Josh Blue brings his comic perspective to Wiseguys
Josh Blue appeared on Comedy Central, and comes to Ogden July 10 to perform at Wiseguys.
Josh Blue plays Wiseguys in Ogden on July 10.
Josh Blue plays Wiseguys in Ogden on July 10.
Josh Blue plays Wiseguys in Ogden on July 10.
Josh Blue plays Wiseguys in Ogden on July 10.
Josh Blue likes to joke that he puts the “cerebral” in cerebral palsy.
Blue — known for his smart, quirky humor, his self-deprecating jokes, his win on NBC’s “Last Comic Standing” and for the medical condition that doesn’t slow him down — performs at Ogden’s Wiseguys comedy club for two shows on July 10. His cerebral palsy, which causes impaired muscle coordination, is a part of his act.
“There wasn’t really much of a choice,” said Blue, 36, of Denver. “What I found, when I was starting out, was that the disability stuff really hit home with people. In my humble opinion, everyone has their own disability, whether or not they are able to admit that. I am just more honest about mine. And I am so comfortable with who I am, you don’t have a right not to be. If you don’t like it, you don’t have to watch it.”
Blue does about 200 shows a year, and his point of view seems to resonate with diverse audiences.
“I am very sarcastic, very dry, and I love self-deprecating humor because you can throw yourself under the bus for somebody else’s amusement,” he said. “It also opens the door for me to talk about other issues. I can say other things because I am so hard on myself that if I am hard on you it doesn’t seem as brutal.”
Blue, a married father of two, has traveled the world, is a well-read college graduate, and speaks three languages.
“A lot of people just assume if they see a physical disability there’s also a mental one,” he said. “I will go down that road with you and play that game if that’s who you want to think I am. People open doors and leave them wide open for me to take advantage of them. It’s your first time dealing with me, but it’s not my first time having this conversation, so I can be in full control of where it’s going to go. I can have a lot of fun, taking people on that ride.”
People seem willing to believe anyone with one disability must have all of them, a fact the comic plays off in his act. Blue likes to explain away his frequent cursing as Tourette’s Syndrome. (Wiseguy’s gives Blue’s show a PG-18 rating.)
And when an audience doesn’t laugh, he can joke that they were distracted by the involuntary twitching of his right hand, which he says was telling its own unfunny joke in sign language.
“I’ve become sort of a poster child for disability, and that wasn’t my intention,” Blue said. “I like telling jokes and I like making people laugh. If you can take something more from it, something positive, that’s just amazing to me.”
Blue can write and tell about pretty much any topic. He keeps his act clean, except for the aforementioned curse words. He’s a regular guy, he said. Still, people make him a symbol.
“Society clumps us together,” he said. “The disabled community is the largest minority community on the planet. It’s also the only minority group you can join at any time. So many people never think of it that way, but it could be just a bad bike ride away.”
One of Blue’s proudest career moments, he said, was returning to his alma mater, Evergreen State University, as a graduation keynote speaker.
“I was up there in front of 20,000 people and I killed it,” he said, relishing the memory. “It was great.”
He spoke about perspective, and people’s tendency to make wrong assumptions.
“You may think you know something just by looking, but things may not always be what you see,” he said. “If you ever kick a soccer ball over a fence, and you look through the boards of that fence and think, ‘I can get that.’ But you may not see the large rotweiller behind the fence. Maybe you don’t understand the whole situation completely.”
Contact reporter Nancy Van Valkenburg at 801-625-4275 or nvan@standard.net. Follow her on Twitter at @SE_NancyVanV; on Facebook at facebook.com/SE_NancyVanV.
PREVIEW
- WHAT: Josh Blue
- WHEN: 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. July 10
- WHERE: Wiseguys Comedy, 269 Historic 25th St., Ogden
- TICKETS: $20, www.wiseguys.com or 801-662-5588