Meet Patrick Sullivan of Willowick

Today we’d like to introduce you to Patrick Sullivan

Hi Patrick, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Since 5th grade, I had known I wanted to try stand up. But I never admitted it to anyone. When COVID came around, I had just graduated high school and I figured I would try writing some jokes to pass the time. But I never had any intention of actually performing. Two months into college I got drunk at a house party and told some guy I met a week ago that I wanted to try stand up, but I didn’t have the balls to actually do it. The next day, he put me in contact with someone he went to high school with and we set up a call. That week, I facetimed a local comedian, who helped me polish my jokes and convinced me to try an open mic. I scheduled to go to an open mic at the now closed, Wiley’s Comedy Club. I drove there with a couple friends and when I showed up, almost 20 college friends, whom I had only met a month ago, had driven an hour from campus to surprise me at the open mic. It was so heart warming. Since the room was filled with my friends, I killed. But it didn’t matter. As soon as I heard my first laugh I was addicted. That was in November of 2020 and from then until 2022 I did comedy relatively inconsistently because I was afraid to commit to it and put myself out there. In the summer of 2022, my friend and I made a commitment to each other that we were going to be serious about this dream. We started hitting multiple open mics a week and soon started getting booked on actual shows. I studied abroad in Barcelona for a semester and even got involved in the English speaking comedy scene there. When I got back to school, I became very involved with the on campus comedy scene. I just graduated from college and am looking forward to pursuing my dream from here on out.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has not been completely smooth. When you’re first starting out, every time you bomb you think you should just give up. It took me two years to learn to truly accept bombing as part of the process. I’m still working on embracing a good bomb. And then when you’re in business school at college, all of your friends and classmates are applying to and getting very high paying, impressive jobs and you have to ask yourself is your goal a lot of money in a job you know you’ll hate or actually work towards your dream, but take a lesser paying job that allows more flexibility. A lot of doubt came along with that too. Luckily, I always had good mentors and a supportive community made up of my friends and family.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’m still trying to explore different mediums for my comedy, but generally speaking I do stand up comedy. I also write some comedy articles and do some screenwriting. In the local comedy scene I am known for having paralyzed vocal cords. What really sets me apart is that I was mute for the first 6 years of my life and to this day I have a very raspy voice. So, I’ve been able to turn that around and joke about my voice among other things.

We’d love to hear about how you think about risk taking?
You’ve got to take risks. I think the definition of a “big risk” completely depends on each person. Someone’s big risk might be a tiny step for someone else, but that doesn’t matter. Forcing yourself out of your comfort zone is how you grow. I mentioned in the last question how I used to be mute. Growing up, outside of paralyzed vocal cords, I also had a tracheostomy tube and a whole bunch of lung issues. But, every chance I got, I would try playing different sports. Growing up, I played soccer, track, basketball, and varsity rowing in high school. I was not the most athletic kid on any of those teams, but I didn’t let my disability hold me back. The lessons I learned, failures I endured, and triumphs I accomplished made me who I am today. I’m not saying you need to do sports, but you have to do something that scares. Getting in front of a room full of people to make jokes when I have a very abnormally sounding voice was a huge risk and it payed off tenfold. Definitely take risks!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://psullycomedy.com/
• Instagram: psully_comedy
• Youtube: psully_comedy
• Other: tiktok: psully_comedy