‘Patel Brothers’ by Sam Spratt

Walk into any Indian grocery store and you’ll recognize a very distinct smell. I don’t know what it is; the daal, the dried Shaan masala, the bootlegged VHS tapes, but its uncanny and universal. The ambience is always a little left of what you’d see in a traditional grocery store, but the strangeness makes it familiar. The lights in the back flickered, the price tags were hand written and illegible, but the store owner knew customers by name and called my dad Najme Saheb every time we walked in. I miss those days, but I can relive them—even if its just for a moment—whenever I walk into a Patel Brothers.

‘Prom’ by Sam Spratt

By the time my senior year of high school rolled around I had never been to a school dance, I had been cut from the basketball team for the third year in a row, and I had just gotten off of Acutane. I was pretty much crushing it. Sneaking out of my house to go to prom was the most badass thing I had ever done. For the first time in my life I actually grabbed the reigns of an opportunity and just went for it. No matter the consequences, that night was the epitome of my American Dream.

‘October 9th, 2014’ by Sam Spratt

Standup comedy really is the mafia. We all start off as runners in the streets in hopes of one day becoming made men. We pine away for years in the back of dingy bars waiting for that one opportunity that could change everything. On October 9th, 2014 I got the call to audition for one of the most intelligent, poignant, and talented political satirists of the modern era. I had been doing standup 10 years, 1 month, and 9 days when I was hired to join The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Jon took a chance on me, believed in me, and changed my life forever. Dreams really do come true.