Comedy on Life’s Center Lane

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Photo: Dustin Nickerson - dustinnickerson.com

Dustin Nickerson

Dustin Nickerson

Could comedian Dustin Nickerson be any more average? Perhaps not. 

“I’m 5’8. I wear medium shirts. Size 10.5 shoes. Too short to be tall, and too tall to be a ‘short king.’ I don’t lean a political direction. I like my burgers medium and my coffee medium roast. I drink in moderation. If there is an extreme in this world, I avoid it. My career is walking this delicate line of being very relatable and very forgetful,” Nickerson offers by way of describing how he rides life’s center lane.  

One way in which he rises above the median, however, is the number of laughs he can draw from an audience any given minute. Nickerson is set to do just that when he plays the main room of The Improv in Brookfield at 8 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 24. But he admits that he’s going to have to be selfish in order to get those guffaws ... like anyone else in his position. 

“Comics are selfish people. How could we not be? The job is to stand up and talk while everyone else sits down and listens. I’m no exception to this,” he says. Nickerson admits of the self-centeredness surrounding his profession. Being a husband and father, however, gives him an edge that keeps Nickerson from being full of himself. 

“Simply speaking, it just helps keep me grounded,” he explains. “It’s very easy for comics to live in our head constantly and think the world revolves around us. This is a lot harder to do when I’m getting up at 6:45 a.m. to get kids to school.” His Christian faith likewise keeps Nickerson from pridefulness. His spirituality doesn't precipitate conflict and contention among his colleagues and audiences. 

“Truthfully," Nickerson shares, “it’s been no issue at all, and there have been no challenges. In my experience, people care very little what you believe, and all they care about is if you’re funny, you work hard, and you’re kind. And on any given day, I am at least two of those things.”

Funny Face

He is the first to admit that his looks may play a part in being funny. 

“Ha! I think my face has this effect on some people and also, they exact opposite effect on others,” says a man unafraid of comparing his countenance to that of Simpsons neighbor Ned Flanders (he’s not wrong). “I had someone come up to me after a late show in Sacramento last weekend and say ‘We looked you up and saw your picture and thought there is no way this guy is funny, but you proved us wrong.’ My question was why they still came to the show?” Perhaps some of the allure was in Nickerson’s mustache. 

That facial hair has his spouse’s comedic approval, at least. “My wife won’t let me shave my mustache because she says it makes me funnier. So, with that in mind, I have stopped writing jokes and will continue just to grow more facial hair. When I am Cousin Itt from The Addams Family, I will be the most famous comic alive,” Nickerson joshes. 

Even that level of notoriety might not impress his kids, who have what their dad calls “presidential veto power” over any jokes about them their dad may want to share onstage. His children’s peers don't care so much about Nickerson's shtick as his online standing, anyway. 

“Not a single one of my kids’ friends cares about me being a comedian or my several television appearances. The only thing they care about is my social media presence. My son had a note passed to him in a school that said, ‘Is it true your dad is verified on Instagram?’ The clout that gets them makes up for (my) missing a few weekends.”

Perhaps they would care were Nickerson not so average? Of this piece about him, he offers, “Hopefully this piece will put me over the edge!”

Here Nickerson shows off his centrism a couple of years ago in Madison as he finds plenty to crack wise about presidents Biden and Trump as he also finds room to go on about how it’s bad form to be too interested in other girls performing at his daughter's dance recital ...