Second Career: From IT Engineer to Stand Up Comic

Dan Nainan was an IT engineer at Intel who could design technical demonstrations in his sleep. But when he was asked to present these demonstrations live in front of thousands or on television in front of millions alongside Intel Chairman Andy Grove, he was terrified.

Nainan joined a Toastmasters club at Intel to help him overcome his fear of public speaking, but says, "speaking in front of 15 other computer nerds over lunch just wasn't challenging enough." He had always had a secret desire to do comedy and so he took a comedy class, thinking that if he could do comedy, the onstage presentations for Intel would become easier. His assumption turned out to be correct. After hearing about Nainan's comedy routine, an Intel convention organizer asked him to perform live in front of hundreds at an upcoming conference.