Job Description

Job Description: COMEDY THEATER CO-MANAGER

In the summer of my sophomore year of high school, I was told by my mother to get a job immediately after turning 16 years old. After multiple failed attempts with some of California’s staple teenager employers (Trader Joe’s and In-N-Out), I felt as though I was an undesirable and unskilled teenager. That was until I entered a small video game tournament in my hometown. 

I had never participated in a video game tournament before, but my friend and I had nothing else to do and the entry fee was comparatively cheap. I wish I could say I played well, but I was brutally beaten in front of a crowd of gamers, ranging from highly competitive to near first-time players. After the loss, I kept my chin up and watched the whole tournament, interacting with the commentators and helping with cleaning up at the end of the tournament. Shortly after the tournament, the organizer of the event sent me an email asking if I would like to help with setup and takedown for the following tournament. That was my first step into getting any high school boy’s dream job. 

After assisting with setup and takedown for the tournaments, my eventual boss asked me if I would like to work as an employee at his comedy theater (where the tournaments were hosted), which I gladly accepted. As a new employee of The Amazing Comedy Theater, I had three main jobs:

• Organizing video game tournaments

• Running comedy shows

• Redistributing knockoff LEGO minifigures

Organizing Video Game Tournaments

As I became more experienced in the world of video game tournaments, I learned how to organize video game tournaments independently. The process of organizing a tournament taught me a lot about how much effort it takes to organize an event in general. 

The first step was to set a date and time for the event and then post it online, usually using Eventbrite or other ticketing platforms. After collecting all the names of attendees, I would set their names into a bracket upon their entry. Once the bracket was made and all the competitors arrived, I would announce the first players going against each other. From time to time throughout the tournament, I would also announce raffles to keep players who had lost still captivated and involved in the tournament. After the final match, I would give the winners their prizes and then prepare to pack up and close the event. 

Running Comedy Shows

In the evening on weekdays, I would organize comedy shows at the theater. It was a relatively small location, so set up and take down was not too time consuming. The setup process went as follows: lining up the audience seats, turning on the lights, setting the camera, and playing some music on the speakers. The most important (and most forgettable) step was turning on the camera before the show so the comedians could buy a copy of their set. There were multiple instances where I forgot to start recording and would have to run in halfway through someone’s set to hit play. 

Once all the audience members bought their tickets and took their seats, my work was relatively over. While everyone was in the main room watching the show, I would be sitting in the front doing homework and keeping company with some of the comedians. Giving a 16 year old the power to run a comedy show came with a few unique privileges, such as being allowed to deny adults entry if they were being unpleasant. I would be lying if I said that wasn’t one of my favorite privileges. 

The take down process was pretty much the setup process in reverse. I would stop the camera recording, turn off the speakers, turn off the lights, and stack the chairs back up. While everyone was talking outside, I was closing up the shop for the night. The job was fun and not time consuming, so I would run shows around 5 or so nights a week. 

Redistributing Knockoff LEGO Minifigures

The last, and most unique task I had while working at The Amazing Comedy Theater was redistributing knockoff LEGO minifigures. We would order Chinese knockoff LEGO figurines in bulk, then I would assemble them, bag them, put our company cards and stickers in, and finally seal them in clasp envelopes to ship them. 

The process was easy and repetitive, so I would put my headphones on and work for a few hours every weekend. Once I got into the rhythm, it would almost feel robotic when I was working. There was something therapeutic about listening to music and turning my brain off while doing the same process over and over for hours.