7 Year Comedy Wham Anniversary with Brendan K O'Grady and Duncan Carson

In this very spe­cial Com­e­dy Wham anniver­sary episode, Valerie Lopez sits down with Dun­can Car­son and Bren­dan K. O’Grady, co-pro­duc­ers of the infa­mous Austin com­e­dy show: Sure Thing and cre­ators of Sure Thing Records. Car­son and O’Grady were Com­e­dy Wham Presents’ first-ever guests, and (almost) every year, they cel­e­brate the anniver­sary by rem­i­nisc­ing, reflect­ing and recap­ping the pre­vi­ous year.

While the pod­cast began in 2016, Lopez notes that Com­e­dy Wham, ​“Has evolved into this dif­fer­ent beast” since then. Record­ing 39 episodes in 2022, near­ly pre-pan­dem­ic out­put, Lopez is awed by all the dif­fer­ent peo­ple she’s had the oppor­tu­ni­ty to talk to. For Lopez, pro­vid­ing a plat­form for come­di­ans and artists from a vari­ety of dif­fer­ent races, gen­ders and sex­u­al­i­ties is the mis­sion she’s most proud of. That and the projects she’s been able to help pro­mote, ​“Dave Buck­man on reopen­ing Cold­Towne The­ater, JT Haber­saat and his Alter­ca­tion Fes­ti­val, Andre Ricks with East Austin Com­e­dy Club, and Mon­na of Claws Out Com­e­dy in DFW” to name a few. This past year, Com­e­dy Wham also got to par­tic­i­pate in its first com­e­dy fes­ti­val, tak­ing the pod­cast in front of a live audi­ence at Lysis­tra­ta Com­e­dy Fes­ti­val. And final­ly, Lopez excit­ed­ly announces that Com­e­dy Wham has a new team of writ­ers. Speak­ing of writ­ing, Lopez has been active­ly con­tribut­ing writ­ing pieces about Austin com­e­dy to The Austin Chron­i­cle with more expect­ed in 2023.

Sure Thing enters its 11^th year in 2023 and will also have its 500^th show. Called a ​“near-leg­endary standup show­case” by The Austin Chron­i­cle, Sure Thing is one of the longest run­ning shows in Austin, with a stel­lar rep­u­ta­tion of show­cas­ing the best standup come­di­ans from Austin and all over the coun­try. The show takes place every Fri­day at 9:30pm at Fall­out The­ater and rou­tine­ly sells out.

Car­son and O’Grady rem­i­nisce with Lopez on Sure Thing’s hum­ble begin­nings. Orig­i­nal­ly named the Laugh Lounge as part of a radio sta­tion’s pro­mo­tion­al effort, Car­son and O’Grady took con­trol of the show and set out to cre­ate some­thing much big­ger. They want­ed peo­ple to take it seri­ous­ly, and that start­ed with giv­ing it a new name. 

Sure Thing’s rep­u­ta­tion was no joke. Over time, eager atten­dees lined up hours ear­ly out­side the show’s orig­i­nal loca­tion at Austin Java’s now shut­tered Lamar loca­tion. See­ing those lines made Car­son and O’Grady aware that they were cre­at­ing some­thing that stood out (and quick­ly filled out the back room per­for­mance area). Audi­ences knew they were get­ting a bar­gain with free admission.

Sure Thing took a hia­tus after Austin Java closed its loca­tion and even­tu­al­ly found a new home at Fall­out The­ater. For Car­son and Grady, this was an adjust­ment. It was hard leav­ing behind the space that gave them ​“a sense of own­er­ship” where they had great cama­raderie with the staff, but Car­son and Grady have set­tled into Fall­out The­ater and learned to embrace the change, includ­ing the one that allows them to sell tickets. 

2022 was an impor­tant year for Sure Thing in terms of regain­ing momen­tum after the pan­dem­ic. O’Grady says that for him, ​“2022 just felt like the year that things start­ed truck­ing again, in terms of get­ting the show back up to kind of full speed.” 

Car­son and O’Grady also share some of their per­son­al 2022 high­lights. Car­son became some­thing of a Tik­Tok star, amass­ing a large fol­low­ing from his dai­ly news jokes titled, ​“Yes­ter­day in a Minute.” For Car­son, Tik­Tok reignit­ed the spark of com­e­dy writ­ing and breathed new life into his 16 year com­e­dy career. Car­son also announced that he cre­at­ed a Patreon.

For O’Grady, 2022 involved ​“a bit of soul search­ing.” O’Grady expe­ri­enced his own break­throughs. Ten years into his com­e­dy career, he reached a point of accep­tance of who he is as a per­former. ​“So much of ear­ly stand up com­e­dy is just try­ing to learn how to write a joke, just try­ing to learn how to stand on stage…the next 5 – 10 years is just bat­tling to get some sense of your own voice…and I def­i­nite­ly feel like I’m more con­fi­dent than I’ve ever been as a comic.” 

Turn­ing 40 grant­ed O’Grady a new­found sense of self-aware­ness and self-accep­tance. Refer­ring to life, O’Grady says ​“you only get one of these, and I’m almost halfway through it.” 

Car­son and O’Grady’s per­son­al break­throughs gave them a refresh­ing new atti­tude toward Sure Thing. Their new phi­los­o­phy: ​“If we’re going to do this, let’s just have fun with it.”

Car­son and O’Grady share the best advice they’ve ever received for pro­duc­ing a show. It’s the advice they received from Matt Bear­den, the pio­neer who brought alter­na­tive standup com­e­dy to Austin through his show, Punch, at the orig­i­nal Cap City Com­e­dy Club. The advice: ​“Hold your­self and your show to a high­er stan­dard than every­body else. Care about who you book and be judi­cious about that because that’s what’s going to let you [estab­lish] your­self in the minds of people…and make your show free and week­ly. If you do that, peo­ple will find you.” 

Per­haps what Car­son and O’Grady are most proud of are all the lives who have been touched by Sure Thing. O’Grady says, ​“The way I feel reward­ed by it now is that, because we have done so many shows, there are so many indi­vid­ual peo­ple who have had a mem­o­ry with us.” They go on to share sto­ries of cou­ples who met at the show, peo­ple who pro­posed onstage, and even a divorce. 

When asked what they hope for in 2023, Car­son and O’Grady announce some excit­ing news. On Feb­ru­ary 24^th, Mac Blake will be record­ing a new album and head­lin­ing at Sure Thing: two shows in one night. Blake’s debut album Bird Drugs (avail­able on Sure Thing Records) is on heavy rota­tion in the Com­e­dy Wham head­phones (if you haven’t heard it yet, what are you wait­ing for?)

Car­son and O’Grady express their grat­i­tude for the show they’ve cre­at­ed and the lives it’s touched; their biggest hope for the future, “ To keep doing Sure Thing for as long as we get to do it.” 

Fol­low Brendan

• Twit­ter — @YourPalBKO
  
• Insta­gram — @yourpalbko

Fol­low Duncan

• Twit­ter — @aduncancarson
  
• Insta­gram — @aduncancarson
• Face­book — face​book​.com/​d​u​n​c​a​n​c​arson
• Tik­Tok - @yesterdayinaminute

Fol­low Sure Thing

• Web­site — SureThin​gRecords​.com
• Twit­ter — @SURETHINGATX
• Insta­gram — @surethingatx
• Face­book — face​book​.com/​S​u​r​e​T​h​i​ngATX

See Bren­dan, Dun­can, and Sure Thing

• Every Fri­day Night at Fall­out Theater!