Life & Work with Brian Atkinson

Today, we’d like to introduce you to Brian Atkinson.

Thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I’ve always wanted to be a performer. When I was a kid, I was in school and church plays. I even took ventriloquist lessons and won a couple of talent contests. Since my voice doesn’t work at little kid’s birthday parties, I haven’t kept at it. The theater and speech team in high school also got me into radio. I was fortunate enough to work as an on-air personality for several years. I even hosted a few local comedy shows.

But after working my way down to minimum wage, I kept the headphones and microphone at home for occasional voice-over jobs. College and community theater, with voice and video, kept me performing, but I never fully scratched the itch to perform on my own. Then, on my 50th birthday, my wife gifted me Steve Martin’s Comedy Master Class. I’d always been enamored with Steve, and his class made a life-long dream of a standup comedy career seem accessible.

I’m only about six years in since then. While I wish I’d started sooner, I’m happy with the success I’ve been lucky to enjoy. I’ve hosted, featured, and headlined at clubs, corporate events, churches, and fundraisers nationwide. I’ve been fortunate to open for notable “Bobs” like Bob Nelson, Bob Smiley, and Robert (Bob) G. Lee, and performed at Dr. Grins at the B.O.B. I’m grateful to those who have given me a chance to perform with them, including Jeff Jena, Kira Soltanovich, Michael Palascak, Adam Minnick, Happy Cole, Leslie Norris Townsend, Tommy Ryman, Chris Young, Andy Beningo, and Dave Williamson.

I’ve been able to perform at clubs like Bonkerz, Comedy Cabaret, Crackers, Dr. Grins, Funny Stop, Gutty’s, Krackpots, L.A. Comedy Club Las Vegas, Laugh Factory Chicago, Mark Ridley’s Comedy Castle, One Night Stan’s, Punchlines, and Rick Bronson’s House of Comedy. My hometown, Grand Rapids, MI, has a terrific comedy festival, Gilda’s Laugh Fest. I’ve also been part of the Maumee, Mary, and Joseph Comedy Festival and the World Series of Comedy.

Likewise, I’ve become an award-winning comedian: Best of The Bash 2022 and 2023, World Series of Comedy 2023 Wildcard 1st Place Winner and 2024 Top 40 Comic, Funniest Person in Grand Rapids contest Audience Favorite, and Finalist in the Kingpin of Comedy.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Today, I’m booking as many shows as I can, primarily in the Midwest, with a few trips south and east. The struggle is the gradual progress from one to the next.

One of the most amazing things I’ve learned is how the simple number of social media followers (I’m @BrianAcomedian everywhere) determines your foot in the door. Many bookers and venues check those numbers before watching your video. While I’d love my next steps in success to be based on talent, I need all the social followers I can to go beyond where I am now.

Follow me!

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe you can tell us more about your work next?
Comedy is the expression of pain over time. I’m likely known best for the story of how I have been adopted twice. The second time was when my biological mother adopted me back. It’s often where I start my shows.

As a comedian, one of the things I need to do is address the elephant in the room. I have a couple of pachyderms on stage. First is my voice. This is just how my voice comes out. I sound like a radio announcer. I can back it off a bit or crank it up. Whenever I’m in a restaurant or standing in line somewhere, someone will say, “You sound like you should be on the radio.” So, I have some really fun stories from those days and what it’s like having this voice.

The other is that I look like the guy next door, but my comedy twists go against that type. For example, I once did voices for a children’s TV show, and in the same studio, on the same day, I shot a movie in which I played a serial killer. That’s been a metaphor for many of my jokes, revealing the dark side of my mind. I like to say I make jokes, but only the finest, artisan, hand-crafted, farm-to-table-saw jokes.

I’m also probably known for working clean. But that is just being authentically me. If I was cursing or talking about certain topics on stage, it wouldn’t be genuine, and audiences are smart enough to see right through that. I aim to be so funny that no one notices I’m working clean.

We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you.
That’s the thing, isn’t it? I’ve been lucky enough to perform where I’ve performed. I’ve been lucky for several comics and bookers to like me well enough to want to work with me.

The bad luck is always an interruption. I was once scheduled to open for a comic that I admired. I would have picked her up at the airport, driven her to the show, and had some great opportunities before she saw me perform. And then I got Covid and had to cancel. Several years ago, I had a full week of shows, voice work, and even some on-camera work scheduled, and then I had an emergency appendectomy. I had to cancel everything with just a little notice.

People understand when you have to cancel, but you start all over trying to get booked again.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.brianacomedian.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brianacomedian/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BrianAcomedian
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@BrianAcomedian
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@brianacomedian

Image Credits
Eldon Palmer