Byword on the Street
Byword Smith is a young comic and writer
located in Prince Georges County, MD. Truer than an innocent man
in a lie detector test, he loves vocabulary and communication
and is exhilarated by people who speak their mind. Whether or
not he agrees is important, but secondary. His personal interests
are loving his wife, and learning new things. Byword performs
his comedy throughout the DC Metropolitan area, and houses his
literary work at www.bywordsmith.com.
Why Comedy?
The other day someone asked me, “Byword, why do you do
comedy?” I thought about it and said, “It’s
the only thing that has ever worked out for me.” I have
been able to make people laugh while failing miserably at everything
else.
I used to design websites but I had to get out of that business
because people used to come to me with the most ridiculous of
ideas. The other day this guy came to me and just had to have
a website.
guy: “BYWORD, BYWORD,
BYWORD! I GOT THIS IDEA THAT’S GON’NA GET US OUT THE
HOOD! WE GOING TO BE RICH!”
me: “What is it?”
guy: “A BARBERSHOP…FOR
PETS!”
This was an utterly ridiculous individual uttering a saliently
utterly ridiculous idea. Can you imagine a kitten with a shape-up?
Or how about a pit bull with a fade? I had to get out of that
business.
I used to also do network marketing. I had to quit that because
I was sacrificing friends and family relationships on the altar
of business. I use the term “business” loosely because
everybody knows that network marketing is not a business. If nobody
is buying what you’re selling, you don’t have a business,
you have a hobby. I couldn’t sell that stuff to my own mother.
One time I even tried to get her to join my team.
me: “MA! YOU KNOW GOOD
AND WELL THAT YOU COULD USE AN EXTRA FIVE HUNDRED TO A THOUSAND
DOLLARS A MONTH! NO? WELL THAT’S WHY YOU BROKE NOW!”
ma: “AND HOW MUCH ARE
YOU MAKING?”
me: “Nothing.”
ma: “WELL SHUT-UP THEN.”
I had to get out of that business.
These days I’ve dedicated myself to comedy because if I
get good at that, I will not ever have to go back to designing
websites for silly ideas or doing network marketing anymore.
- Byword Smith
