Chris Foley, Jester of Wall Street" is the title of an article written by Venessa Wong of Bloomberg BusinessWeek on June 21 of this year. The subject of the piece, Mr. Foley, left his lucrative position as a stockbroker to become a standup comedian. Ms. Wong reports that when Mr. Foley made the most money, he was the most miserable. He gives new meaning to the misery index, taking it to a level that had never occurred to Jimmy Carter.
Here is a sample of both the article and Mr. Foley's comedy from his one-man show:
Chris Foley was so stressed working as a stockbroker that in 2008 he started getting Botox injections in his armpits to reduce perspiration. He developed rashes and suffered through a monthlong bout of diarrhea. His body, he says, was telling him he was in the wrong profession.
I attempted to find other examples of Mr. Foley's comedy on YouTube, but my efforts led me to Matt Foley, motivational speaker, instead. (Chris Farley is not forgotten.)
Chris Foley had dabbled in standup comedy during his thirteen years of work as a stockbroker, but when he was laid off in 2010, the opportunity presented itself for him to devote more energy to his true calling.
Which reminds me of Paul Gauguin. The School of Visual Arts, in an attempt to attract working professionals to attend the school (an art school located in New York City, a few blocks away from Baruch College, which ironically specializes in business) came up with the idea of using Gauguin's personal history to sell the school. Early in life, Gauguin was a bank teller. Later on, he found his true calling as an artist--painting with Vincent Van Gogh, moving to Tahiti, and so on. Another artist who abandoned finance (as well as his wife and children) for the glamour of pursuing a more exotic, artistic goal.
I find myself moving backwards compared to Foley and Gauguin. Rewind the tape. I am saying goodbye to art in an effort to find a new career in finance.
I love Matt Foley, but here's the only motivational speaker I'd actually pay to see:
I would pick Finance because Finance can be pretty funny :D
Just to be clear, leaving a bank teller job is not really leaving finance, so theres that
OP, you're in a boring 9-5. Do your comedy at night until you cut your teeth with the right crowd. The guy you mentioned had money in the bank to keep himself going while he retooled his career, so I'd look at their ACTIONS instead of the crap they're spouting off about.
ADD ON: While we're at it, I'm going to kill the 'starving artist' myth. A tiny minority of extremely focused people make it out of those ranks, but the overwhelming majority had jobs or family money to keep them going while they got their act together. The real starving artists, and I know a few, are usually suffering from untreated mental problems: while some of the work is actually brilliant, a lot of it is crap, and no rational person would choose to live like that. If you're can hold down a job, you're not the insane genius, so option 1 is your best bet: keep your day job and use your free time for your art until you're able to make a go of it.
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