It used to be that if you got on 'The Tonight Show,' your career was made. Now, if you're on 'The Tonight Show,' maybe 14 more people show up to your gig in Tulsa.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
If you are on television, that one night that someone is able to see you, you're talking about millions of people in one day. That's pretty awesome because then it helps you to jumpstart your career, and if you're the one to go out there and perform, people are going to come see you because those millions saw you on the television.
Touring has been a major part of my career. I've done a lot of huge shows, including a 13-night sell-out stint at the Indoor Arena in Birmingham, playing to a total audience of 65,000.
A lot of people think, 'Oh, you made 'SNL.' You're set. You're good.' No. All there is gigs, and you go from one gig to another. And hopefully you get a good gig, and it lasts for a while, and you get good work and people remember it, and you have good memories of it.
When the show opens, fans can text to a number we flash up on the screen, and then we do a meet-and-greet with 60 to 80 people every night. It's something I love doing, and I would say that's probably more fans than most artists bring backstage after a show.
Being as versatile as I am, I take offense to the notion that no serious musician would not be doing a late night talk show gig. One has to be open enough in other areas to be able to contribute to a show like this.
There are a lot of bands who would get really big in Fort Worth and play shows on a Friday night that everybody would come out to. But I've never been really big in my hometown. My shows would have 10 or 15 people at them.
A lot of show business, as you know, is about all the contacts you make and who you know.
If you can survive 'Saturday Night Live,' then you're good as far as show business is concerned.
In the U.S., there are around 300 shows in different networks, so there's a lot of work here.
I don't go to a lot of shows. If you go to too many shows, then it doesn't become a special thing. Whenever I've been to a concert, it has been such a cool experience.