I didn't really see it coming.

In retrospect it seems clear, but this is a true story. In 1998, after helping what seemed like every doomed indie band in San Diego put out their first and only records, I made one of my own. At the time, I had reached the point of revulsion over the techniques used to create pop/rock/alternative records. For those of you that have never done it, it basically amounts to doing take after take of the exact same song ad-nauseum and then later spending an additional week or so in Pro Tools correcting all the errors.

So I made a folk album and recorded every song using one take. That's called a reactionary, but not necessarily intelligent, response. Or some might say contemporary musical suicide.

Later, I was at an open mic in San Diego promoting my record. I sat down at a piano and played what I thought was a quirky, touching little love song. The entire house burst into crazy laughter. I didn't get it.

Then one day, ten years later, I was watching Comedy Central and this really, really bad comedian got up and did a half-hour special. He wasn't funny at all.

I was like, "I could do that."

UPDATE: It wasn't Daniel Tosh. Comedy is subjective. Which is why anytime a bad comic comes on Comedy Central I cue up Bonnie MacFarlane or Maria Bamford. I have their CC specials on permanent keep.