Eric Rueseler is a comedian in Cape Girardeau, Mo. He started doing stand-up six years ago and is a part of the St. Louis scene. It was either that or Memphis. An active Marine for six years, he works at the Helium Comedy Club and the Funny Bones and has a weekly podcast called "The Best?" He gave a preview of it on this episode. Follow Eric Ruesel…

Austin Baca is a very funny comedian in Reno, Nev. After growing up in Los Angeles, Baca ditched his plans of becoming a geologist and began doing stand-up in 2016. He helped keep the comedy scene in Reno going after the pandemic and is enjoying life now. Follow Austin Baca: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itwasjustaustin/ Support the Show.…

JJ Jones is a Boston-area comedian who was raised on British TV and New England sarcasm. He started doing stand-up in Denver eight years ago. He moved back to Massachusetts in 2017, lives in Foxboro and has been getting steady work all over the Northeast. He's a regular at the Comedy Connection in East Providence, R.I., and is headlining small club…

Carson Taylor has been doing stand-up in the Mobile, Ala., area for almost a decade. He made friends with Zeke Buckhaults in high school, joined his band, Shropshire Collective, and followed him into the comedy scene. Taylor quit drinking six months ago and has noticed a big change in his stand-up -- mainly that he doesn't black out on stage anymor…

Kristen Lytie grew up in the punk rock scene in Green Bay, Wisc., and started doing stand-up in Chicago in 2013. She moved back to Green Bay in 2018 and is one of the big pieces of the comedy scene. She's been in festivals all over the country and is starting one, the Green Bay UFO Fest, this year from July 19 to 21. She recorded her debut album, “…

Charlie Nadler is a stand-up comedian living in the Berkshires in Western Massachusetts. His parents, Marty and Holly Nadler, met while working on Laverne & Shirley, and Charlie was able to be on the sets of The Princess Bride and Pretty Woman and got to know Garry and Penny Marshall. Charlie wanted to be a screenwriter and worked in Los Angeles, w…

Jake Silberman started doing stand-up in Minneapolis in 2013 before moving to Portland and beginning a serious run. He was one of Potland's best comedians, putting out "The Crowd Work Album" in 2020, and moved to New York City in 2022. He's toured the country in a van and worked with Norm Macdonald, Nate Bartgaze, Kyle Kinane and Nick Mullen. Jake'…

Brad Monkell picked up the bass when he was in middle school and has been able to make a career out of it. At the end of 2019, he stepped onto a comedy stage. It took him about a year to get back to it, and since then, he's been one of the driving forces of Albany's scene. He's also a radio host for WOOC 105.3 FM. He hosts open mics and runs shows …

Ted Anderson went to college at Marquette and decided with his wife to buy a house in Hawaii. After beginning their physical therapy practice, he started doing stand-up in 2009 and became an integrel part of the Maui scene. He's one of the founders of Power Up Comedy and a producer of the Hawaiian TV show, Moku Moku. It's about three friends naviga…

Alan Massenburg started doing stand-up in Lancaster, Pa., in 2015. Already with two daughters, he decided to take his funny social-media persona onto the stage and it's paid off. He splits time between Lancaster with his kids and New York City and he recorded his debut album, "We Got Action," in November. It's available on March 22, so make sure to…

Chris Jones started doing stand-up in the Poconos when he was 15 years old. He started doing bar shows and open mics when he was 19. He's 28 now and after a few years away from the stage, he's back and being productive. He's emerged as one of the stand-outs in the Northeast Pennsylvania scene and has big plans for 2024. Follow Chris Jones: Instagra…

Paul Clemente started doing stand-up when he was 36 years old and is doing all he can to keep comedy alive in Jamestown, N.Y. Always a performer at heart, he did improv at the Lucille Ball Comedy Festival and is trying as hard as he can to get local comedy into the National Comedy Center. The only constant member of the Jamestown comedy scene and t…

Dan Alten started doing stand-up in Louisville, Ky., back in 2012. He studied journalism at Indiana University, but was told by a professor he should be writing comedy. A sitcom guy growing up, he decided to move to Louisville and get good at stand-up. He co-hosts the Funny Dinner podcast and travels all over the country -- even in Cookeville, Tenn…

Brian Enck got a laugh in an English class in middle school and turned it into a career as a stand-up comedian. He grew up in Rochester and got his start in comedy as a freshman at Keuka College. After doing open mics and a few shows, he transfered to film school in New York City, where he got good at stand-up. Enck moved up to Syracuse during the …

Steve Vanderploeg started doing stand-up in Denver, his hometown, 11 years ago. All he wanted to do back then was get a five-minute booking at the Comedy Works open mic. Now he's headlining there. Vanderploeg is touring the country and founded Roatating Tap Comedy back in 2019. He's putting that English degree to work. He's performed at the High Pl…

Anna Huntley is a very funny comedian in Washington, D.C. She moved from South Carolina for a job and decided to get on stage five years ago at 36. A lifelong learning, she took improv, acting and stand-up classes and writes and performs on a sketch team. She also got permission from her landlord to get a cat, which might have a deeper, sadder mean…

Dan Wilbur started doing stand-up when he was 18 years old and attending Bard College, where he met comedian Katie Berlant and Raphael Bob-Wakesberg, the creator of BoJack Horseman. Wilbur moved to Brooklyn after school and has kept himself busy. He's published two books, "How Not to Read: Harnessing the Power of a Literature-Free Life" and "Never …

Dan Clark has been doing stand-up in Philadelphia since 2016. He gave it a try following a divorce and discovered he was pretty good at it. A graduate of Kutztown University in Pennsylvania, Dan worked as a journalist until 2021. He also played rugby and played bass in a punk band. Now he's working on getting booked and starting the Idiot Bridge po…

Uzair Malik is a graduate student at Northeastern in Boston and only 15 months into his stand-up career. But he's already made some impressive strides. After growing up in India, he started doing comedy in San Francisco before moving to the East Coast. He finished second at the New England's Funniest Comedian competition in 2023 and participated in…

Gary Sharp, Jr. grew up playing football and basketball and running track in south New Jersey. He played college football at Johns Hopkins and began doing stand-up when his mom gave him the information for a comedy class at Helium Comedy Club in Philadelphia. Since starting in August of 2019, he's been working hard and is starting to stand out in t…

Holly Johnston graduated from Hofstra with a psychology major and radio, TV and film minor and then started doing stand-up in 2019 -- following in her dad’s footsteps. She grew up in Hopedale, Mass., and moved to Austin, Texas, where she was able to get plenty of time on stage. Holly moved back to Hopedale in the fall and is producing shows, too. S…

Steve Burke is a comedian, actor and writer in Ithaca. He's been performing for the last decade -- starting stand-up in 2013, then beginning improv the next year. He's part of the Comedy Flops, Ithaca's best improv troupe, and he works closely with Paul Kozlowski at the Ake Gallery in Cortland. After taking a little time off, Burke has jumped right…

Zachary Wycuff started doing stand-up at the University of Cincinnati when he was 21 years old and he stayed put. He's been at it for eight years and has established himself as a strong comedian in the Midwest. He was just at the Flyover Comedy Festival in St. Louis and has a Dry Bar Comedy special waiting to be released. He worked as a probation o…

Andy McDermott has been doing stand-up in the Husdon Valley and Albany areas for almost a decade. He's one of the strongest comedians in the upstate area and runs More Than Jokes, his production company, where he books talent across the Northeast. He works regularly at the Syracuse Funny Bone and the Laugh it Up Comedy Club in Poughkipsee, among ot…

Ray Roberts grew up in Ohio and started doing stand-up while at Kent State back in 2014. He's worked all over the Midwest and is based in Milwaukee, Wisc., for now. Chicago is in his future. He features for Zoltan Kaszas and released his first album, "B-Sides All That," in 2020. He also hosts the Comedy and Mushroom Cult podcast. Follow Ray Roberts…

Jared Hazen is four years into his stand-up career and just moved to Bristol, Tenn., in May. He spent eight years in the Air Force, working in the medical unit as a surgical technition and trying to relive what he saw on M*A*S*H. He got drunk at his first open mic at Chilkoot Charlie's in Anchorage, Alaska, and things have gotten better from there.…

Gabbie Watts started doing stand-up in Atlanta about six years ago. She grew up playing the upright bass in orchestra and picked up the electric bass and guitar. She played in a punk band and recently decided to add a music element to her comedy repertoire, leading her to create the monthly show, Comedy Bandstand, at the Dynamic El Dorado in Atlant…

Erin Lok started doing stand-up in Madison, Wisc., after she promised her dad she'd give it a try. Four years later, she's running her own shows in Charleston, S.C. A track and field athlete and sociology student at SUNY Cortland, she began her comedy career by auditioning for an improv troupe. When her dad got sick, she came back to Long Island an…

Ronnie Fleming grew up doing improv in Havre de Grace, Md., and moved to New York City to pursue film school. He began doing stand-up when he got there and really improved when he started working the road. That's where he found his alter-ego, Chase Freely, too. He's working with Steve Hofstetter's Steel City Arts Foundation in Pittsburgh and runs D…

Andrew Yang started doing stand-up seven years ago in Ann Arbor, Mich. He watched sets on Conan to get the feel of stand-up and decided to give it a try after his late-night packet wasn't selected. The host of the Blind Pig open mic, Yang founded the Tree Town Comedy Festival in March before deciding to let go of it. He's a husband and has a 3-year…

Maxwell Shultz is a comedian, producer and author from Haverhill, Mass. He's extremely well-traveled, having been behind the mic in 40 states over his nine-year stand-up career, and he just released his second hour, "Just Another Beautiful Day," on YouTube. He's one of the comedians behind Malice Comedy, which produces shows in Massachusetts and Ne…

Aamir Arshad started doing stand-up a couple years ago in Rochester and he's already made some pretty big strides. He's a regular at the Comedy at the Carlson, works all over upstate New York and finished second at the Rochester's Funniest Person contest in 2023. He started his radio career while attending RIT and has a show, Only the Important Thi…

Rebecca Jaffe started doing stand-up in the St. Louis scene. After graduating from Milikin University, she moved to Chicago with Hannah Magy to do stand-up and sketch comedy. Rebecca, who took classes at Second City, comes from a musical family -- her mom loves Broadway -- and was in a Jewish bluegrass band with her father and sibling called the Mi…

As a kid, Devin Mahoney wanted to be on SNL. He settled for getting a degree from Syracuse and finding a spot in the writers room at NBC, on a show called Scrubs. He spent five years there as a production assistant, writer's assistant, etc. and even wrote an episode in Season 8 called My Comedy Show. He was in the room when Bill Lawrence wrote the …

Max Fine started doing stand-up in Atlanta, a few minutes from Turner Field, so he had to be a Braves fan. He started doing stand-up in Atlanta and worked the road before moving to New York. He's been all over the country, working out the material for his debut album, "I Like His Style," which comes out on Oct. 13. The pre-orders begin on Sept. 22,…

Delisia Nicholas is a super funny comedian in Pensacola, Fla., who grew up with a ferret and 76 rabbits. She named them and everything. She started doing stand-up in 2019 and has already been at the Altercation Festival in Austin, Texas, the B4UDie Fest in Anchorage, Alaska, and Middle Ground Comedy Festival in Indianapolis. She's staying busy beca…

Tori Kilkenny moved to Chicago in 2018 and started doing stand-up a month later. She did it as a way to improve her skillset as an actor and ended up finding a couple comedic homes -- in stand-up and sketch. She's splitting her time between both, running sketches with End of the Worm As We Know It at the Annoyance Theater, and doing stand-up all ov…

Shaun Murphy moved to New York City from Buffalo in 2008 and once more, for good, in 2013. He's been doing stand-up since 2004 and is a regular opener for Mark Normand. Murphy got passed at the Comedy Cellar in 2021 and is performing all over the world with Normand and headlining clubs. He also co-hosts In the Hunt: A Buffalo Bills Podcast with Gre…

Cody Cannon moved to West Virginia in high school and fell in love with it. He moved to Brooklyn to start stand-up in 2010, but decided to come back. He got back int omedy in 2017 and began Red Eye Comedy. He just finished the second Red Eye Comedy Festival and continues to be the main show producer in Morgantown, W. Va. He's got a podcast, Comics …

Kasey Nicholson is a Harrisburg comedian who got her start on stage after Shane Gillis put her name on the list. Since then, she worked in the United Arad Emirates with the Air Force and had a daughter before jumping back into the Harrisburg scene in 2019. She features regularly at the Church of Satire Comedy Club in Hanover, Pa., and is working wi…

Alex Bozinovic started doing stand-up in Detroit back in 2014. He was one of the founders of the Independent Comedy Club, from which he stepped away recently to focus more on his stand-up. He's been in several festivals, including Limestone and Middle Ground in Indianapolis, Fountain City in Kansas City and Gilda's Laugh Fest in Grand Rapids, Mich.…

John Grier was sitting at a bar one night after his divorce and decided he needed to do something to help people remember him. So at 39 years old, he started doing stand-up. One of the few comedians in the Stroudsburg, Pa., area, Grier began producing shows five months into his young career under the Grierfest Comedy moniker. He books some of the b…

Demi Chang started doing stand-up in Fairfax, Va., back in 2021 as a way to feel productive after her time in the Marine Corps. She's been able to find her footing in the Washington, D.C., scene and is planning a move to Austin, Texas. A graduate of the University of Maryland, she's loosely using her journalism degree while working with Robin Phoen…

Ben Frank was working for the NBA in China when he decided to give stand-up a try. Eight years later, he's living in New York City and competing well in the World Series of Comedy all across the country. A lot of things have changed since he decided not to take the initial real estate job. He became one of the better ex-pat comedians in China befor…

Corey Alexander has been a stand-up comic for the last two decades. He's a Philadelphia guy from the start. He's worked all over the country with pit stops in Los Angeles and New York City, but he's at home in Philly. He's got the Inside Jokes Podcast and the 4-for-4 podcast, where he talks about the 76ers, Flyers, Eagles and Phillies, and he's on …

Tyler Ross is a Chicago comedian who got his start in the Akron scene while going to Kent State University. He grew up playing hockey and had dreams of going pro pro. He got all the way to his college team before stand-up felt like the better way to go. He's traveled the country, headlining shows all over the place, and recorded his first album in …

Clay Newman is a super funny comedian in Los Angeles. He started doing stand-up in San Francisco in 2012. He's worked with Shane Torres, Kelsey Cook, Jenny Slate, Eric Andre, TJ Miller and Darrell Hammond and is a regular on the festival circuit all over the West Coast. He's also an actor and a big baseball fan. He even did a commercial with Giants…

Lennon Free started doing stand-up as a freshman at Shippensburg University back in 2010. From Biglerville, Pa., outside of Gettysburg, he knows his apples. He latched ono the Harrisburg comedy scene while in college and moved to Austin, Texas, for a few years before coming back in April 2022. He streams video games and tells jokes. He's living the…

Reed Sedgwick has been doing stand-up for 12 years. He moved to Argentina in his 30s and joined a story-telling group before taking a shot at comedy and moving back to Louisville, Ky. Sedgwick has been able to find a home as a gay trans man in the comedy scene and opened for Jackie Kashan, Beth Stelling and Kyle Kinane and been at the Limestone and…

Michael Furr is a comedian in Baltimore and the booking manager, producer, host, busser, etc., of the Lou Costello Room. He’s been doing stand-up for 10 years and has two specials – Straight Acting and I Didn’t Die – on Amazon Prime and Spotify and he’s working on a third. He’s one of the hardest working comedians in the area and is way too busy to…