Wyatt Cenac recalls his early stand-up career

American comic Wyatt Cenac has spoken about the first time he earned money for stand-up – when a punter offered him  $100 to STOP telling jokes.

The incident came at an open mic night in Los Angeles, held in a venue that also had a pool table and jukebox in the back.

 Speaking to Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show,  Cenac recalled: 'There was a guy playing pool and he walked all the way up to the front of the stage and he was like, "Hey, I'll give you $100 if you stop talking."

'He was like, "Let me turn on the jukebox,I'll give you $100

'That would have been the first time I ever got paid. I was like, "yeah, I'll do this. This seems like a sweet deal!"

'If my entire comedy career is that people pay [for] tickets to see me show up to a place and then pool their money together to get me to shut up, that's still a great career!'

He was speaking to promote Season 2 of his HBO show, Wyatt Cenac's Problem Areas.

Published: 25 Apr 2019