Rising Stars: Meet Joshua Ryan

Today we’d like to introduce you to Joshua Ryan. Them and their team share their story with us below:

After amassing a small fortune in student loan debt for a degree that has little to no value in the comedy world, Joshua embarked on his journey to be an amateur comedy open micer in 2011. Since then, he has received some spots at Gotham Comedy Club, Broadway Comedy Club, Comedy Works Saratoga, Banana’s, Harrisburg Comedy Zone, Levity Lounge, and some other prestigious venues. He is a New Jersey-based comic who has been described as “charismatic and delightfully miserable with his status in life.” 

Joshua hates writing in the third person. When not peddling my jokes in cities and small towns, I enjoy spending time on the couch with a 14-year-old, 8-lb. dog named Bella, that he shares joint custody with his ex-wife. 

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
I don’t think you can do something like stand-up comedy and not experience a significant more amount of failure than success. I’ve been fortunate enough to have made some really great friends and have opened for comics that are more experienced, farther along, and more talented. And with their extra talent and experience, they still fail. There’s nowhere to hide in stand-up. It’s just me, my dumb thoughts, and a microphone. I’m the writer, editor, director, and performer. And there is this handshake agreement with the strangers that are watching you that there is an expectation that they are going to laugh several times a minute for the duration of my set. I don’t always hit the mark. But it’s honest, and I appreciate that. I’ve watched some really famous comics try new material. And the thunderous applause carry a super famous comic for about 20 seconds. Then the material dictates if the laughter will continue. For Jerry Seinfeld and me, all the same. I wrote a joke about Alzheimer’s and how it has deteriorated my grandmother. I’ve had a person come up to me in tears saying their father was just diagnosed, how difficult it’s been, and me being able to find the funny in an objectively nasty disease made them feel so much better. I’ve done that same joke, and a woman said I’m the biggest piece of shit she’d ever met. The other 98 people in the crowd seemed to enjoy it, but that one lady made it not a smooth ride, at least for that set. 

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I used to be an actor. And because I apparently like rejection, transitioned to a stand-up comic. 

I write about things in my life and experiences and how well or not so well I process them. 

Something that I’m proud of is after the world started to open up after the pandemic, I was in quite a rut. I thought maybe I should quit stand-up and couldn’t get up and running. I had a last-minute opportunity to open for one of my all-time favorite comics. He was as kind in the green room as he is funny on stage. He let me pick his brain and was generous with his time and advice. That was about a year ago, and I’m really happy somebody bailed last minute and gave me the chance to work with him. 

Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
I’ve been fortunate enough to have some really talented comics take a liking to me and kind of put me under their wing. They love the art of stand-up and appreciate people working hard towards getting better. It also helps if you’re funny. 

Contact Info:

• Website: joshuaryancomedy.com
• Instagram: joshuaryancomedy