I did my first standup show

I did my first standup show last Saturday night.

And it went….. surprisingly great! Lots of laughs and claps. Even some “Congrats” and “thank you’s” after the shows. I talked about masturbating on the subway, Jeffrey Epstein’s fantastic financial skills, and even made fun of Peter Thiel. It was one of the most fun nights of my life. Just another day being Jason Levin, the king of side quests.

See, I love side quests.

There’s a group of people that believe “the main thing should be always the main thing” and they never go on any side quests. They go all-in on their startup or whatever it might be and never do any side projects. I respect that mindset, but I’m just not built for that school of thought. I love side quests and side projects too much.

I personally don’t have any intention to be a touring comedian (I’m happier sitting at home making people laugh online), but when I got an email from the local comedy club on September 5th saying they had an opening September 14th, I figured why the fuck not. I forwarded them my viral street interviews on TikTok and they said to come perform. For the next 9 days, I prepped my 6-minute routine like a madman, invited a couple of my closest friends and family, and then gave everyone a good Saturday night. When my friends asked why I was doing it, all I replied was “Side quests baby!”

The Side Quest Spillover Effect

Back in high school AP Psych, I learned about this idea called the Spillover Effect.

It’s when your learning in one subject spills over to another subject (ex. if you learn about British history, it gives you more context for reading Shakespeare in English class).

Well, the same is true for career side quests.

Doing standup helps you prep for VC pitches (I know 2 ex-comedians who have raised millions). Doing improv is like sales conversations on crack. Learning to code makes you a better designer. Practicing writing makes you a better manager (why Bezos was so big on writing at Amazon). I’d even argue that reading history books actually helps you make danker memes because you understand deeper context about the world.

Side quests give you more skills, more skills make you more dangerous.

When I was 15, my hero was Donald Glover aka Childish Gambino.

Glover went to NYU, started making comedy videos on YouTube, did standup in the city, got a job writing on 30 Rock, got a star role in Community—all while rapping on the side under the pen name Childish Gambino. In the last decade, his cross-skill stardom has only compounded. He produced a hit show on FX called Atlanta, acted in Star Wars, and just dropped a certified banger of an album this summer. Glover inspired the living fuck out of me. He showed me what it meant to be a modern Renaissance man. That’s what I wanted to be. So I embraced my dilettante skills from 16-18.

I started a YouTube channel with my friends. I sold $40,000 worth of stickers online that I designed on Photoshop. I won a couple writing competitions. I worked for the New York Times selling subscriptions on campus. I wrote a music blog. I threw parties and fundraiser events. I sold t-shirts and watches. Basically I did a bunch of entrepreneurial internet shit the same way I do now but I was just much worse at all of it. At age 19, I firmly remember being afraid I would always just be a dilettante who was OK at a lot of stuff but not “great” at anything. I know it sounds stupid now like some teenage bullshit, but tbh it was one of my deepest insecurities and fears. I wanted to be great.

I was an OK writer, I was an OK designer, and I was OK at online business (I sold a lot of shit online as a kid). But I wasn’t “great” at any one of them, let alone multiple of them. And goddamnit, I just wanted to be great at a lot of shit. And I wanted it ASAP. Well, the cool thing about the passage of time is that if you’re patient and persistent and keep pursuing all your dilettante skills with enough vigor and passion, your skills improve and you eventually transform from a dilettante to a polymath. Yes, your skill improvement is slower than the guy who focuses on 1 thing all day, but eventually you become great at a lot of stuff. Sure, I’ll never write as many books as Stephen King or become a world-famous designer, but at this point I’m comfortable to say I’m somewhat of a creative polymath and I’m only 26 and just getting started. I’m dangerously good at all 3 of the above skills—and the combination makes me even more dangerous. In fact, my success thus far could’ve never happened if I went all-in on 1 of the skills. If I went all-in on marketing, but ignored design, I’d have a shitty boring brand like most other people. If I went all-in on writing but ignored marketing, I’d be a broke joke writing poems and living in my parents’ basement.

I encourage you to go down more side quests. The side quests may slow down your skill improvement in one field, but I’d argue it’s worth it for the spillover effect. Life’s too short not to spill your skills a bit. Embrace your inner dilettante. Because every dilettante is just a polymath in training. Check the date fools, I got receipts 😉 

My adventures this week

I did another 2 fun pods this week. Super different.

1. Ellen Fishbein is my book’s publisher/editor. She’s worked with authors like Shane Parrish, Coleman Hughes, Adam Draper, and more to write books that have sold millions of copies. We talk memes, books, marketing, and more.

2. When he was 19, Jack Kuveke raised $53M from his college dorm room. He’s now a viral LinkedIn shitposter. We talk about 7+ insane startup ideas including but not limited to QR codes on the moon, political trading cards, and more.

Tech Memes of the Week

Thanks for reading nerds.

Create some cool shit this week.

Jason “The Memelord” Levin

Head of Growth @ Product Hunt, Author of Memes Make Millions