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Time Travel Comedy & Fringe Festivals: Shawn Wickens Brings "Secret Time Travel Meeting" to Atlanta
15 Plays16 days ago
Jo interviews comedian Shawn Wickens about his upcoming performance at the Atlanta Fringe Festival (May 30-June 7, 2025). Shawn shares his journey from improv to stand-up, and how a stoned revelation led to his unique show "Secret Time Travel Meeting." Discover how Fringe Festivals have taken Shawn from New York to international stages. Learn about the lottery system for festival selection, audience interaction techniques, and how Shawn created merchandise before developing his show. This conversation offers insights into live theater, comedy development, and the spontaneity that makes performances special.
Timestamps:
00:01 - Introduction and Atlanta Fringe Festival announcement 00:36 - Explanation of Fringe Festivals worldwide 01:50 - Shawn's journey from improv to theater 03:32 - Experiences at Regina Fringe Festival 04:59 - "Secret Time Travel Meeting" show concept 05:37 - International Fringe Festival experiences 07:45 - First joke development story 10:04 - Performing for different audience types 12:48 - Story about a challenging private show 15:13 - Value of improv training for live performance 16:35 - Audience interaction techniques 17:32 - Origin of Time Machine Blueprints 19:09 - Creating merchandise before the show 21:27 - Philosophy on performing and travel 23:53 - Interactive elements (costumes, NDAs) 25:37 - Game shows as performance inspiration 28:30 - Advice: "Fear less, enjoy more" 30:26 - Upcoming shows and future plans
Key Points:
- Shawn performs "Secret Time Travel Meeting" at Atlanta Fringe Festival (May 30-June 7)
- Show combines comedy with time travel discussions from a stoner's perspective
- Fringe Festivals use lottery systems, making them accessible to performers
- Shawn has performed internationally in Canada, New Zealand, and Australia
- Show encourages audience participation and costume-wearing
- Created timemachineblueprints.com and published a book before developing the show
- Improv background helped develop resilience in live performance
Guest Information:
Shawn Wickens began with improv in New York (2004) before transitioning to stand-up. Creator of "Secret Time Travel Meeting" performed at Fringe Festivals worldwide. Owner of timemachineblueprints.com and author of the same-named book.
Resources:
- Atlanta Fringe Festival (May 30-June 7, 2025)
- Time Machine Blueprints book on Amazon
- Instagram: @timemachinestoned
- Upcoming shows in New York, Rochester, Harrisburg, and potentially Estonia
Recommended
Transcript
Intro
Introduction of Guest: Sean Wickens
00:00:07
Jo
Hey everyone, Joe here and today's What's Crackin'. It's actually a one that my friends will really wanna to see because I've got none other than Sean Wickens here. And Sean, thank you for coming.
00:00:21
Shawn Wickens
Thank you.
00:00:22
Jo
I will get right to it. Atlanta Fringe Fest. May 30th to June 7th, by the way, you can see you. Tell me all about Fringe Fest,
Exploring the World of Fringe Festivals
00:00:32
Jo
please.
00:00:33
Shawn Wickens
Sure. So the Atlanta Fringe Festival, first of all, there's like 300 Fringe Festivals in the world. You know, the biggest one, the biggest one is Edinburgh.
00:00:40
Jo
All the over, yep.
00:00:43
Shawn Wickens
the Atlanta one's been there. This is our 13th year. i did it last year and it's a lottery submission process, which
00:00:47
Jo
Really?
00:00:51
Jo
Yes.
00:00:52
Shawn Wickens
makes it more interesting and exciting. I mean, i did get pulled two years in a row, so that's great. But the fun thing about live theater for me is that, you know, it's like live TV in the 60s, 70s and 80s. It was like anything could happen.
00:01:07
Jo
Yeah.
00:01:08
Shawn Wickens
Live TV these days, it feels sort of over-rehearsed and restricted. And I don't think you can... really get that with live theater in a way. I think you can get more spontaneity and excitement with live theater.
00:01:21
Shawn Wickens
But anyway, it's the Atlanta Fringe Festival. It's just a combination of interesting plays, pieces, works of art, dance, puppetry, theater, music, comedy.
00:01:33
Jo
That's cool. Now, I've been to the Montreal one.
00:01:33
Shawn Wickens
And oh, yeah.
00:01:36
Jo
and And so I'm going act dumb through most of this.
00:01:38
Shawn Wickens
Okay. Oh, yeah.
00:01:39
Jo
Yeah.
00:01:39
Shawn Wickens
Montreal is a great sit city for festivals, I've heard. they They have a ton of...
00:01:42
Jo
Oh, it's amazing.
00:01:44
Shawn Wickens
They like Winterfest. Yeah, yeah.
00:01:46
Jo
Yeah, it's everything's there. So what got you into like, from idea to even knowing about Fringe Festival to what got you into live theater itself?
00:01:55
Shawn Wickens
Sure.
00:01:55
Jo
Walk me through that
Sean's Journey into Improv and Joke Writing
00:01:55
Jo
one.
00:01:56
Shawn Wickens
I started doing improv when I first moved to New York in 2004.
00:02:02
Jo
Wow.
00:02:03
Shawn Wickens
and I personally always thought I was funny, but I thought I didn't know how to write jokes, which was wrong by the way. But anyway, before, before I got to joke writing, I was doing improv theater and the fun of that was the spontaneity of just five to eight minds on stage, just trying to figure it out in the moment, you know?
00:02:12
Jo
Which part? Kidding.
00:02:24
Jo
Right.
00:02:28
Shawn Wickens
and then, just from doing other theatrical stuff, like comedy festivals around the country in in Toronto, even, eventually you just hear about other types of theater festivals and fringe is something that comes up so regularly because there's so many different ones around the world.
00:02:40
Jo
Right.
00:02:47
Shawn Wickens
And it's one of the few theater festival, sort of platforms where the performers will make most of the ticket sales.
00:02:58
Jo
Right. Yes, it's important to
00:02:59
Shawn Wickens
And so, yeah, in so many theater festivals, you might not even get paid to to to do it at all, you know? So it was kind of a long gradual process of just figuring out or, you know, hearing about the largest one of the largest fringe festivals in North America is in Rochester, New York, which is, yeah, which a lot of people don't know about.
00:03:21
Jo
Really? Rochester?
00:03:24
Shawn Wickens
And it's, I've done it a few times and it is a blast. It's huge.
00:03:28
Jo
so you're doing multiple ones. I know you're doing Atlanta on May 30th of June 7th.
00:03:32
Shawn Wickens
Yeah.
00:03:33
Jo
So you're doing, where other places have you gone for fringe?
00:03:36
Shawn Wickens
I just got back from last summer. I did the Regina Fringe Festival in Regina, Saskatchewan, which was also a lottery.
00:03:43
Jo
Oh, that's, i but I point to her, like, everyone knows where I'm pointing to, like, oh, you know, over there.
00:03:45
Shawn Wickens
Yeah.
00:03:49
Shawn Wickens
Yeah, yeah.
00:03:49
Jo
Yeah.
00:03:50
Shawn Wickens
I did that one because it was also a lottery system.
00:03:53
Jo
Cool.
00:03:54
Shawn Wickens
It's always just like, you know, I won't feel rejected if I don't get picked because it's just a random thing, you know.
00:03:59
Jo
That's brilliant. Yeah.
00:04:01
Shawn Wickens
But Regina was great. It was... I overheard a local talking about Regina saying it's not a big, it's not a small town, it's a big village.
00:04:14
Jo
I have known that's true.
00:04:14
Shawn Wickens
And it, yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:04:16
Jo
Regina is sometimes a big village.
00:04:19
Shawn Wickens
and it really
00:04:19
Jo
Many people in it.
00:04:20
Shawn Wickens
it really felt like that. but But when I did that festival, I got blessed by doing my show inside of the Natural History Museum.
00:04:28
Jo
wow
00:04:29
Shawn Wickens
which is great because the premise of my show is I talk about time travel and physics, but from a stoner's perspective.
00:04:29
Jo
That's cool.
00:04:36
Shawn Wickens
So the fact that I was put in a museum was, it felt like I was robbing the place of some street cred, you know what i mean?
00:04:38
Jo
Yes.
00:04:44
Jo
Yeah, I love that idea. And we're going back to so it's a time machine stoned. That's
00:04:51
Shawn Wickens
Well, that's my Instagram handle.
00:04:54
Jo
the Instagram. gra Okay.
00:04:54
Shawn Wickens
yeah Yeah, the show that I do is called Secret Time Travel Meeting.
00:04:58
Jo
Okay.
00:04:59
Shawn Wickens
which I, I feel like it's a fun, coy little like marketing thing to, oh, this is secret.
00:04:59
Jo
brilliant
00:05:06
Shawn Wickens
You know what I mean?
00:05:07
Shawn Wickens
But even though I advertise it, yeah. so I just did it, Regina last summer and then two two, two, three months ago, I got back from New Zealand, Wellington, uh, New Zealand Fringe Festival and Adelaide Fringe Festival in Australia, which were also fantastic.
00:05:07
Jo
yeah of course
00:05:25
Jo
That's amazing. So were doing the fringe circuit and you're talking about Edinburgh being the biggest one. And how do you get into Edinburgh?
Getting into the Edinburgh Fringe Festival
00:05:32
Jo
Is that lottery too or is it has to be built upon?
00:05:35
Shawn Wickens
I, you know, there's like the book for Edinburgh is like this thick because it's like a whole month.
00:05:39
Jo
Yeah.
00:05:40
Shawn Wickens
And I think there's like over a thousand shows, something like that, and a ton of venues.
00:05:44
Jo
Wow.
00:05:45
Shawn Wickens
So I think it varies how to, i think sometimes it's a lottery thing. Sometimes it's you pitch your show to a venue.
00:05:52
Jo
Right.
00:05:54
Shawn Wickens
I think sometimes people also just do shows in people's apartments that are sort of like unregulated.
00:06:00
Jo
Jason.
00:06:01
Shawn Wickens
Yeah, yeah.
00:06:01
Jo
Yeah, yeah. I would do a show of one. Give me a dog.
00:06:05
Jo
I'll do it in front the dog.
00:06:05
Shawn Wickens
Oh, uh-huh.
00:06:08
Jo
Absolutely.
00:06:08
Shawn Wickens
Yeah.
00:06:08
Jo
So you said when you're starting off improv, because you thought you couldn't write jokes, but you found out those wrong, how did you write your first joke or stage?
00:06:18
Shawn Wickens
i I was invited to you know, because I was doing improv in New York for such a long time, I had connections through different theaters, and I was invited by...
00:06:24
Jo
Right.
00:06:29
Shawn Wickens
the artistic director at the pit at the time to submit a solo show for their solo festival.
00:06:37
Jo
Oh, wow.
00:06:38
Shawn Wickens
And I was like, all right, well, I shouldn't turn down this invitation. it wasn't
00:06:41
Jo
Right.
00:06:41
Shawn Wickens
It wasn't a, you'll get in. It was like, oh, you should submit something. So I was like, right, I'll try to submit something.
00:06:44
Jo
Right.
00:06:46
Shawn Wickens
And I was trying to think of like what kind of shows I could do. And they said it's a solo performance festival. It's not really standup. And I was like, okay. So what I did is i started going to open mics in New York just to practice stories.
00:07:02
Shawn Wickens
And because I had so much experience doing improv, I found that when I went to a place to practice a story that I had kind of rehearsed, I was also able to adjust it sometimes in the moment to make it work for that ah ah particular audience, you know?
00:07:13
Jo
Right.
00:07:20
Jo
Right.
00:07:21
Shawn Wickens
So I was like kind of improvising stories or punching up stories on the fly. And then i also kind of just realized that sometimes jokes are stories with the unimportant information just removed out of it, just ah they're completely shortened, right?
00:07:38
Jo
Yeah. Right.
00:07:41
Shawn Wickens
So my first joke was, because at the time when I started doing this here in New York, and I'm pointing where, I'm pointing out too, yeah.
00:07:52
Jo
Right. As we do. As we do. Like, oh, over there.
00:07:55
Shawn Wickens
Outside of my building, there's like a ah ah kiosk of like bikes for you know public use.
00:08:01
Jo
Oh, yeah.
00:08:02
Shawn Wickens
you you You dip your credit card in.
00:08:03
Shawn Wickens
and And um so those were new at the time.
00:08:04
Jo
yeah.
00:08:05
Jo
Like, lime.
00:08:07
Shawn Wickens
And I told a story about seeing somebody struggle to get their bike with their credit card. You
Turning Stories into Comedy
00:08:15
Shawn Wickens
know what i mean? and But I turned that story into a joke where I would just ask the audience, they're called city bikes here. I was like, how does city bikes work?
00:08:25
Shawn Wickens
and And always a very helpful audience member would interject, you put your credit card in. And I said, no, no, no. How does it steer? How does it move?
00:08:38
Shawn Wickens
Like, oh, the pedals. Oh, so it's a bike, right?
00:08:40
Jo
Yeah.
00:08:41
Shawn Wickens
So it was like a little stupid sleight of hand of like, yeah, how does city bike work?
00:08:44
Jo
It's like the catch and go. Yeah.
00:08:46
Shawn Wickens
Yeah, yeah. So i I realized that I turned a story into kind of a joke or fucking with the audience, you know what I mean?
00:08:52
Jo
Cool. Right. Yeah.
00:08:54
Shawn Wickens
And from there, I just started turning stories into like, how could I turn this story into a joke? How could I turn this story into a joke?
00:09:02
Jo
the what ifs.
00:09:02
Shawn Wickens
Yeah, yeah.
00:09:03
Jo
What if this is a joke? How could I do this? How can I deliver this? How long was your first set of monologue? I guess for monologues because it's storytelling slash.
00:09:12
Shawn Wickens
Yeah, the first show I did, which was at Solocom at the pit, before I was a stand-up, when I was just an improviser, I think my first show was a half hour.
00:09:20
Jo
Right.
00:09:22
Shawn Wickens
So I went from thinking I didn't know how to tell jokes or write jokes to just doing a half hour on stage.
00:09:27
Jo
A half hour. My God, man.
00:09:28
Shawn Wickens
Yeah.
00:09:29
Jo
Like, really?
00:09:29
Shawn Wickens
And I think it was a good, i mean,
00:09:34
Shawn Wickens
i I did so open mics before then, which were five minute bits, three three or seven minutes, you know what i mean?
00:09:37
Jo
Right. Yeah. so the
00:09:41
Shawn Wickens
So I think it was a good trial by fire to like try to do that much that early in a way.
00:09:49
Jo
Oh, no, it's, I would say 30 minutes. How big are the crowds for these things? Are they kind of like pub size? Are they comedy club where you bring your own friends?
00:09:57
Shawn Wickens
It varies. It varies. i think for that one you know, I was sharing the the performance block with a few other shows.
00:10:03
Jo
The,
00:10:06
Jo
So a few brought in there.
00:10:06
Shawn Wickens
And so I think I think i had 40 to 50 people the first time I did.
00:10:07
Jo
Yeah.
00:10:10
Jo
It's pretty good.
00:10:11
Shawn Wickens
Yeah, yeah.
00:10:11
Jo
That's decent, man.
00:10:13
Shawn Wickens
And it got a good reaction. And trust me, there's times that I've done shows after them that were we're not well received. You know what I mean? is also good to learn from.
00:10:21
Jo
Yeah.
00:10:24
Jo
Oh, I've ate my my share of silence. Yeah.
00:10:27
Shawn Wickens
yeah Oh, yeah. but And the fun thing about being a comedian is that there are times, like I can remember doing 40 minutes of not well-received material, and then somehow in the last 10, 15 minutes, you bring it together
00:10:46
Jo
land the fucking plane. Yeah.
00:10:47
Shawn Wickens
Yeah, yeah. which which Which would feel impossible, but it is, in some ways, that feels better than doing a great show the whole time through, which...
00:10:48
Jo
It's...
00:10:59
Jo
Right. It's kind of like you're expecting to fly perfectly down, and that's expectations, right?
00:11:04
Shawn Wickens
Yeah.
00:11:05
Jo
when you start crashing, and you can save that plane from crashing into the ground...
00:11:05
Shawn Wickens
Yes.
00:11:10
Jo
It's actually like, oh, i it's like a work of effort. Like, oh, I did this.
00:11:14
Shawn Wickens
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Right.
Challenges and Unpredictability in Comedy
00:11:15
Jo
like but you know
00:11:15
Shawn Wickens
Right.
00:11:17
Jo
And I've known people who, probably me, once they start tanking, just see how far they can tank. They go, how can drive this fucking plane through the ground?
00:11:22
Shawn Wickens
Oh, sure.
00:11:25
Jo
Fuck this way.
00:11:26
Shawn Wickens
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've done that, and it's not as fun as saving it.
00:11:30
Jo
No.
00:11:31
Shawn Wickens
yeah
00:11:33
Jo
No. look
00:11:33
Shawn Wickens
I've actually... I also once did a show. a friend of mine, Lex Morales and I, we got hired to do like a private gig in upstate New York for...
00:11:43
Jo
oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
00:11:43
Shawn Wickens
like you know It was like a group of people. like they They said they were like a biker...
00:11:46
Jo
Cool.
00:11:49
Shawn Wickens
club from upstate New York, you know, it was all like plumbers and and blue collar workers who also like, you you know, did bike stuff on the side or whatever. But anyway, they were like, we want to rate at our show.
00:12:01
Shawn Wickens
And we're like, okay, fine. And Lex went up and then I went up and I think I did a half hour and I had them the whole time until I told my last joke, which was my most rated R joke. And it ruins the whole night. They were not happy.
00:12:15
Jo
Really?
00:12:16
Shawn Wickens
I, yeah, I ruined
00:12:17
Jo
do Could you do the joke here? i mean, you don't have to. mind Do you remember it?
00:12:21
Shawn Wickens
it's I do. Maybe I'll tell you off air.
00:12:23
Jo
Okay, yeah, okay.
00:12:24
Shawn Wickens
you Yeah, yeah.
00:12:25
Jo
It's all good. Like, oh, I need to hear this one now.
00:12:27
Shawn Wickens
Yeah, yeah. i will
00:12:28
Jo
Yeah, I love it.
00:12:29
Shawn Wickens
I will not tell that one on stage to this day, but I will talk about that story on stage, and then I'll tell it to people afterwards who want to hear it.
00:12:38
Jo
After the show.
00:12:39
Shawn Wickens
Yeah.
00:12:39
Jo
Definitely. Now, it's funny because if they ask for a rated R show...
00:12:44
Shawn Wickens
Yeah, yeah.
00:12:45
Jo
like They didn't have any like caveats, by the way, don't talk about parrots, nothing like that. it was just like, bring it on.
00:12:48
Shawn Wickens
Right, right.
00:12:51
Jo
i see it say, I want you clean, and you start doing dirty. like no you know and you yeah I start with one.
00:12:55
Shawn Wickens
Well, you know what I think it it, I think what it was is that a lot of my show wasn't that rated R and then you end with a masturbation joke in there. Like, well, that came out of nowhere, you know?
00:13:06
Shawn Wickens
Yeah.
00:13:07
Jo
That's weird. That's kind of like, what you you end where I start, like that's kind of fun.
00:13:11
Shawn Wickens
You can't predict for all of this, any of this, you know, but you can hope
00:13:14
Jo
No, no. And okay, so they are a private show. And so they're probably engaged. They they wanted the entertainment there. And I know some of these like fringe fest, by the way, for Orlando, May 30th and June 7th, people are coming.
00:13:29
Jo
They probably have friends coming. So people are there for others and yourself.
00:13:32
Shawn Wickens
Yeah, yeah.
00:13:32
Jo
And they're there for the show.
00:13:34
Shawn Wickens
Right.
00:13:34
Jo
Right? Have you done? i know you did open mics. And I know you did the smaller sets we're talking about where they're there for the free drink.
00:13:43
Shawn Wickens
Oh, sure.
00:13:44
Jo
And they're just don't give a shit what's on stage.
00:13:46
Shawn Wickens
Yes, yes, yes.
00:13:47
Jo
Yes. How does that work for you?
00:13:51
Shawn Wickens
It's... Yeah, I don't like doing those, but it's another challenge that something can be learned from it. You know what i mean? Like,
00:14:01
Jo
Yeah.
00:14:03
Shawn Wickens
I think as a standup comedian who came to stand up from improv, I think improv gave me a lot of sort of, I'm always aware that you're up against the wall, kind of, you know what i mean?
00:14:09
Jo
yeah
00:14:17
Shawn Wickens
Because the, the,
00:14:18
Jo
Literally sometimes those fucking clubs got brick wall behind you.
00:14:19
Shawn Wickens
Yeah, yeah. yeah the The gift of improv, though, is that like, I don't know, it taught me the show, the show must go on.
00:14:28
Jo
Yep.
00:14:28
Shawn Wickens
And i mean, that's the rule of all of theater.
00:14:29
Jo
Yeah.
00:14:31
Shawn Wickens
But the the the fun thing about improv is that there's no script. And in spite of there no being there being no script and nobody knows what anybody's going to say at any moment, the show has to go on.
00:14:35
Jo
Yeah.
00:14:41
Shawn Wickens
So it's just like you have to sort of suck it up and go through with it. So I will remind friends, other comedians, you know because you've heard it before, comedy is hard.
00:14:53
Shawn Wickens
ah ah People say that all the time. That never ceases to be true. that and it And it needs to be difficult in order for it to be rewarding.
00:14:56
Jo
Yeah.
00:15:01
Shawn Wickens
You know what I mean?
00:15:01
Shawn Wickens
like
00:15:01
Jo
True.
00:15:02
Jo
Yeah, absolutely.
00:15:04
Shawn Wickens
So I think I have a healthy sort of skepticism about performing and making people laugh and
00:15:12
Jo
Do you ever like focus on the one person who is paying, like on a crowd of 30 people, they're all at dinner, really.
00:15:18
Shawn Wickens
yeah
00:15:18
Jo
If anyone hasn't seen that dinner show before, it's fantastic.
00:15:20
Shawn Wickens
Yeah.
00:15:21
Jo
Please book yourself.
00:15:22
Shawn Wickens
Right.
00:15:24
Jo
It's usually that one person that maybe laughed.
00:15:25
Shawn Wickens
Yes.
00:15:27
Jo
And now the entire show is just you and them. Is that about the but lifeline?
00:15:34
Shawn Wickens
I've been in that situation when I've been in the audience and I'm the only one laughing and it eventually spoils it for me because I'm like, stop.
00:15:37
Jo
Okay. It's like boop.
00:15:44
Shawn Wickens
focusing just on me. this You know what i mean? it I think it makes me uncomfortable.
00:15:46
Jo
and all qua
00:15:47
Shawn Wickens
Yeah, yeah.
00:15:48
Jo
yeah
00:15:49
Shawn Wickens
So I don't think I try to do that. I'm always aware that I'm not trying to make people uncomfortable. and You know what I mean? I'm like, I'm really trying to make them laugh. Or actually, my my rule isn't I don't try to make the audience laugh.
00:15:59
Jo
Right.
00:16:02
Shawn Wickens
I let them laugh.
00:16:03
Jo
Let them laugh.
00:16:04
Shawn Wickens
Because trying...
00:16:06
Jo
Means it's you're pulling up.
00:16:07
Shawn Wickens
yeah. yeah
00:16:09
Jo
Yeah. Do you crowd surf? Let me. rephrase crowd surfing.
00:16:13
Shawn Wickens
Sure.
00:16:13
Jo
Do you go through the rows like, hey, you where are you from? Yeah, Ohio, huh?
00:16:18
Shawn Wickens
Not so much with this show that I'm doing lately.
00:16:21
Jo
Because it's structured, yeah?
00:16:22
Shawn Wickens
Yeah. So, well, the show I'm doing now, it's called Secret Time Travel Meeting.
00:16:26
Jo
Right.
00:16:27
Shawn Wickens
And there is a lot of odd. I do invite interaction with the audience.
00:16:32
Jo
Really?
00:16:32
Shawn Wickens
i asked i I want them to ask me questions about time travel. because it's, or or just physics or science, because it's kind of a, you know, i can talk what i about what I think I know, but I also wanna know what you wanna know or what you think you you know.
00:16:49
Jo
Yeah.
00:16:52
Shawn Wickens
So I think it makes for deeper,
00:16:58
Shawn Wickens
moments because instead of just like, Hey, where are you from? What do you do?
00:17:00
Jo
Yeah.
00:17:01
Shawn Wickens
It's like, what are you, what part of your science mind are you brought you here tonight?
00:17:08
Jo
Right. Because it's a very specific show.
00:17:08
Shawn Wickens
Kind of thing.
00:17:10
Jo
Now, for the audience, when you're talking about you invite physics questions, what's your background to answer for these?
00:17:13
Shawn Wickens
Sure.
00:17:17
Shawn Wickens
Yes.
00:17:20
Shawn Wickens
It's all self invented.
00:17:23
Jo
All good.
00:17:23
Shawn Wickens
Yeah. Yeah.
00:17:24
Jo
but you can You can actually, has anyone ever gone, like, I'm going to write this question down, he will never know this answer.
00:17:24
Shawn Wickens
Yeah.
00:17:31
Shawn Wickens
well, I'll give you more about but the background of
The Creation of Time Machine Blueprints
00:17:34
Shawn Wickens
Um, I think three years ago i was here in in this apartment where I live and i was stoned off of a weed brownie that i made myself, which I'm, uh,
00:17:48
Shawn Wickens
I do on the regular, you know what i mean?
00:17:51
Jo
Faking.
00:17:52
Shawn Wickens
Yeah, yeah. Once or twice a week, maybe three or four times.
00:17:54
Jo
Eddie Crocker.
00:17:55
Shawn Wickens
Yeah, yeah.
00:17:55
Jo
We're good. Yeah.
00:17:57
Shawn Wickens
Anyway, while I was stoned, I was just chilling out, listening to music, having a great like moment of not worrying about my next move, not like trying to come up with material, like not thinking about comedy.
00:18:07
Jo
Right.
00:18:11
Shawn Wickens
I was just like really enjoying the moment. And somehow I just wondered if... the domain name time machine blueprints. if If that was available.
00:18:23
Shawn Wickens
And while I was stoned, I bought time machine blueprints and I was like, wow, what do i do with this? You know?
00:18:30
Jo
Yeah. Yeah.
00:18:30
Shawn Wickens
And because I felt it felt like it such an important, funny thing to have.
00:18:32
Jo
yeah yeah
00:18:35
Shawn Wickens
And some time went by, i you know, I was bragging to friends. I was like, hey, I own time machine blueprints.com. Eventually, I was like, I know what to do with this. And so I self-published a book to Amazon called Time Machine Blueprints, which I was allowed to do, I figured, because I had the domain name.
00:18:54
Jo
yeah
00:18:54
Shawn Wickens
And it's a little bit of the book is a little bit of a cosmic joke because it's mostly blank inside. because it's the first edition and I'm inviting other people to do the work.
00:19:03
Jo
to to Yeah.
00:19:04
Shawn Wickens
Yeah.
00:19:06
Jo
I love it.
00:19:06
Shawn Wickens
And so once I feel like I reverse engineered the show, because I was like, I have merch now. I was like, now I should do a show about time travel because I have merch.
00:19:17
Jo
have to sell this stuff. What the hell?
00:19:18
Shawn Wickens
Yeah, yeah. so So that's my background. that's why That's why I feel like I have authority about it.
00:19:22
Jo
That's cool, man.
00:19:23
Shawn Wickens
Yeah. But the funny thing is is, that once you do tell yourself, oh, I'm
00:19:24
Jo
i love it.
00:19:29
Shawn Wickens
i I deserve to think about time travel or I have a right to.
00:19:34
Jo
yeah
00:19:35
Shawn Wickens
You do start to come up with things that other people are interested in hearing, kind of.
00:19:41
Jo
The ideas of it and that's so that's where the idea comes from and then how long between there and your stage show in May for or even the first one you did.
00:19:43
Shawn Wickens
Yes.
00:19:49
Shawn Wickens
um i Yeah, I put out the book in like the summer of 2023, I think.
00:19:53
Jo
i
00:19:59
Shawn Wickens
And then in March of 2024, did again at the pit solo come as my new Time Machine Blueprints, the show.
00:20:05
Jo
Oh.
00:20:09
Jo
Nice.
00:20:09
Shawn Wickens
where I talked about time travel and I did it stoned and I forgot my notes and I actually accidentally got too stoned and I fucked it up because I did very little time travel stuff and I just told jokes while I was stoned.
00:20:24
Shawn Wickens
But it had a good response and I was like, all right, well now I need to do it for real.
00:20:28
Shawn Wickens
So then I started doing it at other festivals, at other, I did it at bookstores, any place that would let me.
00:20:28
Jo
For real.
00:20:29
Jo
Yeah.
00:20:34
Jo
That's amazing.
00:20:35
Shawn Wickens
So it's been like two and a half years where I've been doing this show.
00:20:38
Jo
That's amazing. And I love the the trajectory of going from, almost said ground links, but in my mind, improv, I was trying to find improv, the word improv.
00:20:47
Shawn Wickens
Oh, sure. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
00:20:49
Jo
So improv into a solo, and you know, the writing the jokes and then writing a show and having the merchandise first and then writing the show. Right.
00:20:58
Shawn Wickens
All right.
00:20:59
Jo
And then this is your premier show that you're touring all around the world with Fringe.
00:21:04
Shawn Wickens
Mm-hmm.
00:21:05
Jo
That's an amazing thing. and like but the last two years then, like from dot to dot.
00:21:10
Shawn Wickens
Yeah, yeah, it's been fun. And I do tell myself and and I tell other people that I i don't live to perform. i perform because I think it helps me live in a different way.
00:21:21
Shawn Wickens
You know, i think that creates strikes a good bo like artistic balance for me.
00:21:23
Jo
Right.
00:21:28
Jo
right
00:21:28
Shawn Wickens
You know what I mean? like But last year when I did the Atlanta Fringe, i remember overhearing people talking about going to Adelaide and just being like kind of silently jealous about it.
Travel and Performances through Comedy
00:21:40
Shawn Wickens
Not even knowing that eight months later, I would have found a way to submit myself and then get there, you know, myself. So it's and and I do love traveling and I do love going to see different places and like doing comedy does allow me to it gives me an excuse and a purpose to go to different places.
00:21:53
Jo
Right.
00:22:00
Jo
No, absolutely. It's a great way to book yourself through various, and even places you didn't know about. I think, Italy, that's awesome.
00:22:06
Shawn Wickens
Oh yeah.
00:22:07
Jo
But like the one in Regina, like, oh, going to go for it. Or Rochester, New York.
00:22:10
Shawn Wickens
I, yeah, yeah.
00:22:11
Jo
Who knew that was the biggest one I was like, oh really? That one? I've been, but not for the fringe.
00:22:14
Shawn Wickens
I, yeah, yeah. I think I might be doing that this, I think I might be doing Rochester again at the end of this summer. I'm splitting the bill with a comedian friend of mine, Jared Wilder. We're doing two shows in one. I'll do the time travel stuff. He'll, he'll do some stuff as well.
00:22:30
Shawn Wickens
But yeah,
00:22:30
Jo
That's awesome.
00:22:31
Shawn Wickens
Yeah, I mean, i probably wouldn't have gotten to Rochester the first time if I hadn't ah ah done that festival. So it does take you to places that there's a chance I'm doing Estonia this summer.
00:22:38
Jo
Yeah.
00:22:44
Jo
Really?
00:22:44
Shawn Wickens
Yeah, yeah.
00:22:47
Shawn Wickens
it might conflict with It might conflict with Rochester, so I have to like now figure that out.
00:22:47
Jo
That's amazing.
00:22:51
Jo
Oh.
00:22:51
Shawn Wickens
But yeah, I never thought I'd get to Estonia. I'm not there yet, but I it's and never thought that I might go there, and now I might be going there.
00:22:59
Jo
but Have you ever thought about, and maybe you already have this tape. like I know sometimes you're like the festivals, I'm guessing there's 12,000 cell phone footage of the thing, right?
00:23:07
Shawn Wickens
Oh, yeah.
00:23:08
Jo
you ever thought about going, all right, I'm going to go through some studio time. I'm just going to do it here.
00:23:13
Shawn Wickens
Sure.
00:23:14
Jo
This is going to my tape set. And I'm going to set it on my site.
00:23:15
Shawn Wickens
Yeah. I'm going to do it eventually. I'm having fun doing it with a live audience at the moment.
00:23:21
Jo
Right.
00:23:22
Shawn Wickens
And I'm also, i will sometimes, I mean,
00:23:29
Shawn Wickens
It's such a dynamic idea, this whole secret time travel meeting thing.
00:23:34
Jo
yeah
00:23:34
Shawn Wickens
I encourage people to come show up in in costume because the joke is is that you never know who's gonna be showing up at a secret time travel meeting or from when, right?
00:23:38
Jo
Really.
00:23:45
Shawn Wickens
So if you have like a pirate nick sitting next to you or someone dressed a robot, it's like it helps with the illusion of like what's going on here, you know?
00:23:45
Jo
Right.
00:23:46
Jo
Love it.
00:23:55
Jo
It does. and it's It's a great, brilliant night. It's like a little dress party then. I love the idea.
00:24:00
Shawn Wickens
Yeah, yeah.
00:24:00
Jo
like Getting an audience involved that way.
00:24:02
Shawn Wickens
But I will also sometimes have NDAs for people to sign as they come in, just saying that I because i don't allow video.
00:24:12
Jo
Right.
00:24:13
Shawn Wickens
Because what happens here stays here in the present. You know what I mean? Like, where it's secret what we talk about here.
00:24:19
Jo
Yeah. The word secret is right in the middle. i mean, the beginning of it.
00:24:23
Shawn Wickens
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:24:23
Jo
Come on now.
00:24:24
Shawn Wickens
So i I am having fun with doing this show for a live audience. Eventually I will record it, but it's right now it's fun to do it with people.
00:24:37
Jo
That's my favorite way of doing And that's exactly that the live feedback from doing it with people.
00:24:39
Shawn Wickens
Yeah.
00:24:43
Jo
I think that's the important part. Otherwise, it's the difference between your Spotify playlist and listening to the radio, the DJ.
00:24:52
Shawn Wickens
Right.
00:24:54
Jo
You need that live, even though this you can't talk to the DJ, you need that interaction with that human voice.
00:24:57
Shawn Wickens
Oh, sure. Yeah.
00:25:00
Jo
You really do.
00:25:01
Shawn Wickens
You know, during the pandemic, when we were, you know, isolating, I ended up watching a lot of like old reruns of game shows because they weren't live for me, but I was just so fascinated that they were live at the moment.
00:25:13
Jo
Right.
00:25:18
Jo
Yeah.
00:25:19
Shawn Wickens
You know what I mean? Because it like it was a great mix of and And this is probably my improv comedy mind, my stand and melded with my stand up comedy mind.
00:25:31
Shawn Wickens
I really love having a plan, but then having the flexibility of like, but what?
00:25:36
Jo
Yeah. Flowing it with it.
00:25:38
Shawn Wickens
Yeah, yeah.
00:25:38
Jo
It's a great merge between the two.
00:25:40
Shawn Wickens
Yeah. And I felt like that's what game shows were for me. what I couldn't really interact with people or at leave or
00:25:46
Jo
Well, right. it's It was our first probably real education and improv watching game shows.
00:25:54
Shawn Wickens
Sure, sure.
00:25:54
Jo
Because that's they have some scripted questions. They have some points to go.
00:25:58
Shawn Wickens
Yeah.
00:25:58
Jo
But it's the audience interaction. You never know what the audience member is going to say.
00:26:02
Shawn Wickens
Yeah, you know, it was a real funny one was reruns of Supermarket Sweep. Do you remember that show?
00:26:09
Jo
but Vaguely. There's reruns still?
00:26:11
Shawn Wickens
Oh yeah.
00:26:12
Jo
Oh, get the live feed out.
00:26:12
Shawn Wickens
On Pluto TV, I think there's a supermarket sweep 24 hour channel, but it's, you know, as you know it's the set looks like a grocery store and there's trivia questions usually about brands or food or stuff like that.
00:26:21
Jo
No.
00:26:25
Shawn Wickens
And then at some point you have to run around the supermarket to find things. It's like a little bit of a scavenger hunt. And the hilarious thing is like, it felt like so many of these of these contestants were didn't practice the running part.
00:26:40
Shawn Wickens
Like it, it like, I don't know. It was like the fact that they had to do something physical at any given moment, like you can't rehearse that. You know what i mean?
00:26:50
Jo
no
00:26:50
Shawn Wickens
That was like so totally improv.
00:26:52
Jo
but What I have to do Run where?
00:26:53
Shawn Wickens
Yeah.
00:26:53
Jo
how
00:26:53
Shawn Wickens
People would like collide and like get into fights. Like it was, yeah, yeah.
00:26:58
Jo
It was Black Friday. Yeah, was like, hey, it's Black Friday, the miniseries.
00:27:01
Shawn Wickens
Right.
00:27:02
Jo
I like this one.
00:27:02
Shawn Wickens
Right.
00:27:04
Jo
Oh, but that's, I do remember, and I kept thinking like, are they drunk? But no, it's just the the live aspect of it.
00:27:11
Shawn Wickens
Oh yeah.
00:27:12
Jo
People lose their minds.
00:27:13
Shawn Wickens
It's true. Yeah.
00:27:14
Jo
Like they forget normal what, okay, I'm focusing on this, this, and this, not to run. Like your brain's like, no, we're still focused on this.
00:27:20
Shawn Wickens
Right.
00:27:21
Jo
The legs like, where are we going?
00:27:22
Shawn Wickens
Game show bloopers like from Family Feud where people say like offensive stuff. It's just like so hilarious to me.
00:27:28
Jo
Yeah, that's, we grew up with those shows. Like that that used to be ah ah an entire thing like on NBC, like, oh, the the blooper show.
00:27:35
Shawn Wickens
Yeah. Yeah.
00:27:36
Jo
World's most famous blooper ever, what it was now.
00:27:38
Shawn Wickens
World's funniest blooper. Oh yeah. I loved that.
00:27:40
Jo
Yeah, that one, yeah.
00:27:40
Shawn Wickens
oh Yeah.
Future Plans and Advice for the Younger Self
00:27:42
Jo
So we went through a lot today and you will be at the Atlantic Fringe Festival, May 30th, June 7th in Atlanta. And hopefully get you to the Edinburgh.
00:27:55
Shawn Wickens
Yeah, I haven't done it yet, and I'll get there eventually.
00:27:55
Jo
Get you there, yeah?
00:27:58
Shawn Wickens
you know
00:27:58
Jo
Dang right.
00:27:58
Shawn Wickens
i do like going to these different places that I don't expect to go to, but yeah, Edinburgh eventually.
00:28:05
Jo
I think you're well on the way, man.
00:28:07
Shawn Wickens
Yeah.
00:28:07
Jo
Now, I ask this of all my guests.
00:28:09
Shawn Wickens
Sure.
00:28:10
Jo
If you can give me a thousand, no, wait, no, wrong question. If you can give your old self, like your teenage self advice, what would it be?
00:28:24
Shawn Wickens
It's hard to pick just one thing because teenage me needed a lot of information.
00:28:26
Jo
Right.
00:28:29
Shawn Wickens
I feel like, you know, I think it's all about like not fearing things.
00:28:30
Jo
That could be it there too.
00:28:36
Shawn Wickens
You know what I mean? Like just enjoy more and in fear less, I think.
00:28:37
Jo
Yeah.
00:28:42
Jo
but I think that's great advice for everyone, especially if you want to get into improv or stand-up.
00:28:43
Shawn Wickens
Yeah. and Yeah.
00:28:46
Jo
That's part of like the...
00:28:47
Shawn Wickens
I feel sorry. I feel like that's not specific enough because it's like sometimes fear is good. like I used to be a window cleaner here in New York and my boss would tell me fear will keep you alive.
00:28:58
Shawn Wickens
So there are some good things about fear as well.
00:29:00
Jo
You're right.
00:29:01
Shawn Wickens
But you know i definitely was a little too panicked about stuff when I was a teenager.
00:29:05
Jo
Well, not up in the window. If you're doing window washing, that definitely was not one of the things you're panicking about.
00:29:08
Shawn Wickens
Yeah. Yeah. No. Right.
00:29:12
Jo
Like, I got palpitations. Like, think about that. Like, oh, don't want to wash windows.
00:29:13
Shawn Wickens
Yeah. what's So you always ask this ah this question of guests, what's your answer?
00:29:15
Jo
That's water.
00:29:18
Shawn Wickens
Do you have, what?
00:29:20
Jo
I would tell teenage you to stop fearing so much.
00:29:22
Shawn Wickens
you I mean, you to tune what would you tell teenage you? That's what I want know.
00:29:26
Jo
Oh, teenage me?
00:29:27
Shawn Wickens
Yeah, yeah
00:29:28
Jo
the Lakers were three-peat with a guy named Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal.
00:29:30
Shawn Wickens
yeah.
00:29:32
Jo
They put a bunch of money on them then.
00:29:34
Shawn Wickens
That's very specific. That's good advice.
00:29:36
Jo
Yes, I always had the very specific, you know.
00:29:37
Shawn Wickens
That's, yeah. Right.
00:29:39
Jo
Also, Tesla and Apple.
00:29:41
Shawn Wickens
Got it. Yeah, also good.
00:29:42
Jo
Because at that time, I would be able to.
00:29:44
Shawn Wickens
I'll reevaluate the advice that I would give myself if I could.
00:29:46
Jo
Yeah. But fear is good, too.
00:29:48
Shawn Wickens
Yeah.
00:29:48
Jo
But the fear thing is awesome.
00:29:49
Shawn Wickens
Yeah. yeah
00:29:51
Jo
No. and But that's the thing. is like what we give to our ourselves, you know. And I think it's all lovely. It's all lovely. And for people who are not going to be in Atlanta, where else are you going?
Upcoming Shows and Events
00:30:02
Jo
Where can we find you?
00:30:04
Shawn Wickens
I will be doing this show secret time travel meeting here in New York, I think in June. i forget the exact date, but I'm going to be doing at a 420 friendly like secret speakeasy location where people.
00:30:16
Jo
Secret, the secret, secret one.
00:30:17
Shawn Wickens
Yeah, yeah. I know. So it's going to be at a consumption friendly location. So we'll be getting stoned and I'll be talking about time travel.
00:30:24
Jo
Nice.
00:30:27
Shawn Wickens
So that's on the horizon. And then. Rochester, New York eventually, hopefully Estonia. We'll see.
00:30:35
Jo
There you go.
00:30:36
Shawn Wickens
Oh, Harrisburg Fringe Festival in July as well.
00:30:39
Jo
Really? you're just gonna line them up, man.
00:30:39
Shawn Wickens
Yeah. <unk>s pretty expensives Yeah, yeah.
00:30:42
Jo
Good for you. Good for you. And then, of course, May 30th to June 7th at the Atlanta one. I actually do love Atlanta, and that's a beautiful time to go. It's not quite squelting yet.
00:30:52
Shawn Wickens
Yeah, yeah. I was there for the first time last year for the Fringe Festival and it was I immediately wanted to go back. It's fantastic.
00:31:00
Jo
Yeah. And honestly, the rest of the place is like countryside.
00:31:03
Shawn Wickens
Yeah.
00:31:04
Jo
It's like you have the city on like like and forest all around. It's like Jersey, but different.
00:31:08
Shawn Wickens
Yeah. I've never been to Athens, Georgia.
00:31:10
Shawn Wickens
Maybe I'll get there this trip. We'll see. I'm hoping.
00:31:11
Jo
Hey, man. Got a car. Go rent him.
00:31:13
Shawn Wickens
Yeah.
00:31:14
Jo
All right. Thank you very much. And again, from my half, myself, my half, hello and language, English today. See? I do mine in tongues. No.
00:31:23
Shawn Wickens
Yeah.
00:31:23
Jo
On behalf of myself, Joe, and Sean, it's been a pleasure having you, sir. I cannot wait to hear about the joke that's definitely about masturbation.
00:31:31
Shawn Wickens
It is.
00:31:32
Jo
See everyone. Bye.