The first presentation of my show was given in May, 1883, at Omaha, which I had then chosen as my home. From there we made our first summer tour, visiting practically every important city in the country.
I do 100 shows a year, but I do it in fits and starts, as opposed to going on a long run.
Way before we got a record deal, we were playing clubs seven nights a week, three one-hour sets a night. Then we got the record deal, and we took off on the road and stayed out.
When I play in Atlantic City, I perform Tuesdays through Sundays for two weeks, and I have 91-percent attendance. No one else plays six days a week, two shows per night, and does that kind of business.
It's hard to say exactly when it all started or what show it was, but I started touring when I was 11. I played all over Dallas and Fort Worth, and eventually I was touring the whole state.
'Grease' was my Broadway debut. That was eye-opening. At the same time, it was very familiar. It was a Broadway show, but it's kind of the same as doing a show in Minnesota. It's the same type of rehearsal process. You are doing 8 shows a week, but I worked at a theatre in Minnesota that did 11 shows a week.
As far as the live shows go, we're not leapfrogging all the smaller venues. We would have bypassed these kind of shows and gone straight to the Arena shows, but we didn't want to.
On Saturday afternoons, there was a film, of course, and then we did about four shows between the films. And I would do a tap dance, a little military tap.
I just never had time to follow sports. When you're working as often as I was, eight shows a week, you just don't have time to develop interests outside of the theatre.
The advice that I usually give to young actors is that if you can create a character for the stage and keep that character fresh for at least 6 months that means you're doing the show eight times a week.
You know that if you come to WWE and want to maintain a certain level of success, you're going to be busy and gone a lot. It's part of the deal.
Yeah I'm still writing. I've got about 14 tracks now. But we've been on tour so we haven't had time to get back to a rehearsal place.
I pretty much live on my tour bus.I do well around 300 shows a year. A lot of times I will do two shows a night.
I'm set to have my best year ever: I'm hiring some acts and there will be a show in the morning, in the afternoon and in the evening. I'm going to use my theater to its fullest potential.
I did 15 shows a week when I lived in New York. I did five shows on a Friday and seven shows on a Saturday. It was everything I did and it was my sole source of income.
Right now I can't be sure that I will be back on stage. We have been touring for two years and that is way too much.
It's just to break things up between stand-up gigs. I would only do it periodically. Maybe just an East Coast thing.
I was tired. I peaked. I left when I was on top. One year, I did 280 concerts.
I like the timeframe involved in being an actor.
I'm going to write, and after two years, when I've quit touring, if a special event comes up that I want to do, by all means I will do it, but as far as a structured tour goes, at the last date of 2014 goes, that will be it for touring.
I do six shows a week. Sometimes my voice gets tired, but I love it.
The period of time between when you're done with a record and when you start touring is the worst period of a time in a musician's life.
I actually may do a musical next year... not one that I've written; one that I may star in. Plus my concert and other people's work and all of a sudden you've got a very full life.
I tour a lot, sometimes like a hundred shows a year.
I'm a stand-up comic. I'm always doing dates; it's just that, if I'm working on a project or I'm busy, I can't get out on the road or book any shows. Since the beginning of my career, I'm usually out for at least 10-15 dates throughout the year. If I have time, then I try to get at least 30-40 dates.
