Award-winning comedian performs at Richmond comedy club

Peggy Stansbery, Contributing Writer

People gathered at Richmond Funny Bone Comedy Club and Restaurant to enjoy food, drink and a show from Emmy-nominated writer and award winning stand-up comedian Josh Johnson this past weekend. 

New York Comedy Festival named Johnson New York’s Funniest Comic at Caroline in 2018, according to Richmond Funny Bone’s website. He is also known as Comedy Central’s “most watched comedian ever” with over 40 million views across its platforms.

Johnson’s comedy career began in Chicago where he pursued stand-up, he said.

“I was going to open mics and trying to do as many shows as possible. That really led to me taking it really seriously and making a job out of it,” Johnson said. 

Johnson said he met people who helped lead him towards working in late night TV while doing stand-up shows. He currently writes on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, performs with Noah on his “Back to Abnormal” tour and previously wrote and performed on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, according to Richmond Funny Bone’s website. He has appeared on CONAN and Netflix as well. 

“I think I always thought I would work in TV, but I wasn’t sure that it would be late night. I think it sort of took me there in a way by really pursuing comedy,” Johnson said. 

Johnson said he finds stand-up comedy so special because he has such an open and direct line of communication with the audience. 

“You get to say things the way you want to say them and you get to talk about whatever you want to talk about,” Johnson said. “There’s nothing that’s prescribed for you really and that’s why I enjoy it the most and why it feels most different to other things.” 

Johnson said his stand-up sets are mainly observational. He tells stories from his own life and pokes fun at things people sometimes take too seriously, such as socioeconomic status and COVID-19 vaccines. Johnson hopes his stand-up makes people laugh and helps them see how connected humans are, according to Johnson. 

“The overall theme is trying to find a universal thread that we all connect to,” Johnson said. “Something that lets people know that even outside a given experience or all the ways we categorize ourselves and each other that we are mostly the same. This is the main drive behind what I talk about and why I have the approach I have.”

Johnson said he hopes people found a “universal experience” while having fun at his sets at Richmond Funny Bone this past weekend.

Comedy show attendee Matt Bean wasn’t familiar with Johnson’s work before coming to his show at The Funny Bone but enjoyed Johsnon’s calm demeanor and how interactive he was, he said.

“I liked how he asked people in the crowd what they did and was making jokes off of that,” Bean said. 

Attendee Lalla Blue also enjoyed Johnson’s interactive nature, according to Blue. Blue said she enjoyed how Johnson’s humor wasn’t too vulgar as well. 

“I appreciated that he kept it entertaining, like he engaged the audience,” Blue said. “It was a good show and he was a great performer, very funny. It was great comedy and a great atmosphere.”

Kenny Wingle, local Richmond comedian and VCU alum, hosted Josh Johnson’s show at Richmond Funny Bone, he said. 

“My job as a host is to get through the crowd at the beginning and get them ready for comedy,” Wingle said. 

Wingle said he was a fan of Johnson’s work before hosting for him and found Johnson to be hilarious and enjoyed his delivery and stage presence. 

Johnson said people can check out his work on Spotify, Pandora and Youtube.  

Johnson has two albums, “Channel Black” and “Some of the Best of The Josh Johnson Show, Vol. 1.” He is the co-host of two podcasts, “The Josh Johnson Show” and “Hold Up,” according to Richmond Funny Bone’s website. 

“I think the thing that really led me to comedy was that it was the most fun I was having doing anything was that. So I just wanted to really pursue that more and get better at the thing that made me happy,” Johnson said.