Interview · moment 18 of 32
Sacrifice, Delusion, and Early Bad Material
from #179 - Sal Vulcano | The Tim Dillon Show · #179
5 min
Guest
Sal and Tim discuss how sacrifice is the unspoken requirement for creative success, and Sal admits his early stand-up material about hypocritical Catholics was mediocre compared to more seasoned material.
- Tim describes a 70-year-old couple at a Gotham comedy workshop who thought they were cool and beyond criticism despite having terrible material.
- Woman in the class proudly presents her dieting joke: you gain weight, lose two pounds, eat a tomato, gain three back — then leans back expecting applause.
- Tim argues you need delusion to survive the beginning of comedy because it's brutal and you don't know what you're doing or what's good.
- His early material was bad — a bit about religious people being hypocrites based on them saying 'peace be with you' then flipping each other off in the parking lot.
- Culture tells people to follow their dreams but never mentions sacrifice — quality of life, sleep, health, relationships, and dignity all disappear.
- Tim says even with success now he still feels the effects of those sacrifices.