{"id":3173,"date":"2018-11-08T14:58:35","date_gmt":"2018-11-08T19:58:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/?p=3173"},"modified":"2018-11-08T14:58:35","modified_gmt":"2018-11-08T19:58:35","slug":"interview-shawn-carter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/2018\/11\/08\/interview-shawn-carter\/","title":{"rendered":"INTERVIEW: Shawn Carter"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Photo by Danya Trommer<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

WBTU DJ Danya Trommer chatted with Boston-based comedian Shawn Carter about the New England comedy scene, hitting the Billboard chart, and sharing a name with Jay-Z<\/p>\n

Danya Trommer: You just put out an album, <\/b>100 Problems<\/i><\/b><\/a>, and you made it to the top of the iTunes chart. \u00a0What spot on Billboard are you on right now?<\/b><\/p>\n

Shawn Carter: This week we\u2019re at number seven on Billboard. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

DT: That\u2019s pretty crazy. \u00a0How\u2019s that feel, having a Billboard topping album? <\/b><\/p>\n

SC: That is pretty crazy. It feels insane. The iTunes thing I thought we could do because it\u2019s a little easier, but Billboard [takes into account] more info. I got a message from somebody that was like, \u201cHey, we\u2019re with Billboard. Can you verify this info because you might hit the chart.\u201d \u00a0I sent it to my wife and I was like, \u201cThis is fake, right?\u201d But it was real. It feels great.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

DT: So this is your first album, right? \u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

SC: Yeah, first one.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

DT: So the title <\/b>100 Problems, <\/i><\/b>that comes from you having the same last name as Jay-Z\u2013<\/b><\/p>\n

SC: I have the same <\/span>full <\/span><\/i>name as Jay-Z. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

DT: Oh yeah! \u00a0He\u2019s Sean Carter as well. Was that your go-to title for the album? <\/b><\/p>\n

SC: It used to be a joke I would do about how we have the same name and I\u2019d be like, \u201cOh we\u2019re almost the same, but I have more problems.\u201d That did well, I kind of dropped it from the act. I thought the album cover could be the first joke of the album. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

DT: How long have you been doing comedy for? <\/b><\/p>\n

SC: It\u2019s been like 12 years now. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

DT: How long has this album been in production? Like the specific material that\u2019s included on it? <\/b><\/p>\n

SC: It\u2019s hard to say. Some of it is ten years old and I\u2019ve just been doing the jokes forever. \u00a0I didn\u2019t have an album, so I never put it on a different one, you know? For the most part, everything has been the last couple of years. Really the past year I\u2019ve been planning on doing it. It was a lot of doing long sets, trying to figure out where everything went. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

DT: So a little birdie told me you\u2019re going on tour to promote this album. Is that what\u2019s happening?<\/b><\/p>\n

SC: I\u2019m trying to in a few months, seeing where some chips fall. I\u2019m trying to get an RV and travel the country. I feel like it\u2019s as much of a sightseeing tour as a promotional tour [<\/span>Laughs<\/span><\/i>], but it would be nice to get some to some other cities and meet some new people.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

DT: Do you venture out of Boston a lot?<\/b><\/p>\n

SC: I like going to Vermont; they got a great comedy club there in Burlington. I\u2019ll go to New Hampshire, Connecticut. I\u2019ve gone to Vegas, but really the New England area is where I like to stay around. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

DT: So for the 12 years you\u2019ve been doing comedy, New England has kind of been your home base.<\/b><\/p>\n

SC: Sure, yeah. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

DT: Is there an advantage to staying in the same area? Have you built up a community?<\/b><\/p>\n

SC: I think there is an advantage. I\u2019ve gotten to know <\/span>so<\/span><\/i> many people through comedy. Three nights a week I\u2019m out doing shows with friends of mine. I get to see my friends three nights a week and go out and entertain crowds at the same time. That\u2019s been my real reason for staying in Boston so long.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

DT: Your community? <\/b><\/p>\n

SC: Yeah, exactly. I think in the next year, it would make sense to travel around a bit to try and spread out a little. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

DT: So, you\u2019re a full time comedian, right?<\/b><\/p>\n

SC: Yeah. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

DT: Do you have a goal?<\/b><\/p>\n

SC: Sure. You always have to have goals, which I guess wasn\u2019t always the case. When I started, somebody asked me what my goal was\u2013somebody who was very business-oriented\u2013and was like, \u201cI can manage comics.\u201d She helped people get certain festivals\u2013that was their goal\u2013or TV spots. When I started, I was such an idealist that I was like, \u201cI wanna be the best comedian I can be. That\u2019s my goal.\u201d \u00a0But after a while you\u2019re like, \u201cMy goal is to be a feature at this club. My goal is to be a headliner at this club. My goal is to put out an album next year.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

DT: So setting kind of short term goals?<\/b><\/p>\n

SC: You got to. The goal right now would be to get more people around the country to know who I am rather than just Boston. I feel like with Boston, I have an ok handle on the comedy scene, maybe not necessarily that many other people know me, but like if you are a big comedy fan you might be like, \u201cI like obscure comedians [like] Shawn Carter!\u201d [<\/span>Laughs<\/span><\/i>] But even outside New England, if I went to a different city, other comics won\u2019t even know me there. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

DT: So you\u2019ve very much been focused on this area.<\/b><\/p>\n

SC: Yeah, it\u2019s been like all Boston.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

DT: I\u2019ve noticed that you\u2019ve done some promotion on Reddit and stuff like that. I\u2019m interested in the business aspect of comedy. How have you been marketing yourself? <\/b><\/p>\n

SC: I go on Reddit sometimes. I\u2019ll post a picture with like a joke on it or something. It\u2019s very hard to know what it is that works. You get somebody at a show, and 90% of the time you go like, \u201cOh, who brought you out to the show?\u201d hoping they saw your thing on Reddit or saw your thing on Facebook, but 90% of the time people go like, \u201cOh my friend told me about this show.\u201d<\/span> Word of mouth spreads more than anything. I have these ideas where I\u2019m like, \u201cOh, I\u2019ll put a joke up on Reddit,\u201d and what happens is 30 people will tell me I look like some celebrity but fat [<\/span>Laughs<\/span><\/i>]. Then you\u2019ll get a couple people that are like, \u201cThis is a really good joke,\u201d then there\u2019s a couple of people who are like\u2013<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

DT: You should die.<\/b><\/p>\n

SC: [<\/span>Laughs<\/span><\/i>] Yes exactly, like, \u201cYou don\u2019t deserve oxygen,\u201d and I\u2019m like, \u201cIt wasn\u2019t <\/span>that <\/span><\/i>bad!\u201d \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

DT: I\u2019m a Reddit user, I totally get that. So, you\u2019re the host of [podcast] <\/b>Pick a Side Stupid. <\/i><\/b>You guys have had 43 episodes, started out in November of 2017. [Quick plug, every Friday night at Maggy\u2019s Lounge in Quincy at 7 p.m.] \u00a0I love <\/b>Pick a Side<\/i><\/b>; I listened to it a little bit before I was on it. It\u2019s so much fun. Have you done any podcasts before <\/b>Pick a Side?<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

SC: I had a podcast for a while called <\/span>The Unscene Comedy Podcast<\/span><\/i>. I was trying to pair it with a website that I ran. After I stopped doing that, I had a podcast with my friend, Ted Pettingell, called <\/span>Fart: The Podcast<\/span><\/i>. We couldn\u2019t think of a name. Even the people who liked it would try and convince other people like, \u201cYou should listen; it\u2019s not as stupid as you think.\u201d \u00a0[<\/span>Laughs<\/span><\/i>]<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

DT: What exactly was it?<\/b><\/p>\n

SC: It was really just me and Ted getting together with a third comedian in Boston and just sitting down and talking about stuff. We\u2019d look up news stories and we\u2019d try and get people to guess if it was a true news story or if we made it up. There were a couple of segments, but it was really just a silly show that we did with a couple of comics. It was a lot to keep up with, so we moved on from it and now <\/span>Pick a Side Stupid <\/span><\/i>is the project. I like the format\u2013getting a lot of comics involved in it. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

DT: It\u2019s a great way to meet other people in the comedy community. It introduced me to most of the people I know. The subjects of the episodes are all over the place. Like you\u2019ve had a Metallica episode, which seems kind of out of the blue. What is your process for picking your subjects?<\/b><\/p>\n

SC: Sometimes it will just be a thing that me and my friends have been talking about a lot. \u00a0Like the Metallica thing\u2013I had this ongoing thing with Chris Post where I keep saying <\/span>The Black Album <\/span><\/i>is the best Metallica album, and he gets super angry about it. And so I was like, \u201cWe\u2019re going to do a whole episode just on Metallica.\u201d I know some friends that are super interested in Nicolas Cage so we were like, \u201cLet\u2019s do a Nicolas Cage episode.\u201d \u00a0And then it\u2019s other things that just interest me, like urban legends. They\u2019re so weird and I feel like there was a lot of questions we could write about it. I really just pick them as I go with no real system. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

DT: If you do end up going on tour, what\u2019s going to happen to <\/b>Pick a Side<\/i><\/b>?<\/b><\/p>\n

SC: My plan is, if I\u2019m able to go on tour, I would like for the people that have been most involved in the show so far to host like a month, then hand it over to somebody else for a month. So I\u2019d figure out my top three or six or however long I go. So it should be able to survive. Maybe it\u2019ll become even more popular when I\u2019m gone [<\/span>Laughs<\/span><\/i>]. Hopefully I\u2019ll be able to walk right back in, and we can keep going.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

DT: That\u2019d be great. So for this tour, do you have a dream destination in mind to perform at? <\/b><\/p>\n

SC: I don\u2019t. I just want to hit certain cities that I haven\u2019t been to that I hear are cool.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

DT: What cities do you have in mind?<\/b><\/p>\n

SC: I\u2019d like to go to Austin, Texas. I think Denver, I hear good things. Vermont Comedy Club has had me up there twice already\u2013that\u2019d be like a fun either kickoff to the tour or on my way back, because that club is killer. Really, I\u2019m looking forward to seeing different clubs and meeting different people.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

DT: On your album you talked about how you\u2019ve performed at colleges. I liked your MIT bit. Do you think you\u2019re going to do any campus shows? \u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

SC: I\u2019m not focused on that. \u00a0For the most part, in my experience, unless you specifically know somebody at the school that wants you there to do a show, it\u2019s hard to get booked there. Certainly, if anybody was to ask me to do it, I would do the show, but I don\u2019t have a college agent or anything like that, so mostly I\u2019d just be going around to different comedy clubs and stuff like that. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

DT: Have you been on tour before?<\/b><\/p>\n

SC: Nope. This will be the first time. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

DT: Do you have any anxieties about going on tour for the first time? <\/b><\/p>\n

SC: I feel good about it because the idea of getting an RV and being with my wife.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

DT: So you\u2019re not just going to be alone?<\/b><\/p>\n

SC: Exactly. That would be the part that would worry me\u2013if I was going alone I\u2019d just be so lonely. Going with my wife, I\u2019m going to have a good time no matter what, even if the shows are tough. Just going around the country and travelling will be great.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

DT: That\u2019s so sweet! So one of my favorite bits on your album is the one about Quincy hospital, with how you worked as a security guard and had to usher the dead people down to the morgue. Is that the worst thing you saw while working at the hospital, the dead people? \u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

SC: The dead people were definitely not the toughest part of working at the hospital.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

DT: They couldn\u2019t fight back [<\/b>Laughs<\/i><\/b>].<\/b><\/p>\n

SC: That\u2019s the thing! They don\u2019t move. When you do move a body, it\u2019s in a bag already when you get to the floor. You try to picture it as, \u201cOh, we\u2019re moving like a bunch of bricks.\u201d You don\u2019t try to think about what\u2019s in there. There were some interesting stories. We had a guy come in drunk once who we were supposed to watch because you can\u2019t let people leave if they\u2019re drunk\u2013they\u2019re a danger to themselves. He doesn\u2019t want to be there and he\u2019s this big burly guy. I don\u2019t want to have to stop him. He\u2019s complaining, and he\u2019s like, \u201cLook, I can walk a straight line.\u201d The doctor is like, \u201cAlright, show me, walk a straight line.\u201d \u00a0He does, <\/span>sort of <\/span><\/i>, and the doctor really doesn\u2019t want to deal with him, so she\u2019s like, \u201cAlright, I <\/span>guess<\/span><\/i>.\u201d She sends him out, and he doesn\u2019t have any money, so they give him a cab voucher. The secretary makes the call, they send him out, whatever. Like five minutes later, they\u2019re like, \u201cWho did we send over to the Fowler House?\u201d which everybody thought was like a group home or a shelter. I go, \u201cThe drunk guy that was in here earlier, why?\u201d \u00a0And they were like, \u201cOh, that\u2019s a <\/span>bar<\/span><\/i>.\u201d \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

DT: Nice<\/b>.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

SC: So yeah, we sent him back to the bar that he came from. That\u2019s one of the fun stories. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

DT: So you talk a lot about the different odd jobs that you\u2019ve had over the years in your album. You also talked about being a mail carrier and jobs like that. What\u2019s the worst job you have worked?<\/b><\/p>\n

SC: Oh boy. The worst job is probably landscaping. Although, you can make a case for retail. \u00a0Anybody that works retail can tell you, \u201cI would rather be breaking my back in 100 degree weather than\u2013<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

DT: Than talk to a person. \u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

SC: Yeah!<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

DT: Yeah people suck! They\u2019re horrible! [<\/b>Laughs<\/i><\/b>]<\/b><\/p>\n

SC: Having a customer roll their eyes at me because I don\u2019t know the price on this thing or whatever. Physically, landscaping. Mentally, retail is the worst. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

DT: I would agree with you there. So, I know that you dropped out of community college\u2013<\/b><\/p>\n

SC: It\u2019s like I\u2019m starting a job interview right now [<\/span>Laughs<\/span><\/i>].<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

DT: I know that you know about the college comedy scene. We were talking outside of the interview about how it\u2019s hard for college kids to get off campus because it\u2019s kind of scary out there. Do you have any advice for college comedians getting started?<\/b><\/p>\n

SC: I never really started comedy as a college student, so I guess I can\u2019t really understand that side of it, but I can say as a comic that the more stages that you hit and stages that have different people in the audience, the better off that you\u2019ll be in the long run. Sometimes it\u2019s just harder to do comedy in front of people that are not your age, not of the same mind set and stuff like that. I don\u2019t think you necessarily need to change your act for them, but maybe learn how to tell your jokes in front of them and if they don\u2019t love them\u2013<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

DT: It\u2019s about adapting, kind of?<\/b><\/p>\n

SC: Mhmm. That goes not just for college students, but anyone. You want to get to a bunch of different spots, you want to get on different stages, you want to be able to entertain everyone. \u00a0I would say if you are under 21, contact the venue ahead of time. A lot of them are at bars, and some of them will be like, \u201cYeah, not a problem, we\u2019re like a restaurant and bar,\u201d while others will be like, \u201cYou need to be out by ten,\u201d and others will be like, \u201cDon\u2019t come here.\u201d \u00a0I would say getting out of the college scene and going around to as many places as you can, not only will you see those different stages, you\u2019ll meet a lot of people that you wouldn\u2019t have met on your college campus. You\u2019ll make friends and connections and people who can help you get other shows too. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

DT: Do you have any networking advice? <\/b><\/p>\n

SC: I would say don\u2019t force it. Talk to the people you enjoy talking to and that\u2019s your networking, basically. Get to some shows, and if you\u2019re talking to somebody and you\u2019re just having a bad time, don\u2019t force it. You\u2019re just going to wait your time, because they probably don\u2019t like you either. They\u2019re not going to be like, \u201cLet\u2019s put this person on a show.\u201d If you get along great with somebody, that\u2019s awesome. Ask for something that you want. If you want a show, ask for it.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  WBTU DJ Danya Trommer chatted with Boston-based comedian Shawn Carter about the New England comedy scene, hitting the Billboard chart, and sharing a name with Jay-Z Danya Trommer: You just put out an album, 100 Problems, and you made it to the top of the iTunes chart. \u00a0What spot on Billboard are you on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13221,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[16],"tags":[583,33,585,26,269,29,584,25],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3173"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13221"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3173"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3173\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3175,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3173\/revisions\/3175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}