There comes a time in every comic’s life where he or she must make momentous yet difficult decisions about the state of their career. These decisions must never (and can never) come lightly, as they directly impact both the person in question as well as all of those who work closely and learn to love this art form with them. This may be difficult for some of you to hear, but I could not put this off any longer: It is with great sadness and emotional gravity that I just now removed myself as an Admin of the Facebook group DMV Comedy.

As I said, it was not an easy decision to make, but I felt like it was time. I truly felt like I was not at a good place in my life to fulfill the vast responsibilities associated with the position. Also, I have not lived in the Washington, DC area for almost seven years and don’t ever remember actually visiting the page. To be honest, I don’t remember how or why I became an administrator on that group, nor do I remember who started it, or why I never bothered to take the 15 seconds anytime in the past six years to change my role so I wouldn’t get a notification every time HotTake tha Comedian Firebreath or Silly Joxe Joker or Herbert Wallersteinsmith (dude with his professional head shot as a profile pic, who finally got the nerve to take a stand-up class after his wife left) wanted to join DMV Comedy.

I understand the sudden nature of my announcement. It comes at a time when Facebook’s leverage over how and why people hear about comedy shows is at an all-time peak while its functionality is at an all-time low. I’m sure this will shake up things real good over at DMV Comedy HQ. I wonder who else among those who are still listed as Admins are even very active with stand-up anymore. I also wonder if anyone is paying attention to people requesting to get into the group, since there were like 20 user profiles queued up for addition. I also wonder if Facebook is going to do anything about the space-trash accumulating out there before we get another wave of groups like “Sex and the City is Totally the Best Show Ever” going derelict and replaced by admins who change the title to “Pedophilia is not a choice!”*

In conclusion, I probably got a little whiff of nostalgia whenever I saw a request for the DMV group (to be fair). The District raised me as a comic and as an adult citizen of the world, so I owed it my passing thoughts every now and again. I’m seriously wondering why nobody else in that group (including the handful of Admins I had never performed with or even met) wondered why this guy who’s lived in Knoxville since 2013 was still even on there. In my defense, it was easier to just not click the notifications than it was to take responsibility and just silently slip out of yet another online forum. Sincerely, though, I do hope everyone concerned (at least, the ones who are good people or at least don’t steal jokes) in the DMV is doing well and that comedy there is still going through the golden age it apparently entered the year after a bunch of my friends and I all left. Hopefully Facebook actually lets your friends and co-workers see show announcements pop up on their timelines before they actually happen.

God bless.

* This really happened. A friend of mine (who left DC around the time I did) actually did this. Don’t worry, though; he was a banned from Facebook for a week or something. You know- longer than it bans people for posting actual White Supremacy.