Josh Goguen

Today I am interviewing Josh Goguen, a comedian from Charlotte, NC who has been doing comedy for close to 7 years. To find out more about Josh, please visit his website.



Why did you start doing stand-up comedy?

As a kid, I was a bit of a comedy junkie. When Fox first started up they'd show stand-up on Saturday nights and I watched every comic. I'd come home from school and watch tapes of Carlin, Buddy Hacket, and others that my Dad had. Hell, I think the first cassette tape I purchased for myself was Comic Relief 4 and I listened to it over and over.

I'd always listen to or watch the same shows over and over, it was like music to me. A lot of people would find it odd because once you know the joke, you're not going to laugh anymore, but I was listening to how something was said or paying attention to the word choices. Then I'd try to throw the jokes into conversation with friends and play it off as I'd just thought of it. I remember getting caught once by someone who'd seen the same show and being embarrassed.

Comedy was always something that I really enjoyed, but I never thought of it as something that I could do. Where I grew up, there wasn't a comedy club. Hell, I thought comics only came from New York or LA.

Jumping to my last week of college, a co-worker of my wife's was in an improv group and they were playing at the local Funny Bone. I didn't even know we had a Funny Bone until then. We went to watch and I found out they had an open mic on the last Tuesday of the month. I was graduating and decided that I'd better give it a shot because at some point I'd have a job and wouldn't have time for it. I called them up and booked a spot.

I'd been jotting down ideas for a little while, but the pressure of having an actual day to hit the stage must've given me a boost because I had ideas popping into my head left and right.

The open mic was run as a contest where the audience voted on who they liked best. I placed 3rd. I considered it a win because first and second brought a lot of people to support them and I went by alone. The owner of the place, Todd Yohn, was also a comedian and he liked what I did. He said I had a dark sense of humor and wanted me to come back for a guest spot on a regular show.

For over a year after, he'd give me and a few other local guys guest spots or MC spots and offer advice. Eventually they closed down, but I was getting road work at that point through some of the people I had met that went through the Funny Bone.

Everything so far has happened that way. Meet a guy who helps you out. Eventually you meet another guy who helps you out.

Where do you get your ideas?

I don't know where I get them. Typically something just pops into my head when I'm not even looking for it. I get a lot of ideas while driving long distances and my mind starts to wander.

I tried sitting down and writing for an hour a day, but it was unfocused and seemed more like busywork. I actually got less material out of that than I did by letting it just happen.

I've gotten into the practice of writing something every day now (thanks to a particular Russian comic with a website), but I'm doing it for the exercise and not farming for jokes.

I'm still experimenting with writing and how to improve, but as it is now, I just for a joke idea to smack me in the face and I put it down in my little notebook for later.

What do you think about the future of stand-up comedy?

It's hard to say. There are a lot of funny people coming up. As far as talent goes, it looks promising.

There's also the internet which is a great tool for finding an audience. I once saw some guy, I don't remember who he was and I hadn't heard of him before, but he had sold out shows. As it turned out, he had a website that was pretty popular among college students.

On the down side, I don't think the clubs or bookers are very helpful. Some are okay, but for many of them comedy is secondary. They just want to sell drinks and make money, which I understand, but we can work together to accomplish that.

It seems short sighted to not nurture the new talent. Some of these guys coming up are going to be the next big names, would you want to be able to say they cut their teeth on your stage? Don't you want those guys to think about how helpful you were to them and maybe cut you a break by working for less money?