After more than a decade of booking and promoting comedy shows in Kitsap, Joe records his first live album… “The Struggle Is Real.” We catch up with him over txt.
SMOKESTACK: When did you first start getting into the stand up thing… And how old were you then?
JOSEPH ROGERS: Always wanted to do it from a young age but finally faced my fears at age 32 and threw my first show in my back yard with 50 of my friends.
Was there a specific moment or happening that made you decide, ‘fuck it, I’m doing this’?
Once while on a break at work, I accidentally fell into a deep meditative state of mind that gave me an out of body experience that was very profound and changed my approach towards things I wanted to pursue but didn’t due to fear, self doubt, and anxiety. I decided that day that nothing would stop me from following my dreams.
Whoa! What?! Rad. Where did you work at the time?
Dealing cards at All Star Lanes & Casino
What other kinds of jobs have you worked over the years while building your comedy career?
Freelance Graphic Design work for local businesses. Landscaping. Credit counseling.
And now you’re a full-time comedian and comedy show producer?
Yep. I was an essential employee during the pandemic bud tending at a shop. Once the economy reopened I quit that job to pursue comedy full time. In 2022 I produced 140 Live Comedy Events and 169 in 2023. Got booked to perform my stand up all over the PNW as well.
Massive! That’s impressive. Because that’s not just showing up and performing at 169 shows. What all goes into producing a comedy show?
Producing shows involves having a good working relationship with the venue that wants to do comedy and the network of working comics in the area. It’s important to be able to read the room and understand which comics will likely do the best at a particular location. You always want to make sure the shows are a win win for both the venue and the comics performing. The most standard way to do a show is having the venue give you a budget to use to pay the comics. Then the venue makes more in sales than the cost of the budget and the comedians get paid properly for their time. If after the show everyone is happy (venue, comics and crowd) then you’ve successfully done a show. If all three of those things aren’t fulfilled then it’s up to the producer to fix it in order to keep the shows going.
And you’ve been doing that stuff for a long time. Take us back to the beginning. I always thought it was rad that you weren’t just building ‘Joseph Rogers Comedy,’ you’ve been building ‘Comedy In Kitsap.’ Where did that idea come from and what year did Comedy in Kitsap start?
Comedy In Kitsap started in 2012. It was a few months after I decided to do stand up and produce shows that I came up with the name. Initially it started as a site to inform people of all comedy shows in Kitsap. Ultimately with the amount of shows I was personally producing, the name Comedy In Kitsap started to feel more like a brand rather than an events calendar. I realized that having the CIK logo on all my flyers meant that you can expect a well-produced show with funny comedians. Which I felt was important because not all shows are produced the same and I take pride in the quality of my comedy events.
Is there a way to describe what the Kitsap comedy scene looked like back then compared to now through your eyes?
Yeah when I started comedy there was really only one prominent producer and they did mostly clean shows that were for a good cause and helped raise funds for local youth sports. Whereas the types of shows I was doing were more bar shows that had a mix of clean and dirty content with no limitations on what can be joked about. So there wasn’t much of a comedy scene until a few years ago when we started having a dozen or so local comics working together on a consistent basis to get better at comedy. Now Bremerton has a reputation in the PNW of being one of the best places to do comedy, which is really cool.
So rad! And comics have been coming in from all over the place. It’s been fun to watch Comedy In Kitsap build from almost the ground up. I remember standing outside the old casino that used to be in the building where the tracyton movie house is now, many years ago, with you and a few comedians who were riffing jokes on the female orgasm. The notes were hilarious. I think I still have them somewhere. Got any good jokes for us that would translate in print?
I’m glad you got to be there and see that during that time. That was the location of my first 3 bar shows and the support I got from friends was incredible and really gave me the boost I needed to start doing shows.
Hmmm… Joke that might translate… My girlfriend told me she wanted me to do something special for Valentine’s Day this year. So I said, “well, what do you want?” She replied, “Just go to Jared.” I had no idea Jared is a jewelry store because turns out Jared is also the name of my drug dealer!
So I did what she asked and got her some LSD for Valentine’s Day… and now I’m single.
Ha! Yes. Perfect. So after more than a decade of telling jokes and doing shows, this was your first live album that you recorded back at the end of December?
Yeah. I did a test run last year just to see how it sounded and I realized I needed to make some equipment upgrades. So once I upgraded my devices I decided to record the album. It’s basically a compilation of all my best jokes over the past 11 years. The album is titled “The Struggle Is Real” but I almost named it “Blood, Sweat, and Years” because of how long it took for me to finally feel ready and comfortable with my material to make a decent product. My release date is leap day 2/29.
That rules. Congratulations! Are you planning for any kind of physical release or just streaming?
Just streaming. Spotify and iTunes.
Bitchin. One last question. What kind of stuff is Joseph Rogers of Comedy In Kitsap up to this evening?
Just finished taking photos of The Dope Show at Tacoma Comedy Club and now headed to the Roxy Theatre to support their LIve Comedy Show tonight with Dan Rosenberg.
Hell yes. Have fun! // BILL MAN
CHECK OUT JOE’S Comedy Shows throughout Kitsap each month. And look for his new album “The Struggle Is Real” Feb. 29 on spotify and itunes. More on the socials @comedyinkitsap.
