THE ORIGIN STORY

Tesseract was, from 1998 to 2008, a unique stand-up comic based in Western New York State. At that time his material was dark and quirky but he was not costumed in any way. When he returned to comedy in late 2023, however, he felt a change was warranted.

His initial return to comedy – after 15 years away – took place at a comedy night at a local coffeehouse. Tesseract’s set went so badly that he took it as proof that he had been away from comedy too long to return. In the early 2000s, it was his standard procedure to appear at open mics reading directly from paper; he only memorized jokes for special performances. He felt reading aloud was necessary due to the large amount of material he generated. The coffeehouse audience in 2023 didn’t take well to his reading jokes though; They largely ignored his set. To make matters worse, while sitting with friends watching the other comics perform, his friends – in their 50s – were the subject of jokes and taunts from the younger comics. This culminated in one of Tesseract’s friends being challenged to fight by one of the younger comics. Tesseract left that night feeling the underwhelming set would probably be his last.

But then either the universe or God stepped in.

A friend invited Tesseract to an open mic night held in a large movie theater. Tesseract went with no thoughts of returning to performing. Afterward, on the drive home, the friend asked if he’d ever want to do stand-up again. Tesseract thought the night had been fun, but that the venue wasn’t ideal; the room was so large that getting an audible reaction from the smallish crowd would be difficult, and the venue filmed the comics’ sets. He didn’t want video of a set as badly received as his prior one had been.

But then his friend asked him – of all the things in the world he could have – “Were you ever a fan of The Gong Show?”

Tesseract had been a massive fan of the wacky variety show in his youth where oddball acts would compete for a prize of $516.32. A semi-regular contestant on the show was “The Unknown Comic,” a stand-up comic who used a paper bag as a mask. Of course, if Tesseract did a lousy set in the large theater, a mask could provide him anonymity, but he didn't feel he could copy The Unknown Comic with a paper bag. He’d prized originality too long to consider doing that.

But that night, it’s very likely The Unknown Comic was leaping around in Tesseract’s dreams. While doing yard work the next day, it was almost as if the universe spoke. A sentence was seemingly beamed into Tesseract's head: “You will go onstage wearing a yellow wrestler’s mask, with the top colored red, and you will call yourself Mister Pencil.” Tesseract’s immediate thought? “I can’t do that. People would expect jokes from the perspective of a pencil… and I don’t do that, " but then he considered, "What if I called myself ‘Nietzsche’s Pencil?’ No one has any idea the sorts of things his pencil would say.” He held on to the idea long enough to search for a yellow wrestler's mask online, and not finding one, he ordered a white mask and dyed it.

And then he awoke one morning about a week later with a new name... “Tesseract,” of course.

The universe wasn’t through making suggestions though.

Tesseract was fully aware that he was being guided by dream imagery and subconscious suggestion in the creation of a character, and he decided to ride them as far as they would take him.

He returned to the large theater, signed up for the open mic, and was given spot #17 of 21 possible spots. While sitting a couple of rows back from the stage, waiting to be called, and staring up at a bar stool near the mic stand, he had an odd idea. He thought it would be funny if a comic tapped on the stool with a drumstick and delivered his jokes in sync with it. Had Tesseract taken the stage that night, without a drumstick, he wouldn’t have been prepared to try. But here's what happened:

As act #16 finished his set, the host took the stage to announce that, due to time constraints, the open mic was over; The venue had to close by 10:30. When Tesseract returned two weeks later – angry that he’d been bumped the previous time – he decided to differentiate himself from the other comics in every way possible. That meant the mask, the name, AND the stick.

This is a video of Tesseract’s 2nd set in the theater when he was trying to regain his footing after many years away from comedy.

This is a video of Tesseract’s 5th set that also took place in the theater. It has some unexpected drama to it. Tesseract came onstage with a cough drop in his mouth. When he blew his first line, frustrated with himself, he spit it out. This earned him a bad reaction from someone in the audience who said, “Ewwww,” loud enough for everyone to hear them. The audience left Tesseract hanging on his first joke. They began coming around by the second, however, and stayed with him for the rest of the set.