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Comedian Patton Oswalt delivered an inspiring keynote at last week’s Just For Laughs Comedy Conference in Montreal. He presented it in the form of two open letters—one addressed to “all the comedians in the room”, the second to “all of the gatekeepers” of the comedy business. Read both of them on TheComicsComic.com.

In the past, I’ve pointed out that artists in different fields often deal with similar sets of issues, especially on the business side. Oswalt’s advice drives that point home; his perspective is applicable not just to comedians, but to almost anyone working in a creative field, including animation creators.

In his letter to comedians, Oswalt implores artists to stop waiting for executives to give them opportunities because the dynamics of today’s entertainment industry favor those who create their own opportunities. Some choice excerpts:

I was lucky enough to get hired onto King of Queens in 1998. I had nine years on that show. Money, great cast, even better writers, a lot of fun. I bought a house. Then I was lucky enough to get cast as a lead voice in a Pixar movie in 2007. Acclaim, money, I got to meet a lot of my heroes. Then I was lucky enough to get cast on The United States of Tara on Showtime. I got to watch Toni Collette work. I got to perform Diablo Cody’s writing. After which, I was lucky enough to get cast in Young Adult, which is where I got to make out with Charlize Theron. I will use that as an icebreaker if I ever meet Christina Ricci.

I’ve been lucky enough to be given specials on HBO, Comedy Central, and Showtime. As well as I’ve been lucky enough to release records on major labels, and I was lucky they approached me to do it. And that led to me being lucky enough to get Grammy nominations.

I know that sounds like a huge ego-stroking credit dump. But if you listened very carefully, you would have heard two words over and over again: “lucky” and “given.” Those are two very very dangerous words for a comedian. Those two words can put you to sleep, especially once you get a taste of both being “lucky” and being “given.” The days about luck and being given are about to end. They’re about to go away.

What I mean is: Not being lucky and not being given are no longer going to define your career as a comedian and as an artist.

In the middle of the TV shows and the albums and the specials, I took a big chunk of my money and invested it in a little tour called The Comedians of Comedy. I put it together with my friends, we did small clubs, stayed in shitty hotel rooms, packed ourselves in a tiny van and drove it around the country. The tour was filmed for a very low-budget documentary that I convinced Netflix to release. That became a low-budget show on Comedy Central that we all still own a part of, me and the comedians. That led to a low budget concert film that we put on DVD.

At the end of it, I was exhausted, I was in debt, and I wound up with a wider fanbase of the kind of people I always dreamed of having as fans. And I built that from the ground up, friends and people I respected and was a fan of.

I need to decide more career stuff for myself and make it happen for myself, and I need to stop waiting to luck out and be given. I need to unlearn those muscles.

To the “gatekeepers”, he offers another message: Your job is to discover, patronize, support, nurture and broadcast material. It’s not to create. Leave that up to the artists or they’r

The most wonderful aspect of God is his heart to give good things to his children. He does this through those who are led by their hearts and make an effort to reach out to others. The world is so full of need and regardless of what beliefs you have we should all do more to help those less fortunate than ourselves. I have another website now set up for the purpose of transforming paintings

You all know Becky Dreistadt’s work, don’t you? And you know how prolific she is with her amazing gouache paintings and painted comics?

Well, the folks at Rainn Wilson’s Soul Pancake made a time lapse of one of her recent paintings as she made it, and they were kind enough to slow the action down for us. That’s how time lapse works, right?

Is is okay for me to say that I was mesmerized and cursing out loud for the entire movie? No? I’ll keep that to myself then. Awesome work, Becky!

Timelapse Painting by Becky Dreistadt (Art Attack) (by soulpancake)

My hydrangea's colors nearing end of summer are stunning. Click to see enlarged image.

Attractive scantily-clad women who like Animaniacs sounds like every ’90s TV animation fanboy’s wet dream, but New York City residents no longer have to fantasize about Wakko, Yakko and Dot as buxom babes. This month, the experimental burlesque troupe Rhinestone Gorilla Burlesque, whose previous shows including the Disney-themed “Bibbity Bobbity Boobs” and the PBS-themed “Public Bracasting System,” will perform “Good Idea/Bad Idea: : A Fully-Scripted Burlesque Tribute to Animaniacs

Starring Jo Boobs Weldon, with Angelique A’LaMode (Yakko), Gemma Stone (Wakko/The Brain), Kinky Demure (Dot), Lucida Sans (Pinky/Runt), Avian Rush (Hello Nurse), Spartacus Rising (Chicken Boo), Debra Delorean (Randy Beaman Kid), Miss Cherry Delight (Mime Time), Charlotte Pines (Rita), Billie Shakes (Slappy the Squirrel), Joseph Raik (Deuce Velvet III), Fancy Feast (Monica Lewinsky), and Phil Wisocki (Live Foley). In this original burlesque musical, the Warner brothers, Yakko and Wakko, and the Warner sister, Dot, fell upon hard times as The Gay Nineties led way to the devastation of the Y2K. The target audience for the WB afternoon line-up put away their pogs and finished studying for their bar mitzvahs and turned their JNCO-clad backsides on their once-beloved Animaniacs. When Dr. Scratch’n'Sniff was finally arrested for sniffing too much scratch, Wakko, Yakko, and Dot lost their sole protectors on the Warner Studio Lot. After years being locked into their water tower, the Warners were finally locked out. After more than a decade in exile, the Warners’ fortunes sunk so low that they turned to hosting cheap burlesque at a seedy club on the Upper West Side, where they now share the stage with neo-burlesque luminaries like Rhinestone Gorilla Burlesque and Jo Boobs Weldon, headmistress of the New York School of Burleque and head mistress of half the world’s leaders.

There will be three performances at the Triad Theatre (158 W. 72nd Street, NY, NY): Sat, August 11 @ 10pm; Sun, August 19 @ 9pm; and Sat, August 25 @ 10pm. Tickets are $15 in advance via Brown Paper Tickets, or $20 at the door.

Here’s a brief taste of what you can expect to see:

Cartoon Brew | Permalink | One comment | Post tags: Animaniacs, Rhinestone Gorilla Burlesque

I just received the proofs for "Let's Go Hugo" jacket flap (Dial March 2013). My amazing art director, Lily Malcom, did a wonderful job.

In other news, I just ordered my 2013 calendars. I'll have those up for sale by the end of August. Lastly, I've been sketching....like usually.

More soon!

I am noticing a lot of crankiness and hot tempers in the world lately. It’s probably the unusual heat plaguing areas not used to it (we’re used to it) that is upsetting everyone’s Pitta. Last week I related to it, as I was hormonally challenged, so I do understand. But we do need more light to fill up that darkness. It’s too easy to get lost in it and then we think we are the dark parts! So, I bring you this:

Aren’t they pretty? Nothing cheers my soul like finding a pretty flower in my yard I didn’t know was there!

And this! Finding a face on the rock elder beneath my feet.

A stray butterfly flying by my head brings me such joy; such delicate beauty.

You see, lots of yuck can happen in your world. Believe me I KNOW. But there is a small little part in our heart that survives, and it notices the beauty and the wonder in the world. It loves the everyday magic in the passing butterfly. It’s like a good seed planted there, and everyday we are handed bad seeds to grow–through the media, other people, life.  I say,

NURTURE THE HELL OUT OF THOSE GOOD SEEDS!

Reminds me that one acorn can grow an oak tree. Just one!

(You will have to excuse me. I have just finished watching a marathon watching of MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO and I’m feeling quite nice.)

Here are a couple more paintings I have listed for a charity auction. Please visit http://www.acrossaday.com for details. NOTE: 100% proceeds of this particular painting will be donated with the exception of P&H, tax if applicable & Material cost. Shipping is the responsibility of the winning bidder. Silent Auction Painting: Healseville Farm Medium: Watercolour on Watercolour Paper Image