Happy Tuesday, and welcome to the first edition of the Hustle + Chill with NPH. I’m hopping a flight for a quick two-day trip to Charlotte, where I’ll be headlining Comedy Zone TOMORROW (Weds the 26th - VIPs are sold out, about 40something tickets remain if you feel so inclined to grab them: https://www.cltcomedyzone.com/shows/299134)

I’m excited for this trip because A. I love Charlotte. I performed there with Comedy Zones on my 2023 tour and made friends with a bunch of white collared bankers who I’m meeting for happy hour when I land. No, I don’t usually hang with bankers. Yes, Charlotte is made up of mostly bankers. I digress… B. I’m ready for some warm weather (I’m not designed for winter, although I lurv you, Chicago). C. I’m headlining tomorrow in partnership with not only the club, but with Innovate Charlotte, Dual Boot Partners, and all proceeds from the show go to The Dottie Rose Foundation, which empowers young girls without much access or opportunity to explore careers in tech and entrepreneurship. More on why this is important to me later. 😇

The Hustle + Chill stems from a mix of my never ending grind, blended with the “fuck-its,” which is a more palatable way for me to express chilling out immensely on what I expect outcomes of anything to be. I love what I do, I do it, and I am actively removing undo stress from the doing of it - and I want to share this journey with all of you.

The Hustle

Much to both my delight and detriment, I’m widely known as an ever-hustler. I mean, for anyone who’s working in comedy, entertainment, or is in an entrepreneur, you feel me.

Last year I headlined in over 50 cities, 8 countries, and pulled off a month at Edinburgh Fringe for my debut of my new hour, and it was riveting… but I don’t think many people are really honest about EdFringe, so let me add some color.

It cost me $20,000 to do Fringe. There, I said it, public knowledge. Fringe is extremely expensive. $4k for promoter team, $4k for street flyer team, $7k for PR team (you can’t do Fringe without any of those and expect to have more than 2 people at your shows), $5k for housing. This doesn’t even include living expenses while there.

Why am I telling you this? Because when I explain to people how much I had to invest in Fringe, their jaw ends up on the floor. $20k is a lot of money, but if I look back through the fifteen years I’ve been hustling as a comedian, I’ve probably invested nearly a quarter of a million into myself - gear, flights, hotels, editors, actors access, audition tapes, acting coaches, content, filming my own pilots and sizzles for pitches, launching two production companies so my shit could get made - I mean, the list is endless. 11 years in LA will do that.

If you believe in something that you have to offer the world, you have to be willing to hustle your ass off, and invest in yourself to make it actionable. It’s just a reality. It will pay off, but eventually you have to let the work speak for itself, and begin to trust the process.

This brings me to…

The Chill

Takin’ it back to the infamous 2020 (the now, unspoken of times) when the world shut down and comedy only survived through zoom 🫠 and tents. ‘Twas terrible times. But, it was the first and likely only time (well, we’ll see…) we all were forced to pause together, reflect, and regroup to “figure it the fuck out.”

See, a lot of what LA and the comedy world teaches you is that busy = killing it. If you look busy? You’re doin it right. But, is that true?

During that time I started putting active work into assessing what my “why” is, and what I’m choosing to spend my time and energy on, limited resources, that moves me toward it.

I’ll admit, I’ve always been a hopeless romantic for life, in that I’ve innately trusted everything was going to work out in my favor. However, during the great pause of 2020, I actually began to apply principles to this thought process to carry myself to a new level.

It’s takes a LOT of work to “chill out.”

I started reading books by authors like Napoleon Hill, Marianne Williamson, and listening to Neville Goddard teachings. I know it sounds “woo woo,” but I promise you, getting your mind right is NOT bullshit.

It’s mental practices like these that over the last five years has really taught me to, YES, put the work in, but then RELAX through the outcome. Things always align more than you would ever be able to curate even if you tried, if you just stay the course and be your genuine self. More on this in future newsletters…

Why Charlotte is Satiating

In 2021 I launched my company mybreakupregistry.com (preparing for a mega relaunch 😎 - also more on this another time), and the way this company and my first special (www.nphcomedy.com) and my upcoming special align from pieces of my story has definitely found it’s way to the right people.

Last year, I was straight offered a role via Instagram DM because of my comedy, storytelling and business acumen, and I got to host a new series that will be dropping soon - very excited! This just landed in my lap from 15-20 years of hustle and putting myself out there MY way.

Charlotte is a great example of my comedy and entrepreneurship lives working in unison. Dual Boot was originally introduced to me as a company by my advisors to help me build the MVP for my company’s platform. I didn’t hire them, but four years later, they think of me for this event, fly me out, pay my asking rate, and allow me the opportunity to let my ticket sales go to a great cause.

See, the truth about working with comedy clubs is it’s HARD. LOL. When you start headlining regularly like I did in 2018 - GREAT! You’re the big dog! But working with most clubs in the age of social media, you’re expected to sell out every show on your own with no push from the club and if you DON’T, you suck. (ok that’s exaggerated but also, kind of not). Social media is a blessing in that you can grow your audience with just one solid clip, but also the expectations of this weigh heavily on performers. I know many headlining comedians with a much larger audience than me that still struggle to sell out. So collaborations like this remove so much stress, allows you to have help in pushing the info out, and it’s all for a good cause. Can I get an “Amen” on the win-win’s all around here?

I’m so excited to share more with all of you here in this newsletter. I’ll be planning to release every Tuesday, my favorite day of the week 🌮, so if you enjoyed reading feel free to share with a friend, or let me know what you’d like to hear about next.

Oh and by the way, I turned 40 last Tuesday! I now get to be the “baby” of my new decade. Feels better than being the eldest of the 30’s 😉

Upcoming Shows

Thursday Feb 27th, I land back in Chicago and I’ll be playing a special show at Laugh Factory Chicago called “Love is Blind” - where I actually get to share the stage in a tandem performance with my boyfriend and comedian Jake Snell. This will be different, and fun, and we wrote a bunch of zingers last night. It’s all comedy couples we adore.

Sunday March 2nd, I’ll be hosting Zanies Old Town Chicago at 7pm, and featuring on the 9pm at Laugh Factory Chicago

Friday March 7th, I’ll be on Best Night Ever! at Lincoln Lodge at 11pm

Saturday March 8th, I’ll be on both the 7 + 9pm shows at Laugh Factory Chicago

Tuesday March 11th, Jake Snell headlines Zanies for the first time and I’ll be featuring!! I’m so excited for him and we want to push this out like a motherfucker - here’s the tix: https://chicago.zanies.com/show/jake-snell/zanies-comedy-club-chicago/chicago-illinois/

Wednesday March 12th, I’ll be on Comedy Royalty at 9pm at Lincoln Lodge

These are the ones I’m most excited to share in the coming week or two, locally. You can always check my IG stories for additional drop-ins, and I’ll be announcing my 2025 tour soon.

Love you all and cheers to the hustle + chill. We ride.

xx NPH