There’s always a little bit of truth in a joke.
“John Jacobs is the used car salesman of comedy, [the guy] who thinks his high energy will mask his desperation." quipped fellow comedian Jared Waters at a roast battle a little while back.
The venom in this case is meant in the nicest way possible.
Jacobs recently quit a custodial job to start open mics in the Tampa Bay area. This is a far cry from a few years ago, when he was featured on MTV’s The Challenge and Are You The One? “It was a really interesting shift of going from people wanting to take pictures with me to people not looking me in the eyes,” he jokes. He's shooting for at least one open mic a day somewhere in Tampa Bay — and is well on his way, with new mics at The James Joyce on Monday evenings, Pokeys on Tuesdays and Yard of Ale in St. Pete on Thursdays, with more in the works.
Sure, this is a hustle to work while not working, setting up mics and collecting a small paycheck at the end of the night. But it’s a lot of not-working work, and his drive to help bolster the scene is tireless. He’s a leader who puts in the time that others won’t for the greater good of his fellow comedy goons and the local comedy scene in general.
I sat down with John recently to talk about what fuels his passion for comedy.
Who are your comedic influences? Who are your favorite comedians?
Dana Carvey had an HBO special when I was a child and he had a bit with a piano and a guitar and it was so funny to me I figured out how to use the internet and download the audio just so I could hear the bit again. And the fact that Carvey was wearing sweatpants in the special showed me how laid-back comedy was. Also Pablo Francisco and George Carlin were huge inspirations — those were my two favorite comedians through childhood, then Greg Giraldo up until he died. Current favorites would be [Anthony] Jeselnik and Myq Kaplan.
Did anyone in your family specifically influence you?
My grandfather is a painter and has always been the only one in my family around me with a real talent so yeah, I guess that influenced me. Then I lost my mom when I was 16, and I immediately thought, "I've got to be a stand-up comedian" so I count that as an influence.
How do you come up with material? What topics do you explore?
I have no good process, anywhere at any time I might think of my best joke ever, then there will be days at a time I try to dedicate to writing and being creative but nothing comes, so for me it’s kind of like I can't really "try" or else the feeling won't come, so it’s pretty much the worst. I explore any topic that I think of something on. It's getting to feel like a point where I have some joke about everything people want to talk about so it's getting easier, I'm more comfortable on stage knowing that whatever some heckler might yell I'll be able to dive into the topic. For some reason over the last few weeks there's been an abundance of people who feel the need to drunkenly shout at me or threaten me while I'm on stage.
How do you prepare for a performance?
A few hours before I’ll write out the topics I'm thinking about doing that night, then when there's a minute before I'm jumping on stage I'll look at the topics again and figure out which ones I think are worth doing, then go perform them in no particular order or sometimes not at all if I end up doing only crowd work. I've noticed the less you focus on what jokes and what order you want to do them the more fun and natural the show feels. It's gotten to a point where I really hate comics who strictly go up, do jokes, and get off. Address the room! Where are we! What's happening! I like excitement.
What do your family/friends think of what you are doing with comedy?
They don't seem to think too much about it, I think. I've been doing it almost eight years now, the novelty of me being a comedian has worn off. Now it's just that I work weird hours and you'll never have any idea when you'll see me again. I'm like Batman!
What is the best advice you have for someone interested in starting out as a comedian?
Just keep doing it. There's so much you need to experience as a comedian and it's things that people can't tell you. It's like Inception; you can only be a good comic when you figure it out on your own. Nobody can help you. It's just you up there. If you're not good, you won't go anywhere, so just try to be good.
What are your goals for the future with your comedy career?
"Get back on TV but for stand-up this time, hopefully. Release my first stand-up DVD. Release my comedy music album I've been working on with Stick Martin. Run at least 4 rooms a week, and uh… just keep having fun, I guess.
Check out John Jacobs online at his website, johnjacobscomedy.com, and follow him on Twitter at @maybachdiamonds.
This article appears in Jul 14-21, 2016.