Zack Poitras has zero connections on his outdated online profile, which is surprising given that he lists "The Tonight Show" under experience. Now a full-time writer for Funny or Die and a part-timer for The Onion, Poitras advanced in his funny field by networking in person. He also made waves by simply practicing the art of comedy. One such piece of work, something he created for fun to share with his Facebook friends, helped him get noticed, as he explained in a recent Q&A about his career.
"What I would recommend is, for one, the most important thing is to just make stuff, and to just keep making stuff," the Portland, Ore., native said. "When I was in college, I also wrote a humor column for my school newspaper. You know that was only because I wrote pieces and auditioned to get that spot.
"It's always a battle with comedy to find your voice, finding what you're good at in comedy, what you can bring to it that's unique. Trying and failing a lot, and just making stuff, and throwing things out into the ether. Pretty much every professional job I've gotten has often come from a YouTube video or a written piece that only has 200 or 300 views. It's not about going viral; it's the right people seeing what you make; that's what matters. If it's also clear that you put your heart and your soul into it, that also comes through. It doesn't matter how high your budget was."
So what creation helped Poitras land a full-time job at Funny or Die?
"My original position at Funny or Die was not for video writing, it was for articles," he told ValuePenguin. "The other thing that helped me was just some silly Facebook Photoshop post I made, that I just put up because I thought, "This is something I made that I think was funny." And some friends who were at Funny or Die showed it to their boss, and they were like, "This is the kind of stuff we need." That helped get me the job.
Courtesy of Zack Poitras
Despite being a full-time for one of the web's go-to spots for comedy of all mediums, Poitras still has time to freelance.
"I direct friends' sketch shows because I think it helps me get better at directing," he said, "and also I like to help out with comedy, to put stuff out. I'm not making any money from that. I'll be in my friends' videos for free. I'll do a lot of that stuff just because I think it's important to keep making those things. And then I'll do other commercials or whatever for money and exposure or whatever the heck.
"All that stuff is usually on a freelance basis. Funny or Die is very cool about it; they understood when they hired me and said, 'If you're a working comedian, we totally get that you're going to be doing other gigs and stuff. As long as you're taking care of your end, that's fine with us.' When you do comedy, or something artistic like that, a lot of times you're just doing it because you love it, not for money or anything other reason than that."