Ask Me Anything 13 w/ Barry Katz

Industry Standard w/ Barry Katz

Barry Katz

Comedy

4.8 • 946 Ratings

🗓️ 27 May 2025

⏱️ 31 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this powerful AMA episode, legendary comedy manager Barry Katz breaks down what separates the good from the unforgettable in stand-up comedy. He shares why having a distinct voice — one that’s instantly recognizable — is non-negotiable for any comic who wants to rise above the noise. Barry dives into how comedians like Tony Hinchcliffe found success by adapting when the industry wouldn’t, and why regret is a useless emotion when the world might have a better plan in store.From the unmatched value of stand-up as a writing bootcamp, to the psychology behind the relentless drive of elite comics, Barry doesn’t hold back. He highlights the importance of the “holy s**t” moment — that undeniable flash of brilliance that every great comic has — and how the zone that comedians enter isn’t just a mindset, it’s a way of life. If you're serious about comedy, this episode is a masterclass in resilience, originality, and building a legacy.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey everybody, welcome back to another episode of Industry Standard.
0:09.7	I love having guests on the show, but I love answering questions.
0:15.5	I think it's really important, and I'm disappointed to myself that I didn't realize this a long time ago and started
0:24.2	doing this and a lot of people reach out to me and they asked me a lot of things about the business
0:29.4	and I would like to be of service. So it's one person's opinion but hopefully you can take as little or as much as you want from it.
0:42.6	If you need to reach me, you can do so at Barry Katz and Instagram or X.
0:48.5	Or you can go on my YouTube channel and subscribe and get all these videos or you can just get it wherever the audio podcasts are in your
1:00.0	worldwide area or whatever so without further ado I've got questions and I'm just going to answer them and I haven't really looked at these beforehand, so please forgive me if some might overlap, but here it goes.
1:17.6	This from Hudson in San Jose, California.
1:21.6	If I'm nervous to do stand-up comedy, do you think I should use my nerves to enhance my act or should i fake my confidence
1:30.5	a great question um you know i've seen uh in both ways you know when i started in boston uh when stephen
1:39.6	right started doing comedy um kind of the character that he does on stage i believe was born out of his
1:47.7	nervousness when he went on stage and it ended up working for him and he killed with it and he never
1:55.9	stopped using that kind of persona on stage.
2:10.1	But then there's other people that I've seen who lacked any kind of great material like Stephen,
2:16.5	who shall remain nameless, who just had so much confidence and power that they would sell themselves and their material which
2:20.1	wasn't that great to the audience and if you're a great salesperson as we all
2:26.8	know you can sell ice to the Eskimos I think that there's no wrong or right
2:33.4	answer here I am not the kind of person who really enjoys uh going to a show
2:40.6	and looking off on the wings and seeing comedian do you know yoga exercises breathing jumping jacks
2:50.7	stretching before he goes on like it's an
2:54.7	Olympic event I much more love the comedians who you see just having a conversation with
	...

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