Come Flyer With Me: Lee Camp

When I first started comedy in New York City at age 21, I was offered 10 minutes onstage for every hour of flyering in Times Square. We called it "barking." I did three hours most nights for 18 months. Many of those nights were spent in subfreezing temperatures during which I learned that one's fingers only sting with cold until they go completely numb. After that, it’s easy sailing.

The cast of characters I met while barking was bizarre. One man approached me and asked how late the comedy club was open. I told him, and he then said, "Oh, but I guess they won’t let the snake in." That was when I realized that he had an enormous live python around his shoulders. In my barking daze, I had missed it. Another time a man approached me with his young son. He said in broken English, “How get job in America?” Something tells me that guy failed to consult a career counselor before leaving his home country.

Yet another time I said "Live comedy tonight," and then began to hand the flyer to the outstretched hand of a ten year-old girl. Her mother immediately leaped between us with horror in her eyes, swatted the flyer to the ground, and screamed, "SHE'S JUST A CHILD!!!!" Either she thought I was handing out free methamphetamines, or where she comes from, comedy is as morally unacceptable as paedophilia. Those early years are not easy for a comedian because few people are ever happy to see a barker.

Lee Camp's "Yet Another American Mistake" is at Stand IV 11.45pm every night. Read our 4* review here.