Robert H. May

Robert H. May is relatively young in his comedy career. He started in 2022 with the rite of passage open mic and bombed in front of an audience of 5 at 1:30am. He came by the open mic almost by accident. The Missouri-born bartender had moved to Austin after the loss of his father. The arrangement allowed him to both support his mom and be supported by her through the sadness. His first job as bartender at The Creek and the Cave, meant being surrounded by audiences who dissected comedians in the same way as sports analysts. The experience created a connection to a memory of his dad buying tickets for May to see Chris Rock in high school. For May, "that was, like a really fond memory, like I knew I liked comedy then, but when I got to Austin, I realized there's a whole other level of obsession with comedy." An obsession turned into making a decision to enter the fray.

Austin's comedy scene is fueled by (and more commonly known for) edge and angst. But May proudly flies the flag of whimsy. He writes his material to deliberately avoid "dark places". Instead, May offer proverbial warm hugs with punchlines. As a brilliant graphics designer, after that initial bomb on stage he decided "I'm going to stick to fishing for cyber laughs for a while, because I like doing graphic design with a kind of a, you know, humor angle to it." When asked to return to the stage, he realized that same digital design humor angle could serve him well onstage.

For someone who strives less for turns and edgy material, it's a pleasant surprise that May had a positive experience on Kill Tony. It only took four signups to land on the big stage, and turned out it was the first time his set had been recorded. Kill Tony isn't always for the weak of constitution. You need the focus to deliver an effective 60 second set, combined with the nerves of steel to handle the post-set interview with Tony (Hinchcliffe) and his comedy guests. During May's appearance, guests Adam Ray and Tom Green gave him very nice feedback. Kill Tony is a four-step experience: 1) Wait to get called, 2) Perform 60 seconds, 3) Survive the post-set interview, and 4) Survive the YouTube comments. Fortunately for May, he completed all four steps. While he'd heard he shouldn't read the comments, he did and was pleasantly surprised by the generally positive tone.

Austin offers multiple open mics and performance opportunities in a single night. And May admits, "the thrill of getting laughs on stage, it's pretty addicting." But he also feels like there's a practical side of enjoying this relatively new hobby. He doesn't feel the strong compulsion to be a famous touring comic as long as he's enjoying the experience. For now, the goal is make others laugh while also maintaining his badge as a comedy fan. The fear of a hobby turning into a job is real for many comics who don't want their passion to turn into a burden. A measured pace can help ensure that the joy of performing never fades.