My mentor, Patricia Fripp, in her book, "Make It, So You Don't Have to Fake it", writes about a humorist that we both know, Jeanne Robertson.

"Jeanne asked a Las Vegas cab driver, 'What's the best show in town?' He quickly replied, 'Oh Jay Leno! My wife just went to see him. He gives as special show for taxi divers at two in the morning. Otherwise, we could never afford to go. Kenny Rogers does the same thing when he's's in town.'

"You wouldn't think anyone as big in the entertainment industry as Jay Leno or Kenny Rogers needs to do something for nothing, but they do."

Cantu says, "It ain't necessarily about talent, it is totally about letting people know about your talent. "

Last month, I re-printed another comic's ezine in it's entirety. It is edited and distributed by New Zealand comic Terry Williams. I wrote, "Listen, I would like to reprint your July issue in it's entirety for one of my Comedy Club Diary issues." What I thought I might do is kill two birds with one stone - give people a taste of comedy from a perspective other than my US view.

AND

Also use it as a subtle suggestion that more professional comics should use a ezine as a self-promo concept. Of course I would reference your web site and give full subscription details."

It astounds me, that because of his ezine, I know more about Terry Williams' career and his progress in New Zealand, than I do about many comics here in San Francisco whom I've seen and chatted with.

By the way, here is another value in having an ezine. Terry Williams wrote to me after our initial email exchange:

"A third use of the ezine is as a personal weblog / diary for myself to review my own progress. I just reviewed my last 6 months against my annual comedy goals. I find it's quite motivating to see how I was rapt six months ago to "get a Wednesday" and mark that against my recent corporate gigs.

"Very much as an aside, I've created a few other websites for kiwi comedians you might like to scope out for that international perspective.

http://www.mikeloder.com

http://www.jeremyelwood.com

http://www.nzcomedyguild.org.nz

"The other main comedy site in New Zealand is http://www.comedy.co.nz which is the Classic's, the homebase and really the only permanent comedy venue in this country of 4 million people. One of the cliché stereotype things about kiwis is that they don't openly express their emotions. This is a throwback to our history of being colonised and being at the edge of the world and life just being really tough. You might see this in sports with our national sport being Rugby and the national team the All Blacks.

"When we score or win, it'd looked badly upon of you celebrate. We have a 'tall poppy syndrome' where we hassle anyone who gets rich or famous. Great example is Sir Edmund Hilary a kiwi who was the first to climb Mt Everest.

"He does this amazing thing and helps the Nepalese etc. and is such a top bloke and never gets excited or shows emotion. When asked how he felt about being the first to the top he says 'We knocked the bugger off.' He's a hero here, an icon.

"Russell Crowe, born in NZ, gets hard time for the whole Hollywood thing although that's balanced by the hypocritical blokey attitude that he may be 'up himself' (quaint kiwi expression in common usage) but at least he gets the girls. It sometimes takes overseas comics a couple of days to acclimatise to our attitudes, speech and spelling.

"All the best to you and yours and thanks again."

Cantu notes:

To subscribe to Terry's ezine, visit his web site and request subscription or send any email to seriouscomedy@clear.net.nz requesting to a free subscription.

Check out more about Williams and read some GREAT free tutorials. http://www.seriouscomedy.co.nz