Today we’d like to introduce you to Slade Ham.
Slade, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
It’s a funny question because I’m not completely sure how I got started or even where I am exactly today. I knew a long time ago, probably before I knew that I wasn’t going to walk down some orthodox career path. It has never sat right with me to have to do anything you don’t want to do and that includes your “career.”
I started a landscaping business at 14. I got my first radio job at 20. I started doing stand up comedy at 24. I opened my comedy club at 27. In between were all sorts of jobs. I’ve been a waiter, bartender, sheet metal cutter, grocery bagger, sound editor, and a handful of other things that have probably been blocked out of my memory.
Everything I’ve ever done has been a waypoint leading me to now, which is this fun, global, entrepreneurial playground I get to play on. Some of those jobs taught me things, and some serve as reminders of what I don’t want out of life.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
As cliché, as it might sound, smooth, is boring. A long time ago, when things went sideways, it would sort of cripple me. I’ve been on both sides of fortune enough to know the good and bad are both still ahead of me. I try to keep a list in my head of all the overwhelmingly, debilitating, disastrous things that have happened to me. They were all things that were insurmountable to me at the time. All of them. Yet, here I am.
I do the same thing with victories – they can go to your head just as easily – but a good running list of things you’ve gotten through can be invaluable.
I remember walking into my comedy club one day to find a lawsuit over back rent. I had been on the road working and naively left things in the charge of my partner. His cocaine habit took precedence over our bills while I was selfishly out working on my stand up career. After his ouster, I managed to keep the doors open to the end of the lease and pay off our debtors, but it stripped me of all of my savings. My father passed away four months after the club closed, and it turned into the one-two punch that almost leveled me. I woke up on my brother’s couch one day, realizing that I had nowhere to live and just under $400 in my checking account.
That’s all turned around obviously, but I mentally revisit that moment quite often. It’s just my private note myself that I am a badass.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Slade Ham (Stand up comedian and author, Partner in Bikes on the Bayou and Honeycraft) story. Tell us more about the business.
At this point, my brand is me. I am a stand-up comedian, author, podcast host, and radio personality. I also own a local honey company (Honeycraft), I am involved with Bikes on the Bayou (April 27-29 at Eleanor Tinsley Park), the first city-sanctioned motorcycle festival, and my first book publishes May 15 (Until All the Dragons Are Dead, Spooky Electric Press).
Comedy remains my main source of income, however. In addition to my domestic tour schedule, I also lead 4-5 tours a year to perform for our military stationed abroad. I believe I’ve performed in 47 countries to date. I’ve had the privilege of taking five tours each through Iraq and Afghanistan, as well but I’ve also led groups into more exotic sites like Niger and Ethiopia.
I try to keep my hands on projects that do some good or at least have a charitable angle to them. I get that working so closely with Armed Forces Entertainment. Honeycraft began as a conversation about disappearing bees, and we operate our apiaries as bee-friendly as possible. Bikes on the Bayou is giving back a big percentage of our ticket sales to the Buffalo Bayou Partnership to help offset the damages caused by Hurricane Harvey.
I’m still a specialist, to be sure, but I like keeping my options open for unexpected projects that excite me or ones that allow me to work with people I enjoy.
What were you like growing up? Personality wise, interest wise, etc.
My mom raised four of us as a single parent on a school teacher’s salary. I spent a ton of my youth outside. The street we lived on was incredible. A Puerto Rican family across the street. A Mexican family next door to them. Another pair of kids two doors down from that. All the parents just sort of shared responsibility for all of us. There was a sense of community on that street, and I think that somehow stuck with me. It certainly influenced my belief that change comes from the bottom up and not the top down. You can do more good affecting change in your neighborhood than you ever will waiting for a President to enact the right policies.
I was also a very introverted child. I leaned inward, losing myself in comic books and regular ones. I was far from social. The fact that I stand on stage in front of hundreds of people at a time seems contradictory, but it actually allows me to experience all that human contact in concentrated doses, on my own terms. The books never went away. I still read voraciously. It’s a habit, I’m glad I picked up young, as I’m not sure how I’d make it through long-haul flights otherwise.
Mainly, I just know that the environment had a lot to do with how I turned out. My curiosity was never stifled, and because of that I never felt pigeonholed into a career path. Kids deserve a chance to figure out what they’re good at.
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