Pete Dominick, who has been doing stand up comedy for nine years, considers himself to be one of the richest people he’s ever met. It’s not because he’s making a lot of money, it’s because he’s loves what he’s doing – making people laugh.

“I wanted to have a job that I enjoyed doing and I enjoy making people laugh and was good at it,” he says.

Dominick says he can relate to almost any group of people. Although many comedians have specific audiences they can’t perform for, he feels his ability to adapt material to fit his listeners’ demographics is one of his strengths.

Much of what Dominick performs in his shows is impromptu, but he also writes a lot of his material beforehand.

“My act is three different things – my personal stuff, observational stuff and my opinion on social or political issues,” he says.

One challenge for Dominick is coming up with original material, he says.

“I never do the same act,” he says. “It’s always different – it’s always a combination of things.”

Dominick has performed in almost all 50 states at clubs and colleges, but Iowa is one of the few that he hasn’t been to. He plans to do some research about Iowa State before he comes so he can incorporate campus life into his show.

Dominick has performed for large college crowds ranging anywhere from 600 to 1,000 students. He says it is an exhilarating feeling for him.

“Now I’m mainly just doing colleges out of town because I’m working on a couple of TV shows in New York as well as all the clubs in New York City.” Dominick says.

“I’m working at three TV shows on Comedy Central.”

Dominick is in charge of getting the audience fired up and laughing before taping starts.

“I do that on ‘The Daily Show with Jon Stewart’ and two new shows that haven’t aired yet, but will be airing starting at the end of this month and middle of October, which are ‘The Colbert Report’ and the other one is called ‘Friday Nights with Greg Giraldo,'” he says.

Dominick doesn’t mind the traveling or late hours, but there are some downsides to being a comedian, he says.

“The hardest part is competition,” he says. “This is not a fair business. There’s a lot of nepotism and a lot of phoniness. Another hard part is there is no security in it, there’s no pension or 401 K plan.”

Dominick says he enjoys himself so much while performing that he doesn’t think of it as being work. Although he enjoys what he does Dominick is constantly reminded of what it took to get him where he is today – many years of hard work.

While in high school, Dominick considered himself the class clown.

After studying acting at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, he began pursuing comedy, he says.

“Life isn’t worth living if you’re not doing something that you enjoy doing or you find to be important,” he says.

The idea of retiring as a comedian is something Dominick says he can’t even imagine.

“That would mean that someday I’d have to sit down in the rocking chair and say, ‘You know what, I’m done being funny and if I have a funny thought I’m just going to let it go,'” he says. “I imagine I’ll do it till the day I die.”