SouthFlorida.com | City Link Magazine

Standup comedian and author Aaron Karo recalls performing at Seminole Hard Rock Casino the last time he was in South Florida. "There was, like, my usual crowd, the 20-somethings," he says. "Then, there was a bunch of really old people who were gambling, and they had no idea who I was.

"I never had this happen before, but I get this guy who didn't really get my joke about hooking up and trying to bang chicks. � So he didn't walk out. He actually was so old he rolled out in his electric wheelchair," he continues. "Only in South Florida would someone roll out of your show."

Karo's stories of booze-guzzling, sex-craving 20-somethings attending beer bashes, losing cell phones and riding in cars full of half-eaten food may not appeal to gambling seniors. But as the title of his latest book, Ruminations on Twentysomething Life, indicates, seniors are not the audience Karo envisioned.

Much as his life seems to have unfolded according to a brilliantly laid plan, Karo didn't count on being an author or comedian, either. Ditto for contributing to VH1's I Love the '90s and writing an advice column for Seventeen.

What Karo did know when he started at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania is that he wanted to start a business. On the night this student started down what would become his career path, his biggest goal was getting to sleep after yet another weekend of partying. He'd gotten into that weekend routine of staying up all night and sleeping all day. Come Sunday nights, he was wide awake.

On one such sleepless night, a month after arriving at college, Karo got out of bed, went to his computer and began writing observations of university life. He called it Ruminations on College Life and e-mailed it to 20 high-school buddies, never realizing how far a click of the send button would take him.

His friends sent it to their friends, who sent it to their friends, and Karo made Ruminations his Sunday-night routine. By the time he graduated in 2001, Ruminations had 11,000 e-mail subscribers worldwide. Two months later, while working in equity research at a Wall Street investment bank, he sent his four-year e-mail collection to New York publishers and landed a deal with Simon and Schuster, who published Ruminations on College Life in August 2002.

Just before the book's release, Karo made his comic debut at an open mike, prompting a full-page story in The New York Post. "I invited a lot of my family and friends, and the show was great," he says. "They gave me 10 minutes time, and I think I blew right through it. � People really enjoyed it. Obviously that persuaded me to keep on doing it."

Because the comedy and writing worked well together, Karo -- who despised shaving, waking up early and tucking in his shirt -- quit his Wall Street job, opting instead to continue writing about 20-somethings while honing his material at clubs and colleges.

Karo says he was never a class clown, but was quick with jokes and excelled in writing classes, as he developed his unique approach. His college application essay was about his most triumphant achievements in sports, which happened to be a direct result of being hit in the crotch with a soccer ball. His graduation speech at Wharton ended with, "May your party mix always have extra Doritos."

After the first book, which sold through six printings and reached top 100 lists at Barnes and Noble and Amazon.com, Karo wrote a college-preparation column for CosmoGirl!, then an advice column for Seventeen magazine.

"It was great," he says. "The girls would write in and say, 'Should I hook up with my friend's roommate?' I was like, 'Sure, you go right ahead.' But that didn't last too long, obviously. � I'm actually gonna be starting a new advice column in Penthouse this year, which is probably a little bit more up my alley."

Karo, a commentator on VH1's I Love the '90s and I Love the '80s, also began Meisner Technique acting training in 2003. "It's great," he says, "because the class has a lot of models who are becoming actors, and everyone's attractive. It's like, 'Model, model, model, white Jewish comedian, model, model.' "

More recently, Karo has been adapting Ruminations on Twentysomething Life for television. "I have a deal with 20th Century Fox, and basically they hired me to create a sitcom about 20-something life, life after college, so I created this concept called The Whatever Years," he explains. "It's basically about a bunch of guys who are trying to get laid and trying not to get laid off."

He finished the script in February. "Right now, we're still looking for a network to pick it up and develop it and shoot the pilot," he notes. "I hope someone takes a shot at it. It's impossible to get anything on the air these days, but if they're gonna do anything, they might as well do mine over the other crap they have."

Karo makes it look easy. "I get a lot of e-mails where they're like, 'I coulda done what you did. You're just writing down what you're thinking,' " he says. "And I'm like, 'Yeah, I guess so, but you didn't.' "