We had the good fortune of connecting with E.L. Smith and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi E.L., we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
Off the bat the word risk sounds scary. It implies that you may be successful, but there’s a possibility you may fail as well. What a lot of people don’t realize is that failure is a part of life. Michael Jordan is considered to be one of the greatest professional basketball players of all time, but do you know how many shots Michael Jordan missed in his career; way more than the shots he made. You can’t escape failure, you got to keep taking risks because sooner or later you’re going to win. What is risk? Risk is when you take a leap of faith and come out of your comfort zone. I heard a quote somewhere that comfortability is a dream killer… and that couldn’t ring anymore true. If you’re not making moves towards your goals that make you say “oh my f..king god what am I doing”, then you are not taking risks. I moved from Florida where family, comfortability, and crazy people resides lol, to California where everyone moves to pursue a dream which means more traffic. The gas is over 6 dollars a gallon, but the crazy people are much nicer. The main thing that keeps me going is this quote that plays in my head whenever I’m about to take a risk on something. “True regret in life is when you’re on your deathbed, and the person you are finally meets the person you could’ve become”. The move from Florida to California to pursue Stand up Comedy was my ‘oh my f..king god, what am I doing’ risk that I took. What’s yours?

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
My art is that I’m a stand up comedian. My stand up comedy leans more towards the cleaner side of telling jokes. There’s no moral reason or anything, but the cleaner you are, the more places you can perform. I have performed for colleges, churches, and cruise ships just because I am a clean comedian.

I’m excited about the future, not only am I a stand up comedian, but I also act and write. So I have a lot of projects in the works. For one I’m looking forward to doing another comedy special, and performing at comedy festivals again like Just For Laughs in Canada which is one of the biggest comedy festivals around. I love living in California where the opportunity to pursue my passion to the max is within arms reach. I’m proud and grateful that I have built a life that gives me the time to push towards my goals.
I got to where I am in Stand up comedy by practicing all the time on different bits, being a professional, always on time, carrying yourself like you belong in the room as well, and I know this next one might sound cheesy, but just being overall a nice guy. Pursuing a dream is never easy, remember comfortability is a dream killer, anything worth having in life is never easy. In my opinion, to overcome the challenges you will face when pursuing what you love is to take the ‘No’s’ and rejection and use it as fuel. A lot of times people unintentionally are pushing their own fears and insecurities on you because that’s what they would do in that situation. A major lesson I learned: no one can and will live your life but you.
I want the world to know that I’m having fun! In life we are all going to be at some point happy, sad, angry, and disappointed and we can’t escape all of these emotions, but if you could pick which emotion you would want to feel the most in your lifetime, which one would it be? For me I’m picking happiness, so that’s what I pursue the most. If I can help it I don’t allow negative energy in my circle.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
First thing we are going to do is go to the beach a lot. They have to try breakfast at Harbor Glory. We would hang out in University Heights and have lunch there a couple of times. There are so many places to eat, and the vibe in this area is so cool. There is also a great place for comedy there called Twiggs.

You can’t come to San Diego without going by the Gaslamp Quarter. I love performing at The Laugh Factory there. We would also definitely hit up a few bars like The Tipsy Cow which is my favorite.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Yes, I would like to shout out Tiffany Largie (tiffanylargie.com) for showing me how to dream big.

Kevin Hart’s book. I can’t make this up. Kevin in my opinion lays out the blueprint on how to keep going and use your failures as fuel.
Jo Koy’s book Mixed Plate. I love Jo’s book because he shows you the power of believing in yourself even when others may doubt you.

Website: https://linktr.ee/elsmithcomedy

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elsmithcomedy/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/elsmithcomedy

Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/pg/elsmith4real

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAu8spyhqI_aA8dD_A5Zj8Q

Other: my.community.com/e.l.smith

Image Credits
Laugh Factory Comedy Heights Long Time No See Comedy

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