Joe Bartnick

Joe Bartnick is a 17 year veteran out of Los Angeles who frequently travels to perform with Paul Virzi, Jason Lawhead, Kevin Shea, and Bill Burr. He is one of the original members of the Bill Burr Presents: The All In Comedy Tour. Joe hosts the Puck Off hockey podcast with Frazer Smith, and is also the host of the Insensitivity Training comedy show with Cort McCown at the Ice House in Pasadena, California. Joe was great to talk to and left behind some really valuable advice on moving up in the comedy world, making the right friends, performing in theaters VS clubs, and what it was like to go on the road with Mitch Hedberg. Enjoy! BACKSTORY Where did you get your start in comedy? I started in San Francisco, which was a very warm comedy community. But of course, everybody’s always nice to you when you start. It’s when you start getting GOOD, they start getting jealous. [laughs] But no, there’s very few places that are great to START comedy, and San Francisco is one of them. What was it like when you started? I started off in coffee shops and laundromats—in fact, I came in third in a laundromat comedy competition! [laughs] And Al Madrigal won the competition! But hey, that’s how we started. You just have to play EVERYWHERE. When you’re starting out, the only way to get better is if you do something like 7-10 sets a week. Networking is a big part of this business. […]