Photo Credit: Reggie Beehner
Johnny Beehner is one of Wisconsin’s rarest things: a full-time comedian. After cutting his teeth at gigs around the Marquette campus in the late ’90s, the Waukesha resident committed himself to stand-up comedy full time in 2007 when he was laid off from his day job, and has since toured the country regularly. Beehner, who made his network TV debut on the “Late Show with David Letterman” in January, spoke with the Shepherd about being a working comic in a region that isn’t exactly famous for its comedy scene.
What’s the biggest difference between doing comedy full time verses as a side job?
Well, when I was working I could only go out on the road when I had vacation time or time off. But doing it full time, now I pretty much have to go out and tour to make a living. That is the difference between people who have day jobs and do comedy verses doing it full time. Now that I have a family, a wife and two kids, I try to be home as much as I can. Like, I won’t do these long, multi-week tours anymore, where I’m on the road for two or three weeks straight. Now I’ll go out for a Thursday through Saturday then come back and stay home until Thursday when I head out again. I’m trying not to do those long runs because it’s hard when you have kids that age to be gone for so long.
Do you ever feel pressure to move to a bigger city?
Stay on top of the news of the day
Subscribe to our free, daily e-newsletter to get Milwaukee's latest local news, restaurants, music, arts and entertainment and events delivered right to your inbox every weekday, plus a bonus Week in Review email on Saturdays.
[Laughs] Yeah. My wife and I right now are in the beginning stages of making a possible move out to Los Angeles sometime this year, maybe in the middle of this year or a little later, because my brother lives out there. We’re thinking of doing it just to get a bigger piece of the pie. My goal is to have people come to the clubs I’m performing at to see me specifically, instead of just to go see comedy, and I think I need to get more out in the public’s eye as far as television, and it’s hard to do that living in the Midwest. So it’d be good just to go out for a year or two just to establish some relationships and then come back.
What does being on a show like “Letterman” do for a comedian’s career at this point?
In the eyes of certain bookers and, I don’t want to say the general public, but just people, it just kind of validates you as a comedian. When you’re sitting by somebody on an airplane and they ask what you do for a living and you say “comedian,” you just automatically get a skeptical look like, “really?” And then they’ll inevitably ask, “Have you been on anything?” So that’s my favorite thing about being on “Letterman.” I can say, “Yes, I have been on something. I’ve been on ‘Letterman.’” But it has opened doors for me. There were certain clubs and bookers who wouldn’t return calls from me, and now I’ve been on “Letterman,” and I’m getting responses. It gives you credibility. It’s not necessarily fair because there are thousands of comedians who are just great and who are better than comedians on TV, but when you are on TV it means somebody important said yes to you, and in the eyes of some people that makes you good.
If you move to Los Angeles and you’re offered a television pilot, do you take it?
Sure! Yeah! Those come with a lot of money, so of course. But, you know, even if you’re lucky to get a pilot, there’s a one in a thousand chance of it being picked up, so it’s just so hard. And that’s the other thing: There are so many comedians using comedy to springboard into their next big payday. I’m a big fan of guys like Jim Gaffigan and Brian Regan, so I’d love to just do standup like them and get a following, build a fanbase. To just become known on the merit of my standup, and be able to fill theaters with it, would be great.
