Welcome to Earth's first "forward." This points out a misconception of which only I seem to be aware or care about: A "foreword" is so called because it is at the "fore" of the book. It does not send you "forward" into the book. You start reading at the front of the book and head to the back which means you are heading backwards. You only go forwards when you check back to something in front. (And no, since you are always aimed the same way it can't be as in "back the car up to the front of the house.") From here I will send you forward to the front of the book, prepared to return to the fore. Comicman would point out that the book doesn't really begin or end, it continues to exist as a whole.
Despite this book's categorization as a work of fiction any (allegedly) fictional facet as simply a medium for non-fictional aspects. As Comicman informs you himself, humor is often truth packaged so that hard-to-accept aspects can be discarded as fiction.
This book has had a seven-plus year gestation period. During that time it is possible that in my travels across the U.S.A. and Canada I have told the story to every individual inhabitant on a one by one basis. If there is still someone out there I have missed please read on.
In 1991 I became involved in a project for television involving many up-and-coming comedians and to be anchored by the truly hilarious Pat Cooper. Out of this stillborn (or still to be born) project came a radio show which, to make one of my favorite stories short, was itself canceled days before it's premier due to what we'll just call politics. Besides losing the chance for on air performance I had also been scheduled to live in the studio for the next few months writing much of the show. I walked into the producer's office and announced that with all of my sudden free time I would write a play. It would be three one character acts and would use up three characters I otherwise had little more use for. He pointed out "so then you'll have two plays written that you'll never do anything with."
He was correct. I would have to put it in the form of a novel. I had some science fiction projects on the eternal back burner and combining certain projects appeared to become more than the sum of the parts. Instead of one character scenes I devised a central character who could utilize all of the personas. His abilities were not the gift of a writer looking for an easy way out, but an ultimate expression of a philosophy (another of the projects on the back burner.)
Having years of experience with improvisational troupes in addition to my life as a standup comedian (among other things) it seemed obvious to me that the lead should be a two-headed-coin of comedy. The superhero would be an improvisational comedian, with each appearance becoming whatever character his audience would demand. His flipside would be a standard standup.
The possibilities were not simply unlimited, but multi-dimensional. I could use up as many old (and new) characters as I felt like, including some I never had time (or talent?) to develop to performance levels. I could also throw in material that otherwise would just be stolen. (It still gets stolen, but since I am using it too it isn't "just" stolen.) I could also mouth off on any topic that struck my fancy ( a few months of mouthing off led to seven years of editing it down.)
Real science fiction must exist for a reason beyond a story that could be told in a mundane setting. Either the story or the writer (if one is bashing one's tyrannical dictator for instance) must require an invented setting, or the science itself should be the issue.
My hero exists as he does to be the embodiment of a philosophy of humor. My hero can succeed in that regard simply by not letting minor failures (so you lose a galaxy here or there) bring him down. In a way this is a guide for daily life. As religion/mythology uses larger than life heroes and gods to illustrate a philosophy for daily living, Comicman is an illustration of mine.
Comicman uses several of my old stage names. Early on I was advised to give his alias a name that is likeable quickly. I tried my own earliest and most irrevocable nickname for which everyone who was asked gave at least one digit up, so he has my name. Said alias also acts a lot like me. This is not about playing superhero (okay, it is a little bit.) Comicman is the impossible goal I set, my philosophy in pure form. Any possible goal risks being limiting. If anything it is written so the reader can feel like the center of things, it is from inside your own head that you take in what goes on in this story.
The standup aspects are genuine. It is not another guess at the world of comedy, nor is it the standup world altered to fit the standard boy meets girl, boy drinks/overworks/cheats/mistreats/jokes too much and loses girl story. It is not some star's memoirs which always seem to boil down to three pages of I was born and struggled to the top followed by two hundred pages of drug abuse then ten pages of "rehab-illy ever after." Since the world of standup comedy is shown as a support to the main thrust of the narrative there wasn't even a reason to alter it in any way to fit any dramatic need.
As a side benefit, since the rest of the story is separate you get a much more realistic insight than if things centered on standup. A standup spends most of his life doing other things like anyone else. This is where most of the material comes from. Dedicated writing sessions generally produce filler. A good comedy writer may sit down for a session of refining the real material but that material comes from making fun of life while living/observing it. Trust me, when a writer sits down and forces something out the result usually feels strained to the audience.
Some readers of early versions of this book mentioned it had an aspect of being almost a how-to guide for humor. This content is involved not so much to instruct the reader (a future project perhaps) as it is to justify the character. If a reader feels some insight into humor and human nature relating to laughter has been gained, then a character claiming to be pretty much the "Greek God of Comedy" has some minor credentials to present. Nobody noticed a few scientific ramblings were blended in for the same reason, to make it seem that he's (I'm) not full of hot air. (There's a small bit of room to go before I'm full.) As long as you know a topic such as "The sky is falling" was discussed, the rest is no more important than counting the floors of a big building in a movie. It's big, it's impressive, the guy who runs it is meant to be of some substance.
I am an out loud performer and never before had a wish to get involved in an extended writing project such as a novel. It had never seemed like it would be enough fun to spend that much time banging on a keyboard. (Contrary to what anyone might say, this book was not produced by a million chimps banging on typewriters. I did all the banging alone.) Something that had kept it from being an adventurous medium for me had to be changed. There had to be something that only this medium could do that was not being made use of as of yet.
In college I was put into "College Writing" courses. I had a great one followed by a terrible one. The second one was to writing as College French is to French. (If you get lost in Paris or Montreal good luck finding anyone fluent in College French.) All of the writing courses agree on the rules, they only disagree on the punishments for bending them.
The rules insist that an absolute must in a story is that there be a central character with a problem for whom solving the problem is a growth experience. I don't believe in the necessity of problems (only challenges exist, a problem reflects your choice of how to take it) nor do I believe every story must be a growth experience. The most entertaining stories I hear people tell from real life rarely are, I see no need to add such an impurity. A growth experience is one possible story element and that's it. (I was advised to add impurities in the form of gratuitous sex to make it "more sellable." Gratuitous is never a problem but impure is. Comicman would insist there is a solution, the book can have broader appeal without sacrificing itself in any way. I experimented with variations that displayed aspects of the character and advanced the rest of the work. They worked well enough -meaning I had enough fun writing them- that they have been included and I actually thanked those who for whatever impure reasons had pushed me to do so.)
Comicman never has a bad day, or a bad moment. Although he is an icon of learning and personal evolution, he starts off so advanced that his further growth can never be the point. He is a being who carries his own personal paradise with him at all times, yet he can still be involved in an ongoing story! Part of the philosophy he exemplifies is that happiness is an art form and a skill. It takes practice, talent, aptitude. And it is a choice. He has chosen to be happy and will be true to that in the face of all attempts to wipe the smile off his face.
People often inquire of me why a person would do comedy, how a comic mind thinks, and as previously discussed, where comedy routines come from. Now I do not care to explain the thoughts of people who do standup because it's a stepping stone to a better acting job, but as someone who takes humor as a twenty-four hour a day art form I give my answer to all of these questions by putting you in my mind, "mind melding" to borrow a phrase.
To accomplish this the entire book is in real time, moment to moment rather than scene to scene. That means another rule I ignored is that stories move from relevant point to relevant point. Real life isn't like that. When nothing is random every aside or background mention is there for a reason which means you know it will come back to haunt things.
Such "efficiency" of story is why I am never surprised by anything in a book or movie, it's all telegraphed ahead. (This does not include bad writing in which a mystery is solved with clues not shared with the reader/viewer.) As my character goes through this book things happen because they happen, and he comments on them and routines develop. Routines come from routine things! Information that needs to be given to the reader is given but you can't guess much because most of the asides are just that. Read 'em and throw 'em aside.
. Why would anyone write a book simply to describe scenes and action when Spielberg and Lucas and Disney can put pictures on a screen that outdo what most readers imagine when reading? A book goes directly to the reader's mind, so instead of telling you to experience what a character sees and hears why not let you experience the character's mind directly? Action will often be interrupted because the narrative isn't as important as the perspective, you are inside a mind and a mind wanders, comments, evaluates and analyzes in the midst of the action. As long as you're in Comicman's head you may as well get the full tour.
Ask my editor, Steve, how many rules of grammar and punctuation were rewritten to stretch the envelope of what words could say to get closer to telepathy. (My publisher is also named Steve as is his partner. I met all of them years after I wrote the routine about how many Steve's seem to be out there. For any Steve out there who thinks he himself is in the book, sorry, except as a member of the greater world of Steves.)
The rules of writing practically insist on tricks. Things like cliff hangers, questions and curiosities and unrelated B.S. being inserted at each chapter's end so you must start the next chapter. I violated this convention big time. I generally find that books that "YOU CAN'T PUT DOWN" are easily forgotten. The tricks that keep you there take the place of substance. I prefer books you put down to ponder, books that create a reality you want to draw out as long as possible.
I kid around, I'm a kidder. Because you might sometimes forget this here a few clues for not getting confused more than absolutely necessary.
A) You are inside the character's head and his mind's voice (narrator) never shuts up.
B) If you lose track of whose talking, it's that talkative narrator unless you're sure otherwise.
C) Sometimes the voice gets fancy and refers to himself in the third person. This does not mean you're going crazy, although it is not evidence that you are sane either.
D) Some things are included because life has non-sequiturs. Don't get attached to side things that clearly don't count.
E) If it seems like a non-sequitur and smells like a joke, it probably is.
F) If I'm only kidding I'm only kidding. Comedians do things for a laugh, let it go.
G) Like any dummy or idiot knows, a little technical stuff is included to impress, not to be understood. (I get ignored that way all the time anyway.)
H) Time and space are all relative. The whole of the book exists at all times, it neither starts nor ends.