MY NAME IS MIKE CRITELLI and I made this website to make me look bad.
How many times have we seen public figures fall from grace in the eyes of the American people with a scandal that exposes a part of their life they’d prefer remain hidden? It doesn’t even have to involve hypocrisy — Tiger Woods never said he didn’t enjoy the company of porn stars, we just never asked — but it always ends badly for the individual in question.
What those people should have done — what I’m doing now — is get everything out in the open to begin with. Because I appear to be a nice, respectable individual when you meet me in person, I had to create something to point to and say, “I told you so,” or, “You thought wrong. Do some research next time.”
But maybe “looking bad” isn’t completely accurate. Instead of “bad,” I should say “human.” First of all, everyone’s idea of “bad” is different, and I’m not about to start making those kinds of judgment calls. Second of all, human beings are inherently flawed, and those who don’t appear to be tend to be especially so, often in the worst ways. None of this is “bad,” really. It just is.
Most of the work I do in the various mediums I work in — short story, video, stand up comedy, improv comedy, screenplay, poem, song, podcast — involves exposing the humanity in myself and others, mainly myself. It’s been pretty liberating. New age author Robert A. Johnson wrote about how depression, neuroses, and a whole host of additional psychological issues can be traced to Western society’s insistence that we repress rather than embrace our darkest impulses. Makes sense to me. So I’ve done the opposite, and the results are located here. Please enjoy.
Contact me at: mike@critellicomedy.com