On the “City Lights” series “Speaking of Comedy,” Atlanta’s funniest locals share insights on the perks and perils of their profession. This edition spotlights Atlanta comedian Joe Kelley. A very early entrant to the field of stand-up, Kelley got the bug around age 13. “My parents, actually, had just gotten a divorce. I was at my dad’s new house. No friends, nothing to do, couldn’t drive, and Comedy Central used to play Friday night stand-up… like a three-hour block of stand-up comedy,” recounted Kelley. “Laughing just kind of served as a distraction from everything that was going on in my life, and I always thought it was something I could do, and I always wanted to do it.”
Years later, Kelley’s next milestones reflected a must for every comedian – a willingness to take risks. He’d dropped everything and moved to Maui, Hawaii, with his then-girlfriend. “I was sitting under a mango tree one day, and I decided I wanted to start doing stand-up,” he said. Kelley called a friend in Nashville and took a job offer at a radio station there. “I moved to Nashville in November of 2012, and started doing comedy in December, and haven’t really stopped since then.”
Kelley spoke about the toughest hardships of entering stand-up comedy. “You just gotta accept being broke,” he said. Furthermore, a grueling gauntlet awaits beginners, who might “sit in a smoky bar for two or three hours on a Tuesday just to get on stage for four minutes.” Nevertheless, Kelley persisted, and he shows up today in the local scene with charmingly confessional material that often pokes fun at his own relationship struggles. In a featured clip, Kelley reveals himself as a true romantic, playing up a dopey self-caricature with a thick Southern accent. “I write love letters… put the pen to paper. Cursive, I use that too. Real old school, romantic guy – like if I can’t be with you, I’ll kill myself.”
