You Are The Genre (and so am i)

How I'm Staying Sane as the Entertainment Industry Crumbles

Sep 18, 2023

In the summer of 2016, I moved from Chicago to New York and was starting fresh as a comedian. My personal life was in shambles, and figuring out how to survive in the new city superseded earnest pursuits at entering the standup scene. I was lucky (or not so lucky) for my first NYC job to be as a podcast producer at VICE. But I was so overworked, underpaid, and under-stimulated, that the disconnect between what I was doing and what I aspired to do became a seemingly inescapable pit…

How’s that for a Star Wars opening crawl?

While I was fortunate to be in media instead of a slinging doughnuts, I was also embarrassed and on edge. I hated that ‘podcast producer’ was becoming peoples’ first impression of me. But, inch by inch, I used each progressive job as a stepping stone until I finally reached my goal of writing comedy for television.

As TV writing began to take precedent, I felt like even less of a standup comedian. The guilt associated with possibly abandoning a craft that I dedicated so much time to is still difficult for me to grapple with, especially as my interests continue to sprout out. I want to write science fiction short stories and novels! I’d like to become proficient at playing the piano! I want to write comics! But the idea that life is about being really good at just one thing always tries to hold me back.

However, in many of my recent text interviews, I’ve learned that more people are embracing the life of a multi-hyphenate. And in one interview in particular, I had a bit of a breakthrough.

While texting with writer/director, Eliza Cossio, I realized that I already had the answer to my own problem; it was just waiting for an excuse to emerge in the form of a phrase:

Eliza Cossio Interview: DAY 3 (Thursday 06-08-2023)

Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when published

Eliza:
...(5:52PM) I do see writing as a job. It’s fun and invigorating, but it’s also precise and crafted. it’s taking me like fifteen minutes to write what I want to communicate here. And not that it’s the hardest job in the world or anything but writing does not come naturally to me - and this is tangential but i really reject the idea some ppl have that you have to like, live and die your art in order to be a true artist. i like writing, sometimes I love it, and I hope I can do it for a very long time, but ya sometimes it’s a math problem or a headache. It’s rarely like, a sunny day on a riverbank where a stroke of genius hits u. And when it is that, there’s still work to do (6:03PM) I’m not sure why this question broke me lol, I guess because even tho I feel it is a job I also, for my own sake, want to hold on to the part of writing that is a little magical. quincy jones said you have to leave room for god when you’re writing and I think this is what he means, that you have to allow for ideas to come in but then do the work to make it. but I feel so pretentious talking about it like this, bc sometimes it’s just riffing on dick jokes in a writers room and damn that is fun lol. so idk maybe god is dick jokes too (6:16PM) do you get ideas from dreams? (6:18PM) And I get so much out of having music as a hobby, and I have been scared to turn it into a pursuit. When I started learning piano I was thinking I would try performing comedy music, like flight of the concords but with Carole king vibes or something?? haha. but every time i write songs they turn into like, earnest Taylor Swift songs. I love what Whitmer Thomas does. Also do you remember Zach galifinakis’ stand up he’d do at the piano? I loved that lol. So idk - I think I would still like to do something with it at some point (6:19PM) do you feel balance with your creative endeavors?

Tim:
(6:40PM) Sorry — went airplane mode there for a bit while recording a podcast. I don’t remember a lot of my dreams but I do wake up with the mood my dreams left me in and that guides me a little. I’ve been enjoying the strange luxury of having a savings account this year after three writing jobs in a row. A ton of weird guilt associated with that but it is helping be find balance in everything. Figuring out what my genuine voice is, etc. kind of reached the point where the thesis is “I am the genre.” That’s helping me get into writing short stories and pilot scripts that don’t require me to necessarily be a comedian

Eliza:
(6:41PM) Whoa (6:41PM) I am the genre

Tim:
(6:41PM) I feel like this all ties back into the grand entrance thing. If you could talk to Daily Show Eliza now, what would you tell her?

Eliza:
(6:50PM) I am trying to use this time for that too, figuring out my voice exactly. wow, i just wrote I am the genre down and put it on my computer. This is huge (6:55PM) I think I’d tell daily show Eliza that leaving the show is the right move, that things don’t always fit in boxes, and that it’s okay to not like certain people or certain things

So, here’s the part where I become some sort of prophet, like Howard Beale in Network.

What does it mean to be the genre?

I think it’s important to remember that ‘being the genre’ isn’t just about your own experience. Being the genre is more like ‘being a dude’ in Good Burger.

EVERYONE is the genre; which means that each individual is the most important factor of their endeavors — not the endeavor itself.

Since typing that phrase, a world of possibilities has opened up for me. And with so much of the entertainment industry is in shambles, it's helpful to know that I am not defined by some external medium — but rather, I am the medium which defines each project I’m called to. And so are you.

Another friend of mine,

Chris Duffy

, recently posted a series of thoughts to the same effect. So, if you don’t take my word for it — take his: