How old were you when you first realized you were funny?
I was young – second grade. I got up in the middle of class and proposed to my female teacher. That was the first time I really did anything funny. I guess I liked that it forced everyone to look at me and laugh, like the attention-grabbing egomaniac that I am.
You were a staple member at Nitwits in Sioux Falls. What was it like to work in that environment?
It was great to have a club in my city that gave us all the stage time we wanted. There were only three of us in town that did comedy, really, so we could just pick and choose what nights we wanted to go up. It really helped me develop as a comic. That's what I get the most after shows now, aside from girls spitting in their boyfriend faces and leaving with me instead, is people telling me how natural and comfortable I look on stage. That came from having a club that I could perform three or four times a week at for four years straight. I have no idea why they let me keep going up, though. I was so dog-shit terrible the first time I got up. I got better eventually, but it took quite some time.
Do you do stand-up as a full time job now?
Nope. I work customer service and I hate it. This show in Sioux Falls is actually going to be a week after I'm done at that job. I'm very nervous to jump into comedy but it has to drop at some point if I expect to make a career out of it. And I'm damn hilarious, so that should help, too.
Why did you decide to move to Portland?
Two friends were moving somewhere. I told them I'd meet up with them wherever they ended up, and that was Portland. I was in a weird place in Sioux Falls; I drank way too much, just hung out all night and got fat. I wasn't writing new material, I was just kind of falling into a rut. I love it in Sioux Falls, but it's not really the best place for me to pursue stand-up.
How did you get started in the Portland comedy scene?
It was actually opening for Doug [Benson[. We hadn't talked for a long time and he just texted me one night that he was in Sioux Falls doing a show at Augustana [College]. He rolled down to Tommy Jacks when I was bartending one night and I mentioned I was moving to Portland. He told me to let him know when I got there and he would try and help me out, and he has so much. He let me open for him at a theater here in [Portland], so I met some comics that came to the show. Right after that was the Portland Comedy Contes, and I ended up getting fifth. It was nice, though, because making it through all the rounds just meant I got to kick it with the local comics and made what are now some of my best friends in town.
What are your future plans?
Quit work pretty quick, and hopefully tell jokes and skateboard. For now it'd be nice to make enough money to get by; just be able to skate during the day and do shows at night would be amazing. I’ll move to Los Angeles eventually, I guess. It kind of seems like that needs to happen at some point, maybe a year-and-a-half from now. Baby steps.
Are you excited to do a full show in your hometown of Sioux Falls?
Yes! Extremely excited. That's one thing about moving away is it makes you realize how much you love the city you're from. I’m about to come back and melt some faces off. And the show will be great, I've worked with both Graham and Doug a lot, and it's a great show every time. Doug is one of the comics that I can watch every single set he does over a week and really enjoy it; he's just got it like that.
Aziz Ansari has a joke about how he met Kanye in a bar and then went back to his mansion for an after-party and Kanye made him do stand-up in front of a dozen people, which was really awkward. Has anything like that ever happened to you?
Nope, never had anything that buck happen to me. I beat Tony Hawk at Tony Hawk once, that's about it. And I beer bonged a silver surfer once. I'm waiting for cool things like that to happen, but for now I'll just settle for maybe getting to be a comedian so I can be broke forever and ever.
See Jordan open up for Doug Benson at the Orpheum Theatre on Sept. 9 at 8 p.m. Tickets are available at all Last Stop CD Shops, the 41st Street Ernie November, the Arena box office, any Ticketmaster location or at collectiveeffortsunion.com.
