Ahoys and Haha's; Comedy On The High Seas

My favorite port is the Galveston, Texas Port. It's always a good time with those people. If Texas are by far the most fun people.

That's Rob Little. He's a stand up comedian and somewhat miraculously, he's been doing comedy professionally for a whopping twenty five years, and one of the main keys to rob success is that he is tapped into a lucrative gig that not only keeps him employed, but allows him to live a life that most of us can only dream of, or at the very least save up for all year to live for just a few days, because one of Rob's main gigs is to perform his sets on cruise ships.

My hometown is Ping County, Michigan, where the cheese capital of Michigan. Everybody's like, I thought it was Wisconsin. I'm like, oh, Michigan, I said.

And while a dairytown in the Upper Midwest might seem like an unlikely place to begin a life in comedy, Rob's Michigan roots play heavily into his eventual success, and it all started as he remembers on a family vacation to Michigan's Mackinaw Island.

My parents were watching HBO late at night. They thought we were asleep, and they were watching George Carland, and I just remember them laughing so hard that I was like, that's what I want to do when I grow up.

As wild as it may sound, to have your life plan decided by the age of five, that's exactly what happened for Rob. He knew then and there, while evesdropping on his parents' laughter, that he wanted to be a stand up comedian. But as committed to this life plan as Rob was, he still got that Midwestern pragmatism, so he understood that this was a dream that would take some time to realize, which meant that he'd have to take some other jobs in the meanwhile to pay the bills.

I worked at McDonald's and I won three national awards when I worked there, and I won mister Mcopener, mister mcsmile, and then the big one was mister mcservice. And I got to do a real commercial on TV and a photo layout and it was ridiculous.

What's mister Mcopener.

It's just not like I was the first one there in the morning. But old people are rough on you in the morning. Man. If they don't get their senior coffee, they're pulling their teeth out.

Many people believe that to make a dream come true, you first have to manifest it. We're told to say our life goal is out loud or write them down.

And even in my senior book, when you're graduating, we had to make predictions. And my prediction was I might go to college, get my computer degree, and then I'm going to be the best comedian I can be.

So is it any wonder then that Rob did go off to college and get his computer programming degree, of course not, because Rob's got that farm boy work ethic matched with an unwavering dedication to his ultimate plan. And the next step in that plan was to put that programming degree to work earn a little money until he figured out this whole comedy thing.

My first time about of college, I was worked for GM and then I worked at kmart headquarters and I did kmart dot com.

And with steady money coming in from computer programming, Rob moved to Detroit to actively pursue comedy.

And I was at a bar one night and I saw these passes in the window and it was for an open mic night, and I was like what. I grabbed all the passes and I went up to the bartender. I goes, there's a comedy club and he's like, right there, it's literally connected to the building. I was like what. I ended up living at that club after that.

So that farm boy work ethic that made Rob an award winner at Mickey D's and an in demand website builder now focused itself on comedy stand up became Rob's life. But all you math whiz is out there know that you can't devote yourself one hundred percent to multiple things, which meant something had to give.

And I became the worst computer programmer any of the companies gonna have. I was making all this money, but I was the worst employee.

But as Rob started to book himself for bigger and bigger events, he just couldn't be bothered to show up at the office anymore. So, while working for IBM, he decided enough was enough. It was time to fulfill that life plan he'd formulated at five years old and committed to history in his high school yearbook.

I sent out a company why email telling people they should quit their jobs and follow their dreams. And I'm going to be a stand up comedian. Here's my website. They wouldn't let me quit my IBM boss, let me take a leave of absence. And the week after he did that, the Detroit Free Press named me Michigan's best up and coming comedian. And I sent him that and he goes, oh, you're not coming back, are you? I goes, I wasn't coming back, and they made me worse up and coming comedian.

And from there Rob was off to the races. He threw himself completely into comedy, and once again being in Michigan played a big part in realizing his dreams.

Within a four hour radius, I could hit fifty clubs.

Probably eventually, though Rob had exhausted that circuit. So he gave La a shot, didn't love it, gave New York a try, really didn't like that. And then one day his agent suggested he apply for cruise ships. And Rob thought, cruise ships.

It wasn't even on my radar. And he said, hey, why don't you come out in audition for these? And I was like, okay, And when I did, a man like instantly all the cruise lines were like, Yeah, we'll take them.

When we come back from the break. We set sail with Rob Little.

A strong work ethic, takes pride in a job well done. This is the kind of person you need. Express Employment professionals can help because in good times or bad, we understand how critical it is to manage your business for today with the right workforce. We offer hiring solutions to fit changing demands. Express knows Jobs. Get to know Express. Go to expresspros dot com to find a location near you.

We're back with comedian Rob Little, who, after a successful few years of performing on dry land, has just booked his first gig aboard cruise ships.

And the only difference is we have to do family friendly shows on there, so you'll have little kids right in the front row. And a lot of comics get caught up by that. They get tripped up by it, and they worry more about the kids. And it isn't about the kids. They're gonna laugh if they see their parents laughing.

And even with the adults in the audience. For many of them, stand up comedy is not something they do in everyday life. But on a cruise, all bets are off. They'll drink a few my ties, hit the buffet, then play a little shuffle board. So what the heck, why not check out this stand up comedy guy.

People come right up and go, we don't normally go to shows, and then they're like, we need to do this more often. This was a good time, and they'll come back to every one of your shows.

Rob's quickly learned that these cruise gigs are pretty ideal for a comedian because comedy has become big business on cruises. Most of the ships have large regal theaters, and if a comedian does well, their subsequent shows will often sell out. As hype circulates around the ship.

People are like, oh my god, you gotta go see which one the bald one? You gotta see It's always the bald, white, chubby guy or whatever they say, you know.

And for those few days aboard the ship, a comedian can become a bit of a celebrity.

You like, you'd be walking around the ship and they're like a rat, you know, and then come join as you know, next thing you know, you're drinking, you're in them and stuff like that.

Well, comedians would normally have to travel from one city to the next to perform. Cruises offer consistent work and a steady lucrative paycheck.

I mean, financially, I make more than I even did IBM, So it's definitely worked out in the long run for sure.

And with all the cruises out there now, a comedian can really line up in gigs.

And this week coming up, I'll be doing my two hundred and third cruise.

Oh my gosh.

Yeah. I keep track of them all night, keeople, like a little diary of them.

That's incredible. But of course, a job is still a job, and like any job, it has its pitfalls.

A lot of people think we only work one hour a night, and that's so not true. That's the easiest part of our job is going on stage. The rest of the stuff we're online. We're too kick booking gigs, or we're doing research on jokes, or we're making flyers, we're promoting, we're doing all this other stuff.

And despite working a boarder ship packed with people, the job can be surprisedly lonely.

You're surrounded by people that are on their vacation, but you're not on vacation. You're working. People will say that too. You're like, oh, man, you know, I'm not having a great day. I'm kind of bummed out. I'm stuck on the ship and people are like, oh, poor you, and I'm like, you have no idea, man, I didn't choose a vacation by myself.

It's even worse around the holidays.

I did a Thanksgiving one time. Oh my god. It was like stabbing me in the heart. They're like, this ain't a Thanksgiving. This is this is a prison. Is what this is? You know. It's hard to say that to people because they just say, oh, oh, you're in Saint Martin. I'm like, yeah.

But in spite of the occasional workplace challenges, which let's face it, every single job has, Rob Little realizes that he did it. He freaking made his dreams come true.

I just love it. I literally just passed twenty five years so I've been doing it.

Congrats. Wow.

Thanks, that's a.

Pretty long career in comedy now.

Yeah, I think so.

So the next time you're on a cruise and you want to laugh and also see a guy living out his dreams, a dream that he came up with way back when he was five years old, just look for the bald white guy, or, better yet, check out Rob's itinerary and tour dates on his website roblittle dot com. When's your next cruise ship out?

I actually go on one next week on a celebrity cruise. And you have no clue where you're going, now that you say that, I don't

From the job, I'm Avery Thompson.