Nef Johnson didn't sign up for his first open mic. A friend signed him up behind his back, a comic onstage started roasting him, and he went up with exactly one joke to defend himself.
That was 2019, at a comedy tent near Cloud City. Then COVID hit, then his daughter died, and stand-up stopped being a hobby. "I'm a comedian out of trauma," he tells Ira Cross. "My life only exists on stage."
Six years later Nef runs shows at The Attic Comedy Club and has the least sentimental read on the Columbus comedy scene you'll hear all year — that half the comics in town are "doing karaoke," chasing applause breaks and flyer credits instead of the work. He breaks down the "antenna" every comic needs (learning to tell a house laugh from a pity laugh from a support laugh), why you haven't really started until year four or five, how he invokes hecklers on purpose instead of fearing them, and what Damon Wayans meant when he told Mark Gregory to "go deeper."
If you're wondering what to expect at your first open mic, or how long it actually takes to get good at stand-up comedy, this one answers it honestly: you won't know what you're doing for four or five years, and the only thing worth chasing in the meantime is greatness.
Recorded at Rehab Tavern in Columbus, Ohio.
Comics — what's the laugh you thought counted, that didn't? Tell us below.
🎙️ Follow Nef Johnson:
Instagram: @neffrizzle
Facebook: Nef Johnson
Watch his series Not Even Funny — link on his Instagram
🔗 First Mic is one of the shows under the Indie Comedy Collective banner:
YouTube: youtube.com/@IndieComedyCollective
Instagram: @indiecomedycollective
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