Joe Mande Takes the Piss Out of Comedy (and Podcasts)

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Joe Mande

Joe Mande

“I don't have a podcast.”

Comedian Joe Mande thus differentiates himself from many of his peers. The kind of pithy snark it takes to reply with that sort of rejoinder extends to the name of his current tour, coming to The Laughing Tap (706 B S. Fifth St.) for 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. shows on Saturday May 7.

But he's more talkative when it comes to speaking of his billing as “Joe Mande: Hero” Of that bit of self-mythologizing, he explains. “At first, I slapped the word ‘hero’ on the poster because I wanted to poke fun at this aggrandizing notion that stand-up comedy is the most sacred and valorous act of free speech. Like, don’t get me wrong, I love stand up and I love my freedom of speech—shout out to freedom of speech!—but, come on. If it were really that important, they wouldn’t serve chicken wings while you did it.” 

A bit more thought brought him to the conclusion that using the h-word is appropriate. As Mande puts it, “Later I realized that I do have a joke in my act that is all about heroism, so that worked out perfectly. I can’t really go into too much detail without giving the joke away. So, if you’re intrigued and want to hear more, you're going to have to come see me, Joe Mande, modern day philosopher, in person live at The Laughing Tap in Walker’s Point on May 7.”  

If the above tease affirms Mande willingness to promote himself, he is a different, more ruminative performer than he was upon the start of his comedy career. 

Cookie Cutting

For his current approach to humor, Mande had an epiphany when seeing fellow comic Gary Gullman. “Early on, I was doing a lot of short setup-punchline type jokes,” Mande recollects. “But seeing Gary do 15-20 minutes just about cookies, dissecting everything about cookies from every angle, was very eye-opening and liberating. It helped me see that you can latch on to the weird themes that interest you and keep exploring those ideas. So, if you don't like when I do a seven-minute joke about ISIS recruitment videos or whatever, it’s really all Gary Gulman’s fault, and you should send any and all hate mail to him.”

Mande can’t, however, pass the buck when it comes to parlaying his success in comedy into a growing litany of acting, screenwriting and screenwriting credits. He says of the organic progression of his career, “I started doing stand-up in college and then moved to New York to do more stand up. Eventually, I did enough stand up that I started to get small writing jobs, and those small writing jobs turned into bigger writing jobs, which sometimes turned into small acting jobs. I still don’t really know what a producer does, but I’m proud and honored to be considered one.”

Might Mande’s resonance with his favorite acting role so far, on HBO Max’s “Hacks,” befit a comedian-philosopher-hero? 

“Working on ‘Hacks’ has been incredible because one main character is a legendary stand-up comic and the other is an obnoxious TV writer, so I’m able to write with authority about both those things.”  Though Mande doubtless appreciates his hardcore aficionados, or Mande Fandes, watching him on small screens, he wants local supporters and others to come out to give him a reception he believes he deserves. 

Pin that entitlement (?) on Mande’s love of basketball. “I’d like your readers to know that I went to game six of the NBA Finals last year in Milwaukee and personally watched the Bucks win the title. Now, I’m not taking full credit for their victory, I’m just saying the city owes me big time, and everyone needs to come to my show at The Laughing Tap in Walker’s Point on May 7.”

Here Mande references the sweet treats Gulman examined in a mediation on the origin of cookies, commonly accompanying the beverage milk: