Today we’d like to introduce you to Christian Royce.
Alright, so 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?
Christian Royce is a young comic from Southeast Michigan who found his voice in the Ann Arbor/Detroit comedy scene before taking that energy to Chicago in 2019. Currently he’s a familiar face in the Windy City as a regular at Zanies, Laugh Factory, and The Lincoln Lodge Theater where he’s a long time show producer and contributor. Throughout his tenure in Chicago he has been seen opening for popular acts such as Al Jackson, Joe List & Dave Attell.
In a moment where everyone’s searching for identity and clarity, Royce brings the perspective of an “internal outsider” — someone who’d rather connect with your spirit than your label. Whether you’re a suburban escapee, a stoner riding the green wave, or a quietly chaotic person mid‑breakup, he’s got something for you. He’s equal parts chaos, charisma, and cornball.
Meet your new favorite comic: Christian Royce.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Comedy itself is one big struggle. Being funny is the easy part, the harder part of the journey is learning how to be relatable and getting out of your own way on & off stage.
A lot of comedy is learning to navigate the social side of things. Who to collaborate with, who not to piss off, and being able to identify who’s gonna help elevate you to where you need to be. That being said I’ve just identified some anti-social behavior that’s been holding me back that I’m working rectify as I get older.
But that’s a critical part of it too. Struggle makes you funny, and I’d be lying if I said that a lot of the angst and resentment I have for the more problematic areas of the industry hasn’t made me a lot tougher and translated into my more aggressive/animated approach to my stand up.
Oh yeah. Money. Money is the biggest issue. We comedians don’t have it and the world is demanding more of it. I live on subsidized rent with a full time job and I STILL struggle to make ends meet. You’d be surprised how often $50 for a late night Zanies set will legitimately save your life.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’m a stand up comedian. I’ve been doing it for about 10 years. I started a vegan pizza shop open mic believe it or not (very cringe). It was more so a poetry mic where they ALLOWED stand up, so I did some hack jokes about the Kardashians and got an applause break. Someone brought me a drink, I’d like to believe it was this cute girl in the audience but it was likely the shorter gentleman that gave me the thumbs up.
Since then I’ve been following the path of funny, which is really a path of self discovery. I’m growing more and more fearless on stage. I try to be a certain level of animated that we don’t find on stage anymore due to the lack of investment and stage time most stand ups get. I feel that it’s important to be an almost “super” version of you on stage. I’d like to think of it as “de-masking” which is ironic cause I often compare my style to the subtle personality shifts Peter Parker does when he goes web swinging.
I try to be political as well. I feel like it’s our responsibility as spoken word artists to actively make light of the people in power, especially with the current administration. Everyone has dating/sex material cause it’s easy and relatable but as I mature as a comic I’m learning to do the more important work. Work emphasized, cause it is not easy and I’m just now kinda figuring it out.
What am I most PROUD of? I’m finally starting to do shows of my own. I headlined Zanies for the first time last year, I did my first weekend at the Ann Arbor Comedy Showcase, and I’m headlining my own show at The PIT in New York City this coming October. All huge milestones.
However, my greatest creation is my collaborative album with my best friend and Singer/Rapper/DJ/Producer, Sonny Dulphi. We made a comedy/ghettotech album called Royce & Sonny’s South Galaxy Smuttery. Most of it is inspired by a break up I had with an astrophysicist 2 years ago and honestly it’s one of my favorite things. I brought Sonny with me to a comedy festival in Traverse City and we turned our hotel room into a studio. The main ingredients being edibles and heartbreak, I’d like to call it my version of Kanye’s 808’s era (with a lot more bass).
Best Songs:
Black Galactic Afrodesiac Conference in Space
That Bitch Don’t Luh U No More
Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
Risk is necessary for living a better life. As a creative navigating the corporate world to keep the lights on, you notice that a lot of people walk around neutered. They don’t live smart, they live safe. 2 very different things. That being said, there are varying degrees of risk that people are built for and others aren’t. For some, it’s moving to a different city, for others it’s quitting your job to make that mixtape. Wherever your level is, you gotta find it and mean it.
I’m very intimate with the concept of risk. I started college when I was 15, and I dropped out to rap with my friends. Rap slowly turned into comedy and I’ve followed that trail through job loss, heartbreak, a pandemic. To the point where if I had my 30 year old mindset when I was 20, striving to find my creative outlet whether I knew it or not (I’m never gonna thrive in a traditional working role) I definitely would’ve been smarter about how I planned to go about pursuing this dream. That being said, based on where I am now, it’s hard to have regrets. While I have had my hardships and I’ve been (technically) homeless at times, it’s hard not to be grateful. I’m a known comedian in the 3rd largest city in the states, I have large studio apartment downtown with in-unit laundry and I have a good job with benefits less than a 10 minute walk from where I live, all due to the decisions I made pursuing the dream. Even my 6ft gym rat girlfriend I met through my adventures and friends made doing stand up comedy.
I feel like people are afraid of risk because the reward is uncertain. A lot of times the reward doesn’t come immediately, it’s a ways down the road from the inception of the idea.
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