Speaker 1: My favorite port is the Galveston, Texas Port. It's always
Speaker 1: a good time with those people. If Texas are by
Speaker 1: far the most fun people.
Speaker 2: That's Rob Little. He's a stand up comedian and somewhat miraculously,
Speaker 2: he's been doing comedy professionally for a whopping twenty five years,
Speaker 2: and one of the main keys to rob success is
Speaker 2: that he is tapped into a lucrative gig that not
Speaker 2: only keeps him employed, but allows him to live a
Speaker 2: life that most of us can only dream of, or
Speaker 2: at the very least save up for all year to
Speaker 2: live for just a few days, because one of Rob's
Speaker 2: main gigs is to perform his sets on cruise ships.
Speaker 2: But before we go aboard, let's take a look back
Speaker 2: at the meandering road that eventually led Rob down to Port.
Speaker 1: My hometown is Ping County, Michigan, where the cheese capital
Speaker 1: of Michigan. Everybody's like, I thought it was Wisconsin. I'm like, oh, Michigan,
Speaker 1: I said.
Speaker 2: And while a dairytown in the Upper Midwest might seem
Speaker 2: like an unlikely place to begin a life in comedy,
Speaker 2: Rob's Michigan roots play heavily into his eventual success, and
Speaker 2: it all started as he remembers on a family vacation
Speaker 2: to Michigan's Mackinaw Island.
Speaker 1: My parents were watching HBO late at night. They thought
Speaker 1: we were asleep, and they were watching George Carland, and
Speaker 1: I just remember them laughing so hard that I was like,
Speaker 1: that's what I want to do when I grow up.
Speaker 2: As wild as it may sound, to have your life
Speaker 2: plan decided by the age of five, that's exactly what
Speaker 2: happened for Rob. He knew then and there, while evesdropping
Speaker 2: on his parents' laughter, that he wanted to be a
Speaker 2: stand up comedian. But as committed to this life plan
Speaker 2: as Rob was, he still got that Midwestern pragmatism, so
Speaker 2: he understood that this was a dream that would take
Speaker 2: some time to realize, which meant that he'd have to
Speaker 2: take some other jobs in the meanwhile to pay the bills.
Speaker 1: I worked at McDonald's and I won three national awards
Speaker 1: when I worked there, and I won mister Mcopener, mister mcsmile,
Speaker 1: and then the big one was mister mcservice. And I
Speaker 1: got to do a real commercial on TV and a
Speaker 1: photo layout and it was ridiculous.
Speaker 2: What's mister Mcopener.
Speaker 1: It's just not like I was the first one there
Speaker 1: in the morning. But old people are rough on you
Speaker 1: in the morning. Man. If they don't get their senior coffee,
Speaker 1: they're pulling their teeth out.
Speaker 2: Many people believe that to make a dream come true,
Speaker 2: you first have to manifest it. We're told to say
Speaker 2: our life goal is out loud or write them down.
Speaker 1: And even in my senior book, when you're graduating, we
Speaker 1: had to make predictions. And my prediction was I might
Speaker 1: go to college, get my computer degree, and then I'm
Speaker 1: going to be the best comedian I can be.
Speaker 2: So is it any wonder then that Rob did go
Speaker 2: off to college and get his computer programming degree, of
Speaker 2: course not, because Rob's got that farm boy work ethic
Speaker 2: matched with an unwavering dedication to his ultimate plan. And
Speaker 2: the next step in that plan was to put that
Speaker 2: programming degree to work earn a little money until he
Speaker 2: figured out this whole comedy thing.
Speaker 1: My first time about of college, I was worked for
Speaker 1: GM and then I worked at kmart headquarters and I
Speaker 1: did kmart dot com.
Speaker 2: And with steady money coming in from computer programming, Rob
Speaker 2: moved to Detroit to actively pursue comedy.
Speaker 1: And I was at a bar one night and I
Speaker 1: saw these passes in the window and it was for
Speaker 1: an open mic night, and I was like what. I
Speaker 1: grabbed all the passes and I went up to the bartender.
Speaker 1: I goes, there's a comedy club and he's like, right there,
Speaker 1: it's literally connected to the building. I was like what.
Speaker 1: I ended up living at that club after that.
Speaker 2: So that farm boy work ethic that made Rob an
Speaker 2: award winner at Mickey D's and an in demand website
Speaker 2: builder now focused itself on comedy stand up became Rob's life.
Speaker 2: But all you math whiz is out there know that
Speaker 2: you can't devote yourself one hundred percent to multiple things,
Speaker 2: which meant something had to give.
Speaker 1: And I became the worst computer programmer any of the
Speaker 1: companies gonna have. I was making all this money, but
Speaker 1: I was the worst employee.
Speaker 2: But as Rob started to book himself for bigger and
Speaker 2: bigger events, he just couldn't be bothered to show up
Speaker 2: at the office anymore. So, while working for IBM, he
Speaker 2: decided enough was enough. It was time to fulfill that
Speaker 2: life plan he'd formulated at five years old and committed
Speaker 2: to history in his high school yearbook.
Speaker 1: I sent out a company why email telling people they
Speaker 1: should quit their jobs and follow their dreams. And I'm
Speaker 1: going to be a stand up comedian. Here's my website.
Speaker 1: They wouldn't let me quit my IBM boss, let me
Speaker 1: take a leave of absence. And the week after he
Speaker 1: did that, the Detroit Free Press named me Michigan's best
Speaker 1: up and coming comedian. And I sent him that and
Speaker 1: he goes, oh, you're not coming back, are you? I goes,
Speaker 1: I wasn't coming back, and they made me worse up
Speaker 1: and coming comedian.
Speaker 2: And from there Rob was off to the races. He
Speaker 2: threw himself completely into comedy, and once again being in
Speaker 2: Michigan played a big part in realizing his dreams.
Speaker 1: Within a four hour radius, I could hit fifty clubs.
Speaker 2: Probably eventually, though Rob had exhausted that circuit. So he
Speaker 2: gave La a shot, didn't love it, gave New York
Speaker 2: a try, really didn't like that. And then one day
Speaker 2: his agent suggested he apply for cruise ships. And Rob thought,
Speaker 2: cruise ships.
Speaker 1: It wasn't even on my radar. And he said, hey,
Speaker 1: why don't you come out in audition for these? And
Speaker 1: I was like, okay, And when I did, a man
Speaker 1: like instantly all the cruise lines were like, Yeah, we'll
Speaker 1: take them.
Speaker 2: When we come back from the break. We set sail
Speaker 2: with Rob Little.
Speaker 3: A strong work ethic, takes pride in a job well done.
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Speaker 2: We're back with comedian Rob Little, who, after a successful
Speaker 2: few years of performing on dry land, has just booked
Speaker 2: his first gig aboard cruise ships.
Speaker 1: And the only difference is we have to do family
Speaker 1: friendly shows on there, so you'll have little kids right
Speaker 1: in the front row. And a lot of comics get
Speaker 1: caught up by that. They get tripped up by it,
Speaker 1: and they worry more about the kids. And it isn't
Speaker 1: about the kids. They're gonna laugh if they see their
Speaker 1: parents laughing.
Speaker 2: And even with the adults in the audience. For many
Speaker 2: of them, stand up comedy is not something they do
Speaker 2: in everyday life. But on a cruise, all bets are off.
Speaker 2: They'll drink a few my ties, hit the buffet, then
Speaker 2: play a little shuffle board. So what the heck, why
Speaker 2: not check out this stand up comedy guy.
Speaker 1: People come right up and go, we don't normally go
Speaker 1: to shows, and then they're like, we need to do
Speaker 1: this more often. This was a good time, and they'll
Speaker 1: come back to every one of your shows.
Speaker 2: Rob's quickly learned that these cruise gigs are pretty ideal
Speaker 2: for a comedian because comedy has become big business on cruises.
Speaker 2: Most of the ships have large regal theaters, and if
Speaker 2: a comedian does well, their subsequent shows will often sell out.
Speaker 2: As hype circulates around the ship.
Speaker 1: People are like, oh my god, you gotta go see
Speaker 1: which one the bald one? You gotta see It's always
Speaker 1: the bald, white, chubby guy or whatever they say, you know.
Speaker 2: And for those few days aboard the ship, a comedian
Speaker 2: can become a bit of a celebrity.
Speaker 1: You like, you'd be walking around the ship and they're
Speaker 1: like a rat, you know, and then come join as
Speaker 1: you know, next thing you know, you're drinking, you're in
Speaker 1: them and stuff like that.
Speaker 2: Well, comedians would normally have to travel from one city
Speaker 2: to the next to perform. Cruises offer consistent work and
Speaker 2: a steady lucrative paycheck.
Speaker 1: I mean, financially, I make more than I even did IBM,
Speaker 1: So it's definitely worked out in the long run for sure.
Speaker 2: And with all the cruises out there now, a comedian
Speaker 2: can really line up in gigs.
Speaker 1: And this week coming up, I'll be doing my two
Speaker 1: hundred and third cruise.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I keep track of them all night, keeople, like
Speaker 1: a little diary of them.
Speaker 2: That's incredible. But of course, a job is still a job,
Speaker 2: and like any job, it has its pitfalls.
Speaker 1: A lot of people think we only work one hour
Speaker 1: a night, and that's so not true. That's the easiest
Speaker 1: part of our job is going on stage. The rest
Speaker 1: of the stuff we're online. We're too kick booking gigs,
Speaker 1: or we're doing research on jokes, or we're making flyers,
Speaker 1: we're promoting, we're doing all this other stuff.
Speaker 2: And despite working a boarder ship packed with people, the
Speaker 2: job can be surprisedly lonely.
Speaker 1: You're surrounded by people that are on their vacation, but
Speaker 1: you're not on vacation. You're working. People will say that too.
Speaker 1: You're like, oh, man, you know, I'm not having a
Speaker 1: great day. I'm kind of bummed out. I'm stuck on
Speaker 1: the ship and people are like, oh, poor you, and
Speaker 1: I'm like, you have no idea, man, I didn't choose
Speaker 1: a vacation by myself.
Speaker 2: It's even worse around the holidays.
Speaker 1: I did a Thanksgiving one time. Oh my god. It
Speaker 1: was like stabbing me in the heart. They're like, this
Speaker 1: ain't a Thanksgiving. This is this is a prison. Is
Speaker 1: what this is? You know. It's hard to say that
Speaker 1: to people because they just say, oh, oh, you're in
Speaker 1: Saint Martin. I'm like, yeah.
Speaker 2: But in spite of the occasional workplace challenges, which let's
Speaker 2: face it, every single job has, Rob Little realizes that
Speaker 2: he did it. He freaking made his dreams come true.
Speaker 1: I just love it. I literally just passed twenty five
Speaker 1: years so I've been doing it.
Speaker 2: Congrats. Wow.
Speaker 1: Thanks, that's a.
Speaker 2: Pretty long career in comedy now.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think so.
Speaker 2: So the next time you're on a cruise and you
Speaker 2: want to laugh and also see a guy living out
Speaker 2: his dreams, a dream that he came up with way
Speaker 2: back when he was five years old, just look for
Speaker 2: the bald white guy, or, better yet, check out Rob's
Speaker 2: itinerary and tour dates on his website roblittle dot com.
Speaker 2: When's your next cruise ship out?
Speaker 1: I actually go on one next week on a celebrity cruise.
Speaker 1: And you have no clue where you're going, now that
Speaker 1: you say that, I don't
Speaker 2: From the job, I'm Avery Thompson.