With Cody after the show.

One of the big transitions in my life that has occurred from Maddie being my daughter is that I’ve written a whole different standup act. My previous act which was focused on the macro of the world, (pop culture, politics, etc) seemed kind of hollow to me after Maddie came into my life. Outside of my pained relationship with my father, I hadn’t really spoken the truth of my life onstage. I didn’t even discuss being married, because I didn’t have an angle on it that I thought worked with the rest of my act. (Plus my wife Susan is a private person who was happy not to be exposed in my material.)

In the current version of my act, the first 10 minutes is from my older act, as I go for bigger laughs and provide the audience with what they’ve come to expect at a comedy club.  From that point, though, the rest of the show discusses the journey I’ve been on from trying to conceive to the changes Maddie has made in my life. Wanting to go even further, I have branched out with this show, as I want to be a voice for raising money and awareness for people with developmental disabilities. I’ve done a few of these shows and the response has been very encouraging.

This past Saturday I did a show in Louisville to raise money for the Special Olympics of Kentucky. There was a lot of time and hard work put in by a few of us to get a big audience for the show, but for whatever reasons, it didn’t happen. I push hard when it comes to any project I’m involved in and after whoring it out on social media, doing 2 radio shows, a TV show, and a very cool local podcast, we still only had around 40 people at the event. Hey, that’s still a nice amount of money raised for this cause that means so much to me and my family, but when I hit the stage, I felt a little dejected.

Now at this point I should mention that the week before the event I had decided to add another act to the bill, a magician/comic named Cody Comet. He had been referred to me from an old friend and a great magician, Taylor Martin. Cody is on the autism spectrum, so I thought it would be great to have him be part of the show.

So as I said, I went into this show thinking it was a failure of some sorts, as it didn’t reach even 50 percent of the levels I was hoping for in attendance. I got up onstage, though, and did the old “let’s put on the best show I can” thing and then I brought up Cody.

Now I had watched a couple clips on Youtube of him, but it’s hard to really judge someone as a performer from an online clip. This is definitely the case with Cody.  Now I’m not an expert on magic, but I can tell you that he has something magical. While he’s onstage conducting his illusions, what is going on with him is the opposite. Cody is totally transparent. He is unadulterated joy and passion when he’s performing.

So I went into this show feeling like it was a bit of a failure, but all it took was to see Cody onstage for 10 seconds to realize it was a triumph. The biggest goal with my show is to help others learn that people that are autistic are as diverse as people who are not, which is why I always stress the words autism spectrum. Parents of children on the spectrum often are filled with concern that our child will never be able to connect with the world. Cody was an inspiration to me, as he demonstrated how when you find something you are passionate about, it will work on a few different levels, beyond just the surface stuff that most performers bring to the stage.

NOTE: It must be stated that it quickly becomes obvious that Cody has great parents (who were at the show) that have helped him reach this point. I can’t imagine there is anything more satisfying as a parent than to you see your child achieve their goals in such  a public forum. This is why I’m such a big supporter of the Special Olympics.

I’m a fan of great magicians like Penn and Teller, the Amazing Jonathan, and Mac King, but what Cody did during his set was every bit as impressive to me. He is still early in his career and is not technically as gifted as some, but he offers something else they can’t provide. He brings pure sweetness in what he does. Call me a sentimental fool, but the pure moments of sweetness that my daughter Maddie can offer is the most magical thing in the world to me. Cody brought that to the audience yesterday and helped me put things in real perspective. Thanks Magic Man.

Postscript: The Special Olympics of Kentucky told me after that they would like to have Cody appear at other events of theirs. What a success this show ended up being, despite my initial stinkin’ thinkin’.

Here is Cody’s website