Buddy Hackett

A friend from work told me about how he got to see Buddy Hackett perform in Vegas for the last time in 1996. I was confused because I didn’t think he had died until recently. After doing some research, or checking Wikipedia as it’s known more colloquially, I discovered Buddy Hackett had quit performing regularly in ’96 due to stage fright. Stage fright?! How is that possible? This is Buddy Hackett: purveyor of blue! You know, The Love Bug guy (whoever worked at Disney at the time knew how to cast against type)! How could THE Buddy Hackett suffer from stage fright? He claimed it came from the side effects of a surgery he had, and that makes sense, but still. The experience alone means I should be a better comic in my seventies than I am now in my twenties, and not just because of the old people jokes.

The thing is that I still get butterflies in my stomach before I get up. I was sort of hoping they’d dissipate by now after two years, and while they don’t come on as strong as they used to, they still happen. This is another thing experience should take care of, but I’ve also heard long time comics say that they still get the nerves, performance anxiety, stage fright, whatever you want to call it. A lot of those guys say that the day they don’t get that feeling is probably their last day performing, because it means that standup doesn’t mean anything to them anymore. Physically, they are not compelled.

For Christ’s sake, I hope that’s not true. Jesus, how many articles in a row is this where I speak about the shitty sides of comedy? Between confidence, nerves, open mics, bringer shows, cliché jokes, exactly what the hell am I supposed to find? I’m hoping for a point of comfort. I’m getting there, again, with time, effort, and patience. It just scared me that Buddy Hackett of all the people had something as debilitating as stage fright hit him so late in his career. As I mentioned earlier, he associated it with side effects of surgery. So, once again, the conclusion I’ve drawn is that I should probably just quit my bitching and get back to work. See you on the circuit!