Stand Up Comics Who Became Famous Before Doing Stand Up

[tigermaskxxxvii]

So I was listening to epiisode 454 of the Nerdist podcast in which Laina Morris (a.k.a. "The Overly-Attached Girlfriend") was the guest. She mentioned how before she became an internet meme she wanted to do stand up and Chris Hardwick encourages her to give it a try (along with any other comedic art she can think of like improv and sketch comedy). He used himself as an example of someone who wanted to do comedy but got derailed and didn't end up starting comedy until he had already been on TV hosting Singled Out among other things. Also, on episode 121 of The Joe Rogan Experience Bryan Callen was on talking about how attending a listening party for Joe Rogan's debut comedy album (1999's "I'm Gonna Be Dead Someday") had inspired him to get into stand up (so much so that he left the listening party which was at Rogan's house while the album was still playing). By this point Callen had already been a cast member on Mad TV amongst other acting roles. So can you think of other stand up comics who got into stand up after establishing their show business career in another field? Does establishing your show business career elsewhere and then doing stand up hurt a comics credibility stand up-wise (i.e. "He's only doing so well in comedy because he got into stand up with TV/film roles on his resume!") Or does it not matter at all?

[Welfare Willis]

Not sure if this counts since it's improv, but Dave Foley of Kids in the Hall fame got into stand-up after his second divorce.


Dustin Diamond I know has done stand up.

[DiBiase is Good]

Ricky Gervais was famous and very successful before moving into stand-up. Not that moving to stand-up was permanent though.

[Clash, Never a Meter Maid]

Mick Foley?

[Glitch]

Maynard James Keenan has performed stand up comedy sometimes.

[Dr. T is an alien]

Dec 17, 2013 19:51:01 GMT -5 Welfare Willis said:

Not sure if this counts since it's improv, but Dave Foley of Kids in the Hall fame got into stand-up after his second divorce.


Dustin Diamond I know has done stand up.

Dave Foley is damned funny as a stand up. I doubt Diamond is anything but a huge pile of suck.

[Welfare Willis]

Dec 17, 2013 22:12:59 GMT -5 Dr. T is an alien said:

Dec 17, 2013 19:51:01 GMT -5 Welfare Willis said:

Not sure if this counts since it's improv, but Dave Foley of Kids in the Hall fame got into stand-up after his second divorce.


Dustin Diamond I know has done stand up.

Dave Foley is damned funny as a stand up. I doubt Diamond is anything but a huge pile of suck.

I haven't seen Dave Foley's stand up. I'll need to youtube it.

[unc40]

Alison Arngrim who was Nellie Olson on Little House on the Prairie now does stand up.

[austinariesfan88]

Charlie Murphy

[theryno665]

I'll tell you as someone involved with stand-up comedy, there definitely is a stigma if you don't start out as a stand-up until you prove yourself to be any good. If you're an Internet celebrity with some following or a former celebrity with no work and you think you can just go up on stage and do it, you're essentially taking spots from us no-namers who have been working at it for years, usually for no money. But it does kinda go both ways. I remember when Tom Green came to town, the feature act for the first night was tweeting how bad she thought he sucked WHILE HE WAS ON STAGE. Regardless of how good you think he is (he's actually pretty good and been doing it for a few years now), that definitely shows how unprofessional you are and bookers won't want to use you anymore.

[tigermaskxxxvii]

Dec 18, 2013 2:03:07 GMT -5 unc40 said:

Alison Arngrim who was Nellie Olson on Little House on the Prairie now does stand up.

What's weird is that she's been doing stand up since she was in high school (I want to say when was around 15). It's mentioned in William Knoedelseder's book "I'm Dying Up Here: Heartbreak and High Times in Stand-Up Comedy's Golden Era" about The Comedy Store (more specifically covering the timeframe of the Store's beginning, the big comedians strike, and the strike's immediate aftermath). Basically being that age and doing stand up was at that age was a bit of a pain in the ass as a lot of time she had to wait outside before going on as not to risk the club's liquor liscense (although on the bright side, being underage meant they didn't make her wait all night to do a set).

[tigermaskxxxvii]

Dec 18, 2013 12:38:06 GMT -5 theryno665 said:

I'll tell you as someone involved with stand-up comedy, there definitely is a stigma if you don't start out as a stand-up until you prove yourself to be any good. If you're an Internet celebrity with some following or a former celebrity with no work and you think you can just go up on stage and do it, you're essentially taking spots from us no-namers who have been working at it for years, usually for no money. But it does kinda go both ways. I remember when Tom Green came to town, the feature act for the first night was tweeting how bad she thought he sucked WHILE HE WAS ON STAGE. Regardless of how good you think he is (he's actually pretty good and been doing it for a few years now), that definitely shows how unprofessional you are and bookers won't want to use you anymore.

Yeah, I do stand up myself, so that's why it's a little bitter sweet to see guys like Mick Foley and Colt Cabana become comedy headliners. I mean sure, they probably more often than not play to a niche audience of wrestling fans who'll laugh at some pro wrestling inside baseball bits. But it's just, if David Arquette winning the WCW World Heavyweight Champion without "paying dues in the wrestling business" then why is it ok for Foley and Cabana becoming comedy headliners without paying dues in comedy?

["Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay]

Dec 17, 2013 19:52:24 GMT -5 DiBiase is Good said:

Ricky Gervais was famous and very successful before moving into stand-up. Not that moving to stand-up was permanent though.

And Stephen Merchant.

[theryno665]

Dec 20, 2013 18:05:58 GMT -5 tigermaskxxxvii said:

Dec 18, 2013 12:38:06 GMT -5 theryno665 said:

I'll tell you as someone involved with stand-up comedy, there definitely is a stigma if you don't start out as a stand-up until you prove yourself to be any good. If you're an Internet celebrity with some following or a former celebrity with no work and you think you can just go up on stage and do it, you're essentially taking spots from us no-namers who have been working at it for years, usually for no money. But it does kinda go both ways. I remember when Tom Green came to town, the feature act for the first night was tweeting how bad she thought he sucked WHILE HE WAS ON STAGE. Regardless of how good you think he is (he's actually pretty good and been doing it for a few years now), that definitely shows how unprofessional you are and bookers won't want to use you anymore.

Yeah, I do stand up myself, so that's why it's a little bitter sweet to see guys like Mick Foley and Colt Cabana become comedy headliners. I mean sure, they probably more often than not play to a niche audience of wrestling fans who'll laugh at some pro wrestling inside baseball bits. But it's just, if David Arquette winning the WCW World Heavyweight Champion without "paying dues in the wrestling business" then why is it ok for Foley and Cabana becoming comedy headliners without paying dues in comedy?

I tend to give Foley a pass, just because I'm a huge fan of his. But when people ask what they should expect at a Foley show, I usually say "Expect stories, not comedy". And usually it's advertised as such, so that's fine. And he does try. What pissed me off was when RVD talked about how easy stand-up is and that anyone could do it because you just go on a stage and talk about stuff. No, you don't.

Wrestlers doing comedy doesn't really irk me, but only because I'm a wrestling fan. I'm talking about people who were on a reality show or did a YouTube video that got a few million views and think they can just go on stage and try comedy just because they need the money.

[AFN: Judge Shred]

Dec 20, 2013 21:23:09 GMT -5 theryno665 said:

Dec 20, 2013 18:05:58 GMT -5 tigermaskxxxvii said:

Yeah, I do stand up myself, so that's why it's a little bitter sweet to see guys like Mick Foley and Colt Cabana become comedy headliners. I mean sure, they probably more often than not play to a niche audience of wrestling fans who'll laugh at some pro wrestling inside baseball bits. But it's just, if David Arquette winning the WCW World Heavyweight Champion without "paying dues in the wrestling business" then why is it ok for Foley and Cabana becoming comedy headliners without paying dues in comedy?

I tend to give Foley a pass, just because I'm a huge fan of his. But when people ask what they should expect at a Foley show, I usually say "Expect stories, not comedy". And usually it's advertised as such, so that's fine. And he does try. What pissed me off was when RVD talked about how easy stand-up is and that anyone could do it because you just go on a stage and talk about stuff. No, you don't.

Wrestlers doing comedy doesn't really irk me, but only because I'm a wrestling fan. I'm talking about people who were on a reality show or did a YouTube video that got a few million views and think they can just go on stage and try comedy just because they need the money.

Isn't Foley usually presented as spoken word? Much like Henry Rollins. You are going to see them talk and they may be funny, but they aren't doing jokes so much.

[Mozenrath]

Jonah Hill, sort of. He needed to do stand up for Funny People and had never done it before, so Louis CK helped him and Seth Rogen some, and they had to do a good deal of stand up to prepare for it. Seth Rogen had already done stand up in the past, so he was more prepared, but Jonah was apparently terrified.

[Deleted]

I'm not sure of the timeline, but I think Louis CK was known to many people as a comedy writer and a semi-regular on LATE NIGHT WITH CONAN (he was a writer but also one of those fill-in guests who was plugged in when another guest cancelled) before he became famous(er) from his stand-up career.

[theryno665]

Dec 20, 2013 22:06:44 GMT -5 @knapp said:

I'm not sure of the timeline, but I think Louis CK was known to many people as a comedy writer and a semi-regular on LATE NIGHT WITH CONAN (he was a writer but also one of those fill-in guests who was plugged in when another guest cancelled) before he became famous(er) from his stand-up career.

He was also doing stand-up while writing for Conan. There's plenty of old stand-up videos of him on YouTube from the early '90s.

[Hawk Hart]

Dec 17, 2013 22:12:59 GMT -5 Dr. T is an alien said:

Dec 17, 2013 19:51:01 GMT -5 Welfare Willis said:

Not sure if this counts since it's improv, but Dave Foley of Kids in the Hall fame got into stand-up after his second divorce.


Dustin Diamond I know has done stand up.

Dave Foley is damned funny as a stand up. I doubt Diamond is anything but a huge pile of suck.

I saw Dustin Diamond live a few months back on a lark, it was horrible. So f***ing bad.