He was working for an unemployment office in Ohio while in his 20s. He processed unemployment claims.
He made $50 a week doing that. While processing claims, he realized unemployment paid $45 a week.
He intentionally started making tons of mistakes and was let go.
He walked in the next week and started collecting unemployment. Said he’d rather get $45 a week for doing nothing than $50 a week for 40 hours work.
(In those several weeks, he wrote his earliest comedy routines.)