Funny story: Ashland man doing standup
May 27—ASHLAND — Despite being a shy kid afraid of public speaking, Jeromy Moore has been working on a standup comedy career.
"Getting on stage is different. Bob Newhart said, 'You fall in love with the sound of laughter.' I did," Moore said. "I was never bullied a lot because I made people laugh. The first time I took the microphone, and made a room full of strangers laugh, I felt at home. You don't always know what jokes will land, sometimes they do, and when they don't you have to read the room quickly."
The Ashland native, 44, started performing standup around 2006 after a coworker dared him to do an open mic night.
"I won second place the first time. I just went up and talked," he said.
His interest in comedy goes back to his childhood.
"I grew up watching Gallagher (who I got to open for, and did wield the Sledge O Matic in a parking lot), Phyllis Diller, and then, after my parents went to bed, I watched Joan Rivers, George Carlin and Sam Kinneson," he said.
Locally, he has seen live comedy, beginning with Ashland.
"When the Comedy Zone was in the Plaza, I went with a group of friends one night to a show," Moore recalled. "The comedian that night was Janet Williams, the Tennessee Tramp. I went up to her after the show and told her I wanted to be her when I grew up. She was the first comedian I ever got to open for in a club, and she is now a good friend."
His material comes from real life.
"I open every performance with, 'You didn't know they grew us this big, did you'" because my voice is my telltale. I am obviously gay," he said. "I have to address the elephant in the room. And do. The manager at the Funnybone in Huntington told me after I won an open mic, that no one in the room could probably identify with some of what I was talking about, but I kept their attention and made them laugh. I became one of the house comedians, and got to open for, and meet, so many amazing performers."
Like many comedians, Moore uses humor to cope with difficulties.
"I always used humor as a shield," he said. "In my clinical diagnosis for ADHD, the psychologist documented that I used sarcasm and wit for everything. I had her print me a copy."
He said he saves memes from social media that make him laugh, and some of them aren't the nicest or cleanest.
"I laugh at horrible things, and sometimes make jokes in private to people close to me who say, 'There is something wrong with you,'" he said. "I make jokes about my life and just point out the absurdity that I see. People relate."
He said he finds humor in everything, even the dark times.
"Last summer, my niece asked me to speak at her mother's funeral. I made an entire congregation laugh, most importantly her, my nephew, and bonus nephew," he said. "I am not a serious speaker and went right off the rails, but they laughed on one of their darkest days. If I can make one person laugh in a dark moment, I am doing my calling."
He admits he has bombed on stage, like everyone who has ever taken the stage.
"Sometimes it is just an off energy night, sometimes the audience hates you. In the words of Freddie Mercury, 'The Show Must Go On,' and you do your job."
He said he believes most people who heckle aren't aiming to be mean; they just want to be part of the show.
"I have thankfully only had one man attempt to heckle, and I knew I had security on my side, and I verbally ripped his soul out. I can be kind of mean when I need to be," he said.
While Moore continues to work full time in wholesale ("Ironically, as a bald man, I sell the products your stylists buy. You are welcome, Tri-State"), he's been performing throughout Ohio and West Virginia and hopes to keep up a performance schedule.
"It is the end goal. I plan to die on a stage on a cruise ship in the Bahamas telling a joke," he said.
