The Ballad of Alex Grubard

The Panic Hour episode 35

Alex Pearlman's Dream Machine: My Week in Comedy: Jan 14th - 21st

Cover Letter for open position at The Late Show with David Letterman

To Whom it May Con-soin, 

It’s 2012, the year of ourselves, and I’m sitting in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania listening to Todd Glass come out of the closet and I’m writing a cover letter for the position of stand-up comedy booker at to The Late Show with David Letterman. Google Docs doesn’t even recognize the occupation I’m dreaming of as a word. Ironically comedy booker is the man or woman who listens to all of the words. I’m a comedian and that’s what I do; I listen.

It’s the first day of classes in the Spring semester of 2012 at Temple University where I am enrolled as a part-time student. To pay the rent I cater and I’ve been performing stand-up comedy since 2005. My only class today is Jewish Humor Past and Present taught by Hanoch Guy. While I’m excited to take this class over anything like Algebraic Equations or Management Must Wash Dollars III it tends to sound precise, but old school.

My style tends to be an alternative to old school. I have been performing nightly at bars, coffee shops, music clubs, black box theaters, improv theaters and yes, even comedy clubs. At the beginning of W.’s 2nd term I began my career as the barback of New York Comedy Club on 24th Street. I moved uptown selling tickets in Times Square then taking those tickets again at the door for the NY Improv while it transitioned into Broadway Comedy Club. Then I discovered comedy on the Internet, going to free open mic nights and started seeing the great comics of contemporary comedy nightly. It’s been five years since I did my first open mic at The Creek and The Cave in Long Island City and I did an open mic at The Creek in The Cave in Long Island City this past Saturday. The 25s, 26s and 27s I met in 2005, 2006 and 2007 are the people altering the comedy industry through their blogs, activism and comedy.

January 2011 I went back to college at 24 to DIY a college program in comedy. One year later I wrote, directed and acted in The Coca-Cola Conspiracy appearing in the Temple Film Festival this month, I had an internship writing blogs about college comedy for CampusPhilly.org, I was booked in six different stand-up, improv, arts, music and comedy festivals and I became President of TUComedy. I currently reside in the most under-the-radar quality comedy scene in the country, I grew up in comedy creator Crassachusetts, I’m a present-day Jewish humorist and most importantly I was born on the island of Manhattan.

I am the best person for this position that is applying. Though if you end up hiring someone like Dan Schlissel I’m totally cool with that too.

    There’s no off-switch on genius,
        Alex Grubard