Unlike many people, senior Communication Studies student Austin Madison discovered his love for comedy early on when he was just in high school.
Madison aspires to become a standup comic and realized that dream his junior year in high school after doing standup at a National Thespians Society induction ceremony.
“I found out we had to do a performance the night of the induction, so I went on stage and ripped off everyone else’s famous standup jokes. I think I did only one of my own jokes because I was too scared to actually do my own material,” said Madison.
Right now, Madison is performing at any local open mic shows and competitions he can be a part of, mostly in the Richmond area. Most recently, he placed third out of 15 contestants at a standup comedy competition at The Funny Bone, a premier comedy club located in Richmond, Va. During the show, Madison got five minutes to perform and joked about his current job as a waiter, selling lemonade as an 18 year-old adult, and how awkward it used to be when he was a youth wrestling referee.
This past summer, he began doing stand up consistently when he moved to New York City for an internship with the Manhattan Comedy School, where he got to witness the behind the scenes operations of various comedy clubs. There, he found himself getting on stage and performing original material four or five times a week in comedy clubs throughout the city.
Madison can also assure you that all of his material is written by himself and is totally original. He stated that he does extensive cross checking after writing his material to make sure his jokes are as unique as possible and have never been done before in front of large crowds. Most of his material comes from his everyday observations such as a funny sign he will see on campus, his family, or personal experiences.
Madison said, “The most important thing is to have a specific point of view. People laugh at people who can zoom in on a few things that are about everyday topics, and make fun on them from a relatable, smart point of view.”
He also admitted that when he first started doing standup, it was not as easy for him to get on stage as it is now. He attributes his developed sense of confidence that people now see when he performs on the comedy stage, after being able to try different sets and jokes almost everyday in New York, saying that as he has progressed in his stand up career greatly since starting, but sometimes jokes still badly bomb.
He said, “When people don’t laugh, you just keep going with your material. I have bombed on more than one occasion, so when somebody doesn’t laugh you have to just keep rolling through it. Having a bad set is needed because it is a huge learning experience. Even if I have a good set, I think about what I can change to get better.”
He went on to admit that working and making a living as a stand up comedian is a difficult career path to find success in, but he hopes to make it to the level of a professional stand up comic, and eventually start to get paid for nightly gigs. Some of his favorite comedians are Bill Burr and “The Daily Show” host Trevor Noah.
“There is nothing better than telling jokes in front of people. I want to perform at Madison Square Garden - that’s the Mecca. To make it, you have to work crazy, crazy hard and you also have to have a fair amount of luck,” said Madison.
His ultimate goal with comedy however, is to simply make people laugh and to have fun in the process. After graduation, he plans to move back to New York City and begin doing shows regularly at local city bars in hopes of being discovered, while also working any other job that will allow him to perform every night.
He said, “Doing stand up is the only thing I have thought about doing. I have looked at so many other jobs that I don’t want to do because they are all data input, or the nights aren’t free and you need to have the nights free to do stand up. I am just going to do something to keep the lights on until I can do stand up consistently.”
