Be Better Than

I was with some stand up comedians recently – all of them successful – and when the subject of another stand-up comedian came up, one of them said, “I know people like that guy, but I don’t get it. He’s got, like, two premises for his material.”

Which may be true – I don’t know. But the comment reminded me of a meeting I had long ago with a highly-awarded, well-regarded actor who mentioned another actor in his same basic age range and said, “I know why the Academy felt like they had to honor him, but honestly, he turns in performances that are just…noise.”…