Ah, the rewards of a life in professional stand-up comedy!

People often (and by "often", I mean "have never once felt the desire to ever") ask me, "Clark, what's the very best. most wonderful thing about being a professional entertainer person doing stand-up comedy?"

"Is it your name in lights?"

Or chalk, in very small print, near the bottom of the board, as the case may be

"Is it performing in front of huge crowds?"

"Is it having an appreciative audience listen attentively to your every word?"

"Is it having the respect and admiration of your peers?"

NOTE: That's Josh Santos on the left. That is NOT me on the right, believe it or not.

"Is it the glamorous travel?"

"Is it being constantly surrounded by pretty girls?"

Actually, that happens VERY rarely, but when it does, yeah, that's pretty great.
Okay, it happened once.
But it was pretty great.

Believe it or not, it's actually none of those things. It's this:

This is a thank you letter I received for being part of a line-up performing at a fundraiser for a high school's music program a couple of weeks ago. No money, but a I got to perform for a bunch of nice people who showed up to enjoy themselves and then I got this letter on the way out. Perfect!
It probably sounds corny, but it's 100% true: human beings conveying positive feedback (preferably in the form of laughter, but letters are nice too) is the best thing about doing comedy. 

Just kidding. It's the pretty girls.

That really was pretty great.