Twelve years ago, 2 months after my first comedy open mic, I was stationed at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi Mississippi, a humid gulf casino town with a steady droll of tattooed airmen losing paychecks at card tables in between peak seasons and festivals. The nearest comedy open mics were an hour and 45 mins away in New Orleans, a distance I drove to and from after work several times a week with the excitement and naivete of someone who just found his passion in life. 

On one of the early visits I attended the House of Blues open mic. I went up early and had what felt like a good set, but would pay money to not watch a recording of now. Afterwards I drank and watched the comics of the New Orleans comedy scene do their stuff. They were great, and while everyone was good to me at that time, New Orleans has objectively strong comedy, producing several top tier comedians; Mark Normand, Ariel Elias and of course Sean Patton, who was one of the comedians at the House of Blues that day.

Now, in retrospect, you don’t need to be a comedian to guess that the person… closing out a show… might be one of the more accomplished performers on the lineup. Or maybe the fact that everyone was allowed 5 minutes of stage time and Sean did over 30, would trigger the basic logic that this was not the man’s first or even second rodeo. Or perhaps after seeing him absolutely murder in a way I had never experienced before, including a joke that I still think about sometimes 12 years later, about how even most creole man would never pronounce it NAWlins, a story that included almost 10 minutes of build, with fully fleshed out character work and storytelling, a strength of Sean’s as his voice has the gravity of a louisianan Patrick Henry with the playfulness of Mr Rogers, and concluded with a punchline so satisfying that it earned a standing ovation.

But no… after the show I walked up to him and said, “yOu'Re rEaLly tALEntEd, yOu sHoUlD STicK wItH iT!” He stared for a second and shook my hand and said “thanks man.” I later learned that Sean was already in NY, had been on TV and had a great special out that is still saved on my phone called “Standard Operating Procedure.” Since moving to NY myself I’ve gone to see Sean many times, and am always blown away. He does these long bits, sometimes autobiographical, sometimes fictional, that include a roller coaster of emotion, misdirects, and willful silliness that tease themes of the human condition. He often delivers his comedy through elaborate characters that feel familiar but could only exist in Sean’s mind. Twelve years later, I've seen too many shows in pursuit of my own craft to be enveloped like I once was at a comedy open mic, but Sean is consistently one of the few people that still make it feel like magic.

It's wild to me that he’s just now starting to be a “bigger name” with his FX show. Off stage he is the most down to earth human being, usually hanging out and drinking with any fans cool enough to know who he is,. but at some point he must have pissed off an executive somewhere because for a long time he was lesser known than comedians with half the jokes and a tenth of the style. I like his TV show, you should watch it, but you have to see him live performing stand up. For one, he’s very prolific, he's forgotten more jokes than I’ve written and so much of his stuff never makes it into a special, which sucks but makes seeing him in person all the more exciting. Second is that he is a rock band. The album is great but it's just not the same as being in the room and feeling the music with a room of people. His energy and passion are unmatched and irreplicable. 

Sean’s doing four shows this month at Grove which is the coolest experience for me. Obviously come if you’re in NYC and have a beer, and after laughing to the point of tears for an hour, tell him hey pal you might be on to something with this whole comedy thing.  

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