Summary

Like the name of the chapter suggests, Haddish's road to fame and fortune was not always an easy one to traverse. It required years of hard work and small gigs to build enough credibility to land a spot on Def Comedy Jam, which eventually led to more and more opportunities. Like all comedians, however, Haddish bombed a few times on stage, most memorably at Howard University in front of 4,000 college students. None of her usual material was hitting, and the crowd spent more time on their phones than they did paying attention to her material. Due to her lackluster performance, she did not earn the full $2,500 that she was promised, but instead she was given $500. She knew that she "REALLY sucked" when the students rescinded her invite to an after-party (209).

As difficult as it was to bounce back from...