Cornfed Comedy
An archive of stories from a comedy-lover's former blog, capturing the comedians and lives bringing a stand-up comedy culture to the Midwest.
Nathan Timmel is a friend of Cornfed Comedy, and of me. A talented stand-up comedian with road gigs on a regular basis, he juggles his time between Iowa City and the stand-up life. With two kids, a "dad award," a few books about life in general, he's never got time on his hands. He's also the founder of Comedy for Charity, which raised thousands for various causes around the Corridor. Originally published: November 2, 2014 The book (available in digital or paperback) features letters Timmel wrote to his daughter while working as a traveling comic. Corn-fed Comedy had the opportunity to chat with Timmel about his book, his life, and why how he keeps being so damn good at balancing it all.Nathan Timmel is no rookie when it comes to comedy. He's also not a rookie when it comes to parenting. The father of two, who recently won a "Dad of the Year" contest, thanks to his wife's nomination to the Iowa City Mom's Blog. This doting dad also balances his two little ones (Hillary and newborn Truman) with being a comedian. So now, he's taking the best of both worlds and putting them in a book, with his second printed release of It's OK to Talk to Animals (and Other Letters from Dad). Timmel already has a bookshelf of minibooks available on Amazon, including his last minibook tale, The Four Legged Perspective. Cornfed Comedy: So you wrote one book already, from the point of view of your family dog. Now you've written one that's a series of letters to your little girl. Why another book?
Nathan Timmel: This is my second full-length book, and my... ninth? Somewhere around there. Ninth written offering overall. In addition to the two full-length books, I have seven 99-cent mini-"books" available only on the Kindle. The one you mention, The Four Legged Perspective, One Dog's Take on Burp Rags and Baby Sisters, is technically a mini-"book." Which may answer your question, "Why another book?" Apparently I can't stop writing. I just enjoy the process. Plus, I was sort of "ordered" to do this. My wife saw an article where a parent wrote their child a letter, and liked it. She said I should do that, only to a greater degree; instead of one letter, constant letters. Because I travel for work--my job being a stand up comedian--I'm gone most weekends. This was a way for me to remain attached emotionally to my little girl while I was far from home. I would tell her what we did together early in the week, maybe talk to her about my life... anything that was on my mind, I'd scribble down for her. CFC: What do you hope she [your daughter] gains from this book someday? How about her new brother? NT: Oh, I have no grand plans of my writings making a dent in her life. She's going to be a teenage girl someday, and then a young woman in college, and so on and so forth. At a certain age she'll probably look at the letters as embarrassing; at another age she might enjoy them (say, if she becomes a mom someday). I'd love to pretend the letters are going to help her avoid some of the pitfalls I undertook when growing up (choosing bad partners to date; worrying about things that don't need worried about), but I can't imagine they'll have too much of an impact. More than anything, it's like a written photo album. Instead of looking at pictures and having memories of a certain time in life, she'll be able to read about this year of her life. As far as her brother goes (just a few days away from being three months old)... well, I'll probably have to write to him now, won't I? Otherwise there'll be sibling rivalry, her taunting him with "Dad loves me best; he didn't write you a book!" and so on and so forth... Basically, the pressure is on. *sigh* CFC: You're quite a busy dude - two kids, and your second book, and still doing comedy. How do you keep it balanced? NT: I'm not sure I do keep it balanced. I mean, comedy is my job, and most parents have jobs... The good thing about my work situation is that when I'm off in another city, that's when I can get my work done. When I'm home, if a kiddo is up I'm tending to them. It's really difficult to write or work when someone wants your attention. (Side note: both kids went down for a nap at the same time today, which is how I'm answering these questions. As a parent, you LIVE for nap time. It's when you do the laundry, get dishes done, etc. When they're asleep, you can accomplish the mundane tasks of day-to-day living.) CFC: You recently won a dad award - tell us more about that. What did you think about it? NT: My wonderful and beautiful wife, Lydia, entered me in the "Iowa City Mom's Blog" contest for Dad of the Year. She wrote an essay explaining why I should be the Dad of 2014, and the readers agreed with her. I can't remember how many other essays were written or entered, but I thought my winning reflected more on my wife's writing ability than my own Daddying skills. But either way, I thought it was great! I got a pair of new gym shoes, a handful of free haircuts, and best of all, a one-hour massage. And there is little in life better than a free massage. CFC: A lot of your social presence is comedy about life as a father. Do you find as a dad that a lot of your material is shaped by real-life experiences, or are you keeping that out of your routines? NT: It depends on where you look on social media, actually... on my personal Facebook page, yeah, you're going to see a ton of proud daddy pictures. If you look at my Twitter or Comedy Facebook page, things aren't that tied to my family. Not because I like keeping things separate, but I understand the difference between work and home. My personal Facebook page is filled with friends, so I'm going to update them with personal stories and pictures. My comedy page... well, not everyone there gives a crap about my daughter. They just want a quick giggle and to get on with their day. While I will post about my family on the comedy page, it's definitely not the main focus of the page. With my stand up act, however... well, I'm a very personal comedian. I talk about my life, my thoughts, my experiences. So having a family means I'm going to talk about that. I just try to make sure it's not just me waxing philosophic without a point. That would leave the audience bored as can be, thinking, "Oh for the love of... will he just shut up about how awesome his kids are?" It's gotta be funny, because people came out to laugh. CFC: This book is a lot about missing Hilly's life while you were on the road. Are you spending more time at home these days, and if so, how has that changed for you? NT: I took about three weeks off from the road around the time my son was born. I did the same thing two years ago when my daughter arrived. But other than that "getting situated" period, no, no more time at home than before. My life loves it when I have the rare weekend off, but the thing is: no travel means no pay. And diapers are expensive. And college, ugh, even more so. My dream would be to win the lottery, and then only go do comedy every other weekend. But until those winning numbers come to me... CFC: Just an FYI, you've got a 5-star rating on Amazon right now. Will you write another book someday? NT: I can't see myself not writing another book... but at the moment, I also couldn't tell you what it might be about. Probably something leaning toward my son, as said (sibling rivalry and all)... but yeah. Having just finished this one, my head is a little empty at the moment. Need to re-charge the batteries before jumping into the deep end again. CFC: Do you have any shows you wanna sling in the meantime? You're growing quite a fanbase! NT: (laughs) How far does your blog reach? Where does Google Analytics say you get most of your hits? I mean, I can always plug shows, heh. Right now, my annual Comedy for Charity show is on the horizon, but there's no date set in stone. Otherwise I'd be plugging the hell out of that. Always good to have a packed house when the money is going somewhere good.
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AboutCornfed Comedy started as a grad school project to build a blog on a topic I loved: in this case, stand-up comedy. ArchivesCategories |