Some time ago, I dated a comedienne and spent many evenings accompanying her to various gigs at lounges, comedy clubs and other venues around Vancouver, Canada. I generally sat at the Comedian’s table where I shared a laugh with both amateurs and headliners of the time. In fact, in my personal experience with the many comics I met, I never witnessed any illegal behavior – unless you count a bad joke as an offence.

In my experience I found that one cannot paint in wide brush stokes the behavior of any person or group based upon stereotypes, or suspicion – otherwise you’ll miss the opportunity to really get to know an individual.

Comics are hard-working, gutsy, dedicated, determined performers that are willing to risk their (sometimes frail) egos in front of sometimes hostile, aggressive, crowds, as they test new material in their quest to reach the top of their profession. I know being a stand-up is a job that I certainly don’t have enough guts to try – not for even a brief moment in front of a comedy club’s open mic.

Comics offer us all an opportunity to question authority; to contemplate new ways of looking at what we feel is ‘normal’; to say the things we fear will cast us a politically incorrect; to understand that some of our personal thoughts are sometimes shared by many – all in a way that makes us think; makes us smile, while they risk it all - and, particularly at the ‘openers’ level of the business, very little monetary reward.

I am pleased to provide a Website in a Box for the performers – particularly the ones establishing themselves in the comedy business. It’s my way of giving back to the group that warmly welcomed me to their table and shared with me jokes they crafted, and other jokes that they simply loved themselves.

Nowadays, a dot-com presence is almost a requirement – it provides an open mic that can be heard from anywhere in the world, as equal and independent as the Exxons and Haliburtons, and for only 20 cents a day establishes a predictable place to be found – a place that can share images, daily events, video, music, and best of all: IDEAS.

The internet presence we’ve created for CCA&F comics also includes email addresses attached to their own dot-com name – a fixed address, no matter where you live or work, in an always-changing world. And, to add even greater flexibility, Website in a Box members can create private places within their sites to keep information secure and always accessible – perfect for on-the-road emergencies, or to move information privately to another.