By d. emerson eddy — When I was in university, I tried my hand at a bit of stand-up. During high school, I was part of the improv troupe and had written what was kind of a comedic play, inspired by both George Carlin and Spalding Gray to try working out a few things through comedic monologues. I wasn't very good. I had a habit of leaning towards dark humor, but it was the sort of thing that people didn't want to hear from some twenty-year-old university kid. Not enough life experience to be credible, with subject material that was too dark. Even if they were real life experiences. I learned early on that there was a fine line between looking at horrible events through the mirror of comedy and just being depressing or crass. And dying at the mic was easy.