'My job is to be funny': Tim Hawkins to bring comedy to Paramount

Aug. 1—ASHLAND — It was a process of elimination for Tim Hawkins, who will perform Aug. 20 at the Paramount Arts Center. He had to be a comedian.

"I had no other choices, no other skills. I tried everything and I've been fired from every other job," Hawkins said. "I don't know why, but this was the one thing that seemed to fit. I'm lucky there was a profession I could be an idiot and get paid for."

In fact, the St. Louis native said he wasn't the class clown in school, but the class idiot.

"I'd make the class clown do stuff, like run down the hall naked," Hawkins, 55, said, noting he also did voices and loved imitating teachers.

But it wasn't until he worked as a waiter at an Olive Garden that he decided to try his hand a comedy professionally after fellow wait staff encouraged him to try an open mic night.

"I took about 20 of them with me that night," he said.

Hawkins' comedy is clean, and he said he is a Christian, but he's not what you'd call a Christian comic.

"I just talk about what I want to talk about and never sway away from what I believe," he said. "But my job is to be funny. I don't look at it as a ministry."

As a stand-up comic, he shares down home stories and high-energy musical parodies like "Cletus Take the Reel," an ode to fishing based on Carrie Underwood's "Jesus Take the Wheel." In fact, music plays an important role in his life.

"Music is more inspirational to me than comedy," he said. "I'm a rock 'n' roll guy who loves Led Zeppelin. I want my shows to have that feel, that energy, so I try to mix it up and give it a dynamic of highs and lows." He said his influences include Jerry Seinfeld, Brian Regan, George Carlin, Jerry Lewis and Flip Wilson.

Over three decades, he's released eight full-length comedy DVDs and five albums and he's found success with podcasts: He has recorded more than 100 episodes of "Poddy Break" and currently hosts "The Tim Hawkins" podcast, which features his wife, Heather, daughter Olivia and son-in-law Luke.

"It's a lot of fun," he said. "It's really just an excuse to hang out with my family, but I think fans like to know what goes on behind the scenes."

Media outlets like podcasts have been a boon to Hawkins' career. He said social media has allowed him to be in control of his career in terms of promoting and scheduling.

"It's a big world, and the internet and YouTube have been the engine that's allowed me to do what I do as far as building a fan base," Hawkins said. "You can do it on your own. I just do what I do and go where I want to go."

(606) 326-2661 — lward@dailyindependent.com