Juston McKinney to offer a fresh and funny review of 2022 in comedy show opening Dec. 26
“Attention. Attention. There is a problem at Seabrook nuclear power station. The beaches are closed. Leave the beach area at once and turn on your radio for more information."
Most Seacoast residents heard this false emergency alarm blasted over loudspeakers in July and panicked. Juston McKinney saw comedy gold for his "A Year in Review 2022” special, which opens at The Music Hall in Portsmouth on Dec. 26.
McKinney, who grew up in Portsmouth and Kittery, is a nationally renowned observational comic who has appeared on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" and Conan O’Brien's late show, has specials on Comedy Central and Amazon Prime and recently released “On The Bright Side” on YouTube, which already has hundreds of thousands of views.
As he done each year since 2009, McKinney has created an entirely fresh "Year in Review" show for 2022.
“It’s a completely different show every year,” McKinney said. “It’s a very stressful bed I’ve made for myself.”
On opening night, Dec. 26, he’ll be trying out some new material that may or may not make the cut in the subsequent shows at The Music Hall on the 27th, 28th or 29th or in his appearances at The Rex Theatre in Manchester on Dec. 30 and Dec. 31.
“A lot of stuff you work out on stage,” McKinney said. “A lot of times I’ll say things one time, and I’ll never say them again. It’s just a matter of what you’re feeling that night. This show (at The Music Hall) started as one show and now we do four. It’s grown to the point where people look forward to it, and I’ve got to make sure I put out a good product, make sure they leave happy.”
Juston McKinney's father alcoholism a big source of material
McKinney grew up in a famously dysfunctional family on the Seacoast. His mom died when he was at Little Harbour elementary school in Portsmouth. His father, Perry, already a drinker, went on a decades-long bender.
“My Dad for many years was a homeless alcoholic, but he’ll be sober 15 years in April,” McKinney tells the “On the Bright Side” audience at the Capitol Center for the Arts in Concord. “Yeah, I’m so proud of my Dad. He actually spent time living in the restroom in the parking garage in Portsmouth. And he was always positive — even then: ‘On the bright side, I’ve got a place with a 400-car garage.’”
McKinney’s aunt moved in with the family after his mother died and soon was sleeping in the same bed as his father.
“’On the bright side, if I’m going to end up with one of your aunts, better your mom’s sister than my sister,’” McKinney said his father told him. “That was the last time we talked about it.”
“My dad always told me to look on the bright side, it could always be worse” McKinney jokes. “With the stock market and people’s 401(k)s, it could always be worse. I had a buddy, he had all his money with Fidelity. He lost 25% of his investments. I had another buddy, he went with Infidelity. He lost 50% of his investments.”
How Juston McKinney works out his comedy shows
McKinney got his start in comedy doing open mic nights in Boston and New York City and he still works out his new material doing open mics at places like The Winner’s Circle in Salisbury, Massachusetts.
“It’s just taking an observation, something that happens in my life, and I think, 'What’s funny about this? Where can I take this?' I’ll throw that out on stage and see where it takes me.”
On the day this reporter visited him at this home in Newmarket, McKinney was working out jokes around a dining room table he had to return to Bernie and Phyl’s furniture store because his wife’s sister had suggested it was “too white.” Had she ever said that about him? He was also playing with jokes about looking forward to his wife’s work Christmas party for the first time — now that she was working from home.
As a kid, McKinney said he wasn’t the class clown who got sent to the office but found he could say things that made the teacher laugh. In middle school in Kittery, he told his friends he wanted to be a comedian when he grew up “and they all laughed.”
“I said, ‘Oh wow, this is easy.’ That was my first laugh that I got.”
Before doing comedy full time, he spent seven years as a deputy sheriff in York County, Maine, working the “rural patrol.” He and another deputy were responsible for 14 towns that didn’t have their own police departments, covering an area of 500 square miles.
“It was hard to solve crimes,” he said.
While he was working as a deputy, he did an open mic at Stitches Comedy Club in Boston. He hadn’t told anyone he was going because he didn’t know how he'd do. But he did great, so six months later he went back and filled the room with friends from the Portsmouth-Kittery area.
“It didn’t go as well. At all. I’m unnecessarily swearing because I’m just trying to get laughs. It’s a little bit of a crutch when you start out. I get off the stage and the host grabs the mic and makes fun of me for dropping so many F-bombs. I’m just shell shocked but I also think, 'That can’t be my last show.'"
As he gained confidence, McKinney opted to drop the profanity and work clean. This works well in the theaters he plays across New England because families often bring their teenagers to the show.
“I’m not clean like Seinfeld is clean,” McKinney said. “I’m kind of like PG-13.”
Why Juston McKinney's wife doesn't mind jokes about her
Because so much of McKinney’s material comes from his real life — or at least an exaggerated version of his real life — his family figures prominently in his act. His wife and father, in particular, are the focus of many of his jokes.
“You know what (my wife) does for work? HR. Human resources,” McKinney says in “On the Bright Side.” “The absolute worst job for a comedian to be married to. Every joke I bounce off her she’s like (makes face) ‘I don’t know about that. I wouldn’t go there. You can’t say that anymore.”
“She’s working from home, I try to flirt with her and she says, ‘That’s harassment in the workplace.'"
McKinney's two sons, ages 12 and 15, also come in for some gentle humor in his shows, but always with love. After all, he chooses to work close to home in New England to avoid constantly hopping on planes and living out of suitcases.
"I treasure being able to take them to school," McKinney said.
Does his wife ever veto jokes?
“I’m good at knowing when I’ve crossed the line,” McKinney said. “There are things the audience will never hear.”
There are practical reasons for keeping his jokes focused on himself and his family.
“She’d rather me make fun of her than do something that’s going to get me canceled,” McKinney said. “Because I have to make a living.”
On a serious note, McKinney urges everyone coming to his shows to be sure to buy their tickets directly from the theaters and not the ticket scalpers who charge outrageous prices.
“My most expensive ticket is $41,” McKinney said. “I don’t want someone sitting there thinking they’ve got to get $150 worth out of this. I want you to feel good about getting 41 bucks worth.”
And those jokes about the false alarm at Seabrook Station? Those alone will be worth the price of admission.
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Comedian Juston McKinney Year in Review 2022 coming to The Music Hall
