Seth K. Thomas

 I started a new class this term at the club, and it's always amazing to meet comedians who are hungry for comedy knowledge and expertise. It's invigorating as a sharer of know-how and experience.  There is this thing in comedy, especially amongst the pseudo-seasoned, where the quest to get better stops. These comedians create a sense of arrival in their minds and then proceed as if there is nothing more to learn, no notes to take, and that anyone who disagrees with their decisions just doesn't "get it." This false sense of reality is not only self-destructive, but it's also a buzzkill for those in the community who are trying to support the growth and development of others. So when one- that one being me- gets a packed room, twelve to be exact, of people with varied experience, all hungry and ready to level up their skill set, it's absolutely magical. It actually motivates me to level up, as I am the person guiding the level-up. I used level up a lot just...

I have never been a fan of roasts. I don't really get them. I guess it's funny to talk mad smack about a person and they sit there and take it? I guess it's a chance to give somebody the business? I don't know what the appeal of it is. But also to go so far as to have writers for a roast so that the person delivering the jokes isn't even connected enough to have their own jokes about the person; that's even more weird to me. Like I would sit and have my homeboys bag on me for hours cause ultimately, I know it'll be based on shared experiences and the undertone is love. But a stranger, with a writer? A writer that don't know me? What are you going to say? And how could it possibly relate to me except for it to be based on stereotypes that one would think are associated with me. I saw a clip of a roast battle and the two didn't know each other at all and so all the jokes were based on race and outward appearance. It was trash in my opinion and the targ...

So, clearly, I'm at one a month with my weblog. This is ridiculous. I have to do better. But what I'm not going to do is make every post about my bad blogging habits so moving on... I have been substitute teaching these last few weeks and I have been reminded why I swore I would never teach again. I have done way more behavior management that teaching and because of my commitment to not yelling at children, I have softly and politely said "please sit down" more times in two weeks than I have in five years.  I get it. I remember me in middle school and I was a nightmare. I think back now to those teachers I had and feel so bad. Back then, I thought they were old as heck but I know that they were just young adults trying to do their job and every day they had to come to work and deal this little a-hole. I think the major difference between me and the kids I'm managing right now is that I did my work. I was an A student who misbehaved. These are D students misbehavin...

Last year, when I was living in Los Angeles, I was producing a show called the Saturday Night Revue, and I was supported by an amazing manager, Mary H. Mary is an old friend from Chicago who, aside from being a great stage performer, is an amazing stage manager and tech. I believe tech is one of the most important components of live shows, especially sketch comedy shows, and I was super fortunate to have Mary on the team. My producer brain is firing on all cylinders at all times, and almost every time I had an idea about the show, I was shooting Mary a text. It could be morning, midday, or evening. Idea comes in, text to Mary goes out. Finally, Mary hit me up and was like, "I don't have the bandwidth for this. There needs to be some control with the messaging." In that moment, I stopped and did something I had yet to do. I thought about Mary on the receiving end of these messages.  Text has a certain level of immediacy, and to them, nothing I was sharing had urgency. Also...

The signature for my email is visit this site, and every time I send an email, I ask myself, " What am I sending people here to see? I have fallen all the way off with the Daily Highku (sorry, Lori), and I probably need to get back to that. I should also just blog. Like, use this as a real web log. Like "I had coffee today, and it was delish." Seriously, though, I live in Dallas, Texas now, and everyone is like, "How's Dallas?" and I'm always like, "It's cool," 'cause really I have only seen a small part of Dallas. I haven't started working yet, so the only places I go are church and the comedy club. Duality, am I right? The comedy scene I frequent is really cool. Really young. I'm older than everyone there, including the club's owner, and that's really exciting. I feel like I found the comedy fountain of youth. The improv class has me on my feet again, exercising a muscle that hasn't seen a gym in years. There are ...

It's been a long time since I last posted to this weblog, and I am super conscious of it now because my email signature guides people to this weblog. I admit the Daily Highku has stalled. I haven't written one in months. I should write one now. I'll post that.  So, what's going on with me? Well, I have moved to Dallas, Texas, and I have been adjusting to the move. Why Dallas? Well, I got married in October of 2025, and this is where my wife lives. I was in Los Angeles, and we decided that my coming here was better than her going there. And the gas is so much cheaper here. I haven't really gotten out much. I spend most of my time rehearsing for my show in Toronto, which happens in March. I have started taking improv classes at the Dallas Comedy Club, and that has been exciting. It's a long form 1 class, and even though I am familiar with long form improv and I have done it and taught it, I have never really gone through a full course and course structure. I'm...

I have a lot of fond memories of New York. I was born in Connecticut, and when I would visit my grandmother and grand-aunt in Stratford, going to New York was always a treat. Later, when I was in university, I made several friends who lived in New York, and I would visit them often on my way to or from family visits in Connecticut. My grand-aunt took me to a Yankees game once at old Yankee Stadium. I remember catching a foul ball, dropping it, and reaching down to get it, and the man in the seat in front of me was reaching under his seat, scratching my head in an effort to get me to release the ball. My grand-aunt bopped him over the head, and he stopped scratching me. There’s a picture somewhere of me holding up that ball. I remember being at a store on Broadway and asking about a large Zippo lighter that said NYC on it. The man said it was $45. I then asked about the smaller one. He said it was $45. I then inquired about the larger one, again, and he said it was $60. That seemed like...