San Diego and Los Angeles

Posted by Jovon Torres on May 17, 2013
Posted in: My Journey Through Life. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment

Hi World,

It’s been awhile since my last update. I’ve been pretty busy with work and trying to maintain some sort of career in comedy. The month of May has been really productive for me in terms of booking shows. I booked four solid shows and even one in the LA area (Pasadena) on July 10th at the Ice House. This performance will actually be recorded and put on YouTube (under the channel: ComedyTimeTV). I’ll post the link once it is live on YouTube.

I had a show last night in Sacramento at the famous Punchline  Comedy Club (I say its famous because a lot of big name comedians have performed there). It was a smaller crowd last night and my set was pretty bad (I think it was). I actually think I bombed. You kill and bomb. It’s okay though because I know that just means I need to work harder.

GOOD MORNING…

YAY! I’m on a plane heading to San Diego for two days and then off to Los Angeles for another two days. This was my view from the plane…nice wing shot!

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BUT NOW…

I’m chilling in San Diego with my brother Niko and his girlfriend Mia just hanging out and being awesome. We had IHOP and filled our stomachs with some food. We were all starving!

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Niko and Mia at IHOP

(the face of happy people after a meal)

I’m glad that I had the opportunity (time off from work)  to come down to So Cal. The reason I’m in SD is for my brother Chidi’s graduation. I’m so proud of him! My Chidi is destined for great things. He has the motivation, skills, knowledge, and positive mental attitude to do whatever he wants. Nothing can stop that guy!

My sister Keziah is driving down from LA and my brother Chuka is also flying in from Sacramento later on tonight. This is going to be one great weekend! I’m hoping to hit up Cafe Gratitude in LA. The last time I was in LA (Oct. 2012), I got a chance to eat there with my sister and it was amazing!

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Me at the Jamba Juice in Mission Valley/San Diego

(My Jamba Juice is better then your Jamba Juice)

I haven’t traveled much in my life (that’s pretty sad) but its a major GOAL of mine for the rest of my life. I’ve lived inside a bubble (Sacramento) for 30 years and now I want to MOVE! So Cal is definitely on my heart and will be my new home within the next 1-2 years. I just don’t know what city I will be moving to yet but I’m sure I’ll find it! It feels so good just to hop on a plane and LEAVE your city for a few days. It’s a refreshing feeling. Would you agree?

OKAY…

About to grab a bite to eat with the FAM at BJ’s. I’ll let you know how the rest of the trip goes. KEEP READING (the next blogs).

Peace, Love & Blogs,

Jovon Torres

Just Ask

Posted by Jovon Torres on April 24, 2013
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Hey World,

I started today off with no booked shows but on my way to work this morning, I did an exercise in my car called, Kylego. (It was created by comedian Kyle Cease)

How do you do this exercise? You speak as if the thing you want or day has already happened. Speak the future but in the NOW! (Do you get it?)

I spoke as if I had booked shows and guess what I also did…I ASKED! That’s right…I asked. I put myself out there. And by 6pm, I booked four shows. A Miracle? Or being in the NOW?

I look back and ask myself, “How did I achieve this daily goal today?” It’s very simple. I thought about what it was I wanted (booked shows) and the I spoke it (“I want to book comedy shows”) and the I did the most important piece…I took action (I asked and emailed about shows).

It was really as simple as putting a posting on Facebook asking “Hey…I’m a comedian in Sacramento looking for comedy shows.” And BOOM! I got a show in a manner of minutes. The BOOM another show! And then I emailed a contact and BOOM I booked another show…and BOOM…booked another.

This was seriously a great day! But how did it all happen again? Three steps.

1. Think: (envision) What it is you want?
2. Speak: Use the words to tell yourself what you want.
3. Action: Move and do something to get what you want.

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48 Hour Film Challenge-”Steam Punk’d Time Machine”

Posted by Jovon Torres on April 13, 2013
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Hey World,

My friends and I participated in the 48 hour Film Challenge sponsored by the California Film Foundation. The challenge is to create a 5-7 minute video within 48 hours. When I told my coworker about this project she thought we had to make a ‘movie 48 hours long’ when I told her about it. Yeah, I was scratching my head too. “Did she just say that?” LOL

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On April 5th at 7PM, our team leader Leo Zuniga had to pull a theme (all other teams have to pull themes too) out of a hat. Whatever the theme was that we pulled was what we had to create our film on based on a set of specific items that needed to be included into the film. We got “‘Time Travel” and had to use a famous line from ‘The Wizard of Oz” in our film along with a few other things (steam-powered). I was worried we weren’t going to be able to pull this off. It seemed very tough but we managed to pull all of our creative juices together and start the process of creating a masterpiece…okay…not a masterpiece. Just a cheesy flick for this contest.

(This was us filming on the first night-Junior Bruce, Chad Meisenheimer, Chester Finney, and me)

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(Chad, Leo Zuniga, Reena ray, and me)

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We started filming on Friday the 5th around 11:00ish and finished that night around 2:00am. Then met back up Saturday at 5:00pm to finish the rest of the film. It was great to get some sleep and get a fresh take on our film. Our Director, Chad Meisenheimer was able to work on the script and dialogue so the story connected. We spend about 45- minutes going over lines. This was fun because I was able to get some feedback on my acting (or lack of) skills. LOL.

(Reena Ray, me, and Chad going over the script)

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We wrapped on Saturday at 10PM. This was a great feeling but the process was just getting started. We still needed our Director of Photography and Editor, Chester Finney to edit the film and submit it to the California Film Foundation on Sunday by 7PM in order for our film to be accepted.

We made it!

(Leo dropping off our video)

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Thanks to all these AMAZING PEOPLE!

Cast/Crew (We all wore different hats for this project)

Director/Script Writer/Sound: Chad Meisenheimer

Director of Photography/Editor: Chester Finney

Script Writer/Actor: Junior Bruce

Production Assistant/Lighting: Leo Zuniga

Actor/Production Assistant: Reena Ray

Actor/Food Service: Jovon Torres

(Leo, me, Reena, Chester, and Chad)

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The premier will be on April 20th at the Crocker Art Museum. Wish us luck! I hope we win!

It’s the little projects like this that I enjoy so much. I LOVE being creative with others. We aren’t getting paid for this but we all enjoy and in some way or another respect the art of film making. It’s all about the experience…

Peace, Love & Blogs

Jovon Torres

YOUTUBE CHANNEL

FACEBOOK

TWITTER

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New Faces Showcase @ Punchline Sacramento

Posted by Jovon Torres on April 13, 2013
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Hey World,

Just wanted to give you all a quick update on my comedy life. I haven’t really been able to do much with my second job taking most of my free time but I did get an opportunity to perform at Sacramento Punchline a week back and it was AWESOME! Here was the flyer and line-up.

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There was a great line-up of comedians with special guest John Ross and our headliner Mike E. Winfield. I actually got to go up right before Mike E. so that was a great feeling. This one of my BEST SETS ever and I had a lot of people in the audience who came out to support. This show was so packed that they stopped letting people in. My brother missed the show because he got there a little too late. I had almost 50 people on the guest list. WOW!

Thank you all so very much! I appreciate all the support. I even made some new fans. Pretty cool huh?

I also had an opportunity to perform that Sunday at Punchline on Sammy Obeid’s showcase but I couldn’t get people to come out so I wasn’t able to get onstage. That’s the business of comedy. You can have a ton of people out one night and the next night not a single person shows up. I really wanted to get on stage and perform for the audience there but it wasn’t meant to be. Oh well! On to the next show, right?

At the moment, I don’t have anymore shows scheduled but I’m sure I’ll book one soon. Thank you all for the support.

Peace, Love & Blogs

Jovon Torres

YOUTUBE CHANNEL

TWITTER

FACEBOOK PAGE

INSTAGRAM

Brown & Dirty (Punchline Comedy Club)

Posted by Jovon Torres on March 5, 2013
Posted in: Journey of a Comedian. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment

Hey World,

I’ve been busy lately with my full-time job, comedy, and a second job. That’s right! I’m officially ‘Jamaican’ with about five different jobs. I finally found the time to sit down and type this blog up for you all (all four of you).

–MUSIC SHARE–

I came across this dope remix of Brandy’s hit single “I Wanna Be Down” and it’s been on repeat the last 48 hours. PLEASE LISTEN and tell me what you think. I’m a HUGE fan of 90′s R&B.

WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN YOU TO? 

I’ve been trying to stay focused on my yearly goals but I’ll be very honest…its been extremely difficult. I’ve been back in the gym (going after I finish this blog -hehe) but I know my first mistake. I haven’t been going in with a plan. You should always have a ‘workout plan’ when you go to the gym but I’ve been winging it (mentally remembering what I used to do) but a plan keeps you on track.

In terms of comedy, I was in San Francisco and Stockton a few weeks back and last week I was in a “hosting” competition at Laughs Unlimited here in Sacramento. I didn’t win the competition but I didn’t too bad. I scored an 80.5. I received some really needed feedback about my performance that I will take and implement into my set.

HOW WAS BROWN & DIRTY AT PUNCHLINE? 

This show was AWESOME! One of my best performances to date. It was special because my Great Aunt and Uncle (Leslie and Jesse) as well as my brother Chuka attended the show…and I can’t forget my co-workers Christina  and her husband, Bonita, Damaris , and Joseph.  I also had friends Charlene, Heather, Fabian, Mari, and DJ Pete Alexander who came out to support me. It’s an incredible feeling when you have support, especially as a comedian because we are always telling jokes to random strangers. It’s refreshing to perform in front of people you actually know.

Brown & Dirty show flyer

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It was great to share the stage with some very talented and hilarious comedians. I enjoyed all the comedians. It was my first time working a show with Ellis Rodriguez and Kabir Kabeezy Singh. I worked out some new material that was solid ( I thought so-hehe) but my set still needs work to really be polished!

At the end of the day, I was VERY satisfied with my performance and the overall turnout of the crowd. It’s still so weird that a year and a half ago, I was one of the audience members at Punchline and now…I’m actually a comedian who performs there (whenever I get a show there)…I find that to be AWESOME!

I’ll try to get another blog up for you all this week. Good night!

Peace, Love & Blogs

Jovon Torres

YOUTUBE CHANNEL: JovonTorresTV

FACEBOOK PAGE: Jovon Torres Comedy

TWITTER: JovonTorres

Studio Comedy Club

Posted by Jovon Torres on February 22, 2013
Posted in: Journey of a Comedian. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment

Hey World,

I had the day off of comedy and worked on my YouTube channel, cleaned house, worked out, and now I’m writing this blog (smile) for you all to read. I’ve been on vacation this week (yes, no work!) so it’s been nice to relax and have some time to myself before heading back to work.

I’ll be in Stockton tomorrow for another comedy show at the new Studio Comedy Club. Here is the flyer for this weekends show. If you leave in the area, you should definitely come out to laugh your butt cheeks off! Its going to be a great show with some awesome comedians: Joe Rivera, Rand William Doerning, Andrew Holmgren, and the Cowboy Rich Brockman.

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If I get the opportunity to record my set then I’ll post some video snippets on my YouTube channel or directly onto my site.

Peace, Love & Blogs

Jovon Torres

Comet Comedy Club

Posted by Jovon Torres on February 21, 2013
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Hey World,

I’ll be at the Comet Comedy Club tonight in San Francisco, California. This is my first time doing a comedy show in San Francisco and I’m so excited because this is the start of something GREAT! One of my goals this year was to do a comedy show in San Francisco (check)! Now, I have a new goal…perform at the SF Punchline and Cobbs Comedy Club by 2014. I believe I will perform at one of these places THIS YEAR!

Here is the flyer for the show tonight! If you have a moment, please support these other comedians by finding them on Facebook and “Liking” their fan page (if they have one).

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I’ll do my best to film a vlog driving up to San Francisco using my trusty sidekick…the iPhone! If you live in San Francisco, come out tonight. This is a FREE show!

Peace, Love & Blogs

Jovon Torres

Twitter: JovonTorres

Facebook: Jovon Torres Comedy Page

YouTube Channel: JovonTorresTV