The completed jam described in the NPR piece.
This past winter, I was interviewed for a radio segment on NPR about the monthly comic jam nights at Green Brain Comics.
I’ve participated in countless jams over the years. I just really like doing them, and I’m fortunate to know so many cartoonishly inclined peers who will pick up a pen and jam with me; any time, any place.
I was in my twenties before I ever visited a comic book shop. I preferred TV to comics when I was a kid. My big childhood dream was to join an improv troupe or sketch comedy ensemble. I prepared for this by trying out for every school play. Whenever I flunked an audition, I’d mope around the theatre until someone gave me something to do. This typically ended up involving laying out program booklets or designing posters. Ultimately, I failed enough auditions to become a professional graphic designer.
Eventually, it clicked that I didn’t have to go onstage to do comedy, I could draw comics instead. Jam comics satisfy my desire to improvise within a group of funny people. The gang of regulars turn out for jam night each month is an improv troupe of sorts. We just draw instead of act.
Which is not to say I won’t act, when offered the chance.
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