“Do you want to hear the first joke I ever told in my entire life?” US Comedian Josh Wolf asks.
At an open mic night in a tiny coffee house in Northampton, Massachusetts, in front of his parents, a 15-year-old Josh started his career in stand-up comedy, thusly:“I said 'hi everyone my name is Josh, I'm 15 years old and my mum is here tonight, and I'm really excited because this will be the first f...ing time I'll be able to f...ing swear in front of my cock-sucking mum', and the place went crazy. I was hooked, right when that happened I was absolutely hooked.”
It's probably easy to see now why Josh's dad used to call him a 'wiseass'.
Josh is on his way to Australia in May with his offbeat, self-deprecating brand of storytelling humour that's found him popularity on shows such as 'Last Comic Standing', 'My Name Is Earl', 'Shark Week', 'Chelsea Lately' and his own 'The Josh Wolf Show'.
“I tell long-form, very relatable, silly, ridiculous stories about things that have happened in my life,” he explains.
“A lot of them have to do with my son – people love the stories about my son – I love pulling practical jokes on people, and I love telling embarrassing stories. My stand-up isn't making fun of other people but I love making fun of myself. I love it, so there's a bunch of that. The stories that I tell are generally about stupid s..t that I've done. Then I'll have my guitar, so I do about an hour of stand-up then I do about 15 minutes of silly songs.”
Josh is assured that if there's any people that love telling stories about 'stupid sh.t' they've done, it's Australians.
“That's good to know,” he laughs.
“I have to tell you: I have a video on Facebook that has something like 66 million views, and outside of Los Angeles the three biggest cities, I'm not kidding, the most people who have watched it are in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. After Los Angeles, those cities have watched that story the most.”
Having started his career at 15, Josh has built a treasury of laughable tales and hapless misunderstandings, mostly of his own doing. Like the time he interviewed Bill Gates for an internal Microsoft video.
“Accidentally during that video I shot something out of my nose on to Bill Gates' wrist,” Josh laughs.
“It was frightening, because out of all the people in the world who could probably erase every history of you being alive, he could take it. I was like 'he's going to go into another room, press a button and erase my existence!', but he was a good dude.”
Ahead of his trip, Josh is getting his priorities straight. Having passed the 4/20 mark for the year, Josh first shares how he celebrated the day – “I celebrated the day with a joint for every minute of the day,” he laughs. “I think I was high from the moment I opened my eyes to the moment I closed them,” – before asking:
“What are the laws down there? Just before I get myself arrested?”
Josh Wolf 2019 Tour Dates
Sun 19 May - Sit Down Comedy Club (Brisbane)20-21 May - Comedy Store (Sydney)
Wed 22 May - Comic's Lounge (Melbourne)
