are doing it now. (June 11th, mark your calendar's folks!) But our real dream, our real dream is to make enough money to quit our day job, just put on shows with big names such as Wanda Sykes, and live a relaxing lifestyle. Will this happen for us? Who knows, but there are many other outfits just like us trying to do the same thing. We will still work hard, have our vision etc. etc., but in the end, we may not make it. Does this make our dreams not come true, or do we say that our dream is to put on shows, entertain audiences, and make some money along the way. Do we determine success as having loved what we have done; successfully weathering the ups and downs of life. If we stop in five years, it does not mean we have failed, it merely means we have changed our dreams or our lives.


Comedians, who we try to help wherever we can to gain exposure and promotion, are in the same boat. A female comedian once said "the dream is doing what I love for 17 years, that is the dream. Not many can say that". Sure, she would like to make much more money, but she also knows the reality of the business. Getting happiness out of things is the sure fire way to determine whether or not we have succeeded. I work ridiculously hard in my life, I won't lie. I work a full time job, do the JH5 as well with my husband, and also volunteer places, and most importantly, am a mom to three amazing children. Our dream, when broken down, is really to work hard right now to get ahead so to speak. Our children have a variety of special needs and there were times where finances were/are tight to keep up with everything. Our choices were to have JH1 go to work full time to get double income, but our children's needs define him to stay home. That is when we decided to start doing the JH5 work, to get some extra money while doing what we love which is supporting and producing comedy while giving back to our community.


We adapt our priorities and dreams often and never define something as a success or failure. Comedians I think at times have an either or success ratio. Either they are successes, or they are failures. There is no middle ground for some of them. There are comedians who work very hard, put in their time, and their work is amazing. They are; however, really bad at visioning where they want to be and the steps to get there. They are not good at self promotion, or at the "business end" of comedy. There are those who are great at self promotion but have not yet put the time into their craft. Some will "succeed", some will not, based on that ratio. What I can advise comedians is if you are at one end of that spectrum, get help. If you need help promoting, see us or the plethora of other people like us. If you need more time on stages, get to know other comedians, form your own rooms, do what it takes to get your time in. Regardless, Devers was correct in her statement that all of those factors are needed to be successful. What she didn't mention is that success is a matter of opinion, and that life throws this thing called "luck" into the mix. Never feel you are a failure. Your comedy may not be where you want it, but you can keep working on what needs to be worked on, and as long as you have put time, effort, and all the factors discussed above into it, you are not a failure, you are a success for following your dreams. The journey is the success, the destination is a mere bi-product. Enjoy the journey, and if you are a superstar, please do shut up about how everyone can make it to where you are, and you can quote me on that.