The Cincy Kid
Ohio-born headliner Josh Sneed comes to the Columbus Funny Bone
By Travis Hoewischer |
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The Blues Brothers claimed their devotion to entertaining the masses was a "sign from God."
Josh Sneed's was a sign from human resources.
After cutting his teeth in open mics, amateur contests, and all the poorly-paid one-nighters the Heartland had to offer, the Cincinnati comedian set out on the road full-time in 2002, taking with him a severance package from his day job and a bankroll most fledgling comedians only dream of.
Since then, Sneed has banked twice that in credibility, with two Comedy Central specials to his credit, and a new album on Comedy Central Records, Unacceptable.
Professional offstage and immature onstage, the man who once bragged infamously of having farted on Jessica Simpson in an airplane out of pure spite also runs a successful t-shirt business (www.donkeytees.com), a podcast (The Detention Show), and headlines colleges and clubs throughout the Midwest. After a brief stint in LA, he has managed to become a national act while still calling Ohio home.
Sneed, who will take the Columbus Funny Bone stage on December 9th, warmed up with 614 before hitting the stage in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Josh Sneed and his pug.
Your first year out, you worked 50 of 52 weeks on the road. Where is the pace at now?
It depends. I'm at a place in my career ... I love the gigs that I do, and I don't have to take every gig that comes my way, which I never thought would happen. It's a luxury; you get a nice place to live, a dog, and in my case, a fiance - you want to spend time with them, and not always be on the road.
Of the early gigging, every comic talks about the bad ones, the hard sets...
I was taught from very beginning to get on stage as much you can. If you can kill it in a rough situation, you can kill it in any club.
Any jokes from the early days that you're embarrassed to think about doing?
Oh my God, I could give you a whole tape of them. The one I used to take the most abuse about, at least from other comics, was one of those jokes like, 'Hey, what if the cast of this show was replaced with people that I know how do impressions of?' I was a big Star Wars nerd, so I was replacing Star Wars characters with Adam Sandler and Butthead ... Butthead. That gives you an idea of how bad, how old it was.
Yeah, in 2000? That was probably dated even then.
(laughs) I'm sure it was on its way out, if not already by then.
How did your t-shirt company Donkey T's come about?
It started as a joke. For a long time - maybe even still - it's frowned on to whore yourself by selling merchandise, but for a middle act, that was the difference between flying or taking a bus. That was how I slept at night - I could afford a really nice pillow.
What are some of your favorite Donkey T designs?
The 'Lance Had a Ball' one always gets a laugh, just by telling people what it is (Lance Armstrong on a bike). That's what I love about the business; it started out as just something to keep busy. But, I've learned that it's a different creative outlet for me. A lot of them are jokes that wouldn't make sense on stage, or they're too topical. When Alec Baldwin blew up on his daughter, we made a shirt that said Father of the Year. That wouldn't hold up at a show every night, all year.
Does this mean all your nieces and nephews get presents of ironic T-shirts featuring obscure pop culture references on them?
I have bartered with them. One of my cousins is a painter, and I was like, 'Well, I could pay for it, or how about I just make you some shirts and you can paint my kitchen?' Boom.
That's such an Ohio way to do business.
Yep, people are always wearing t-shirts. Except, when we first started, we could only afford rent on a place in Northern Kentucky where no one wanted to wear shirts at all. You try to find your niche and milk it for all it's worth.
Could I pitch an idea? What do you say to sexy, trendy sweatpants with wacky sayings on the ass? Like, instead of "Juicy" and "Pink," it could be a picture of Chris Farley and Patrick Swayze right across the buttcheeks. That could take off.
(laughs) That was a shirt we caught some flak over. "Too soon" reared its ugly head.
You're pretty much an 'everyman' comedically, for lack of a better term.
I try to be. I've really tried to have an act that my mom could come watch, for fear that if she did and I didn't know about it, I wouldn't hear the end about it. You try to structure an act that will be funny no matter where you are, and you can be professional enough to tweak your act a little bit to suit your surroundings. I don't think that kind of skill set comes until you've done a ton of shows.
So, that means if you were performing for, say, a group of senior citizens, you'd be worried they wouldn't know who Jessica Simpson is. You might have to close with a bit about farting on Bette Midler.
Yeah, or Blanche from The Golden Girls.
Did you grow up watching comedians?
I did, to an extent. I watched some of the Evening at the Improv, but I had friends that watched HBO and George Carlin, Kids in the Hall before I was allowed to watch any of that stuff. When I did see that stuff, I was hooked. I watched Bill Cosby: Himself with my parents. I remember I would always quote it. Then, I would watch Steven Wright, Jake Johannsen, and even the Smothers Brothers. My parents had those "You Might Be A Redneck" tapes by a guy no one had ever heard of then.
It seems like that's where a lot of it starts with comedians, just making their family laugh.
I definitely get my sense of humor from my dad. That was something that I always noticed when I was a kid; he always had a funny joke or he could be witty. He was that guy. So as far as being around atmosphere, it was never a huge payoff. People would say, 'He's just like his father.' But, in high school, now that was the big pay off. I'd get in trouble, and if the teacher was still laughing as she was writing me a detention slip, then it was worth it.
Josh Sneed will be performing December 9 - 13 at the Columbus Funny Bone. Visit www.columbusfunnybone.com or call (614) 471-5653 for tickets.
Originally Published: December 1, 2009
