Adam Pasi moved around the world with his military family until finally settling down in Portland, Ore., when he was 20 years old. Always the funny and attention-seeking friend, he started doing stand-up in 2012 when he was 32. He's one of the ...

Skyler Bolks has done stand-up in 37 states over the last 10 years. He played basketball at Mount Mary University in Yankton, S.D., and he's found the competition he needs with himself on stage. He's one of the best comedians working in South D...

Ben Compton is one of the funniest comedians working in Hattiesburg, Miss. He started doing stand-up in 2014 and found himself on Hart of the City with Kevin Hart in 2017. He's learned a lot since them -- like always listen to your wife. He's g...

Patrick McKinstry started doing stand-up in New York City in 2016. He commuted from Connecticut for a year before realizing there's comedy happening everywhere. He's in Norwich, Conn., now and works regularly in the Boston scene. He's an excell...

Sam Rager started doing stand-up in 2012 during her senior year at Wayne State University. She's a regular face around the Detroit comedy scene and released her debut album, Trigger Warning, in 2019. Her special, "Hot Dog Hands," is streaming o...

Sarina Ochoa is a comedian in Albuquerque, N.M. She's been at it two years and is helping out with the 6th annual Albuquerque Funny Fiesta, which is happening between March 2 and March 8 -- headlined by Marc Maron and featuring about 110 comedi...

Kai VonDoom only wanted to do karaoke, but she accidentally signed her name on the open-mic list and changed her life. Over the last eight years, she's become one of Rochester's best comedians. She runs the Don't Tell Comedy shows in Rochester ...

Rollin Atkinson spent three years doing improv in Boston before the world shut down in 2020. When it opened up, he started doing stand-up. He met Josh Mandl at a mic and they'd been working together since. They launched the Boston Comedy Club, ...

Mike Stewart started doing stand-up in Ithaca in 2021. Fresh out of the pandemic and going through a divorce, he began writing jokes and took to the stage. He's got an interesting backstory that he's only just started to dive into for material....

Greg Owens started doing stand-up 14 years ago in Rochester, N.Y. He only did a contest each of his first two years, then a couple of showcases before really diving into it. Since the pandemic, he's performed all over New York and Pennsylvania....

Luca Spinoso started doing stand-up a couple years ago in Harford County, Md., a little bit north of Baltimore. He moved to Florida as a kid and came back to Maryland when he was 19. He and his buddies went to an open mic one night and they sig...

Danny Pee has been doing stand-up in Manchester, N.H., for about five years. He got the taste for it during a best man's speech at his brother's wedding. Once the pandemic came to a close, he decided to give it a go. He began hosting the open m...

Rachel Ware is one of the funniest comedians in the Omaha, Neb., scene. She started doing improv and then picked up stand-up in 2012. She spent three years in Los Angeles before moving back home in 2020. She's married to another comedian, Tyrel...

Josh Prygon started doing stand-up in Buffalo about three years ago. The first two tries didn't stick, but this one has. He's part of the newer class of comedians in a very experienced scene. He's got the confidence now to tackle new topics and...

Chris Scopo grew up in Queens as the son of a Mets fan. He really had no choice. He started rooting for the Mets a couple years after they won the World Series in 1986 and is still waiting to celebrate. They are ruining his life. But he's makin...

Dan Danzy moved started doing stand-up in Dallas when he was in high school. He worked his way all over the state over the next 15 years before deciding to move to Scranton with his wife in 2022. He took a little bit of time off, but decided to...

Julia Colasanti grew up playing volleyball in Michigan before going to college at St. Michael's in Vermont. Loud and confident on the court, she made a speech at a banquet that pushed her toward stand-up 10 years ago while she was still in high...

Lauren Festa is a very funny comedian on Long Island. She's been doing stand-up all over New York City for about 10 years, but has been pushing hard for the last six -- pretty much living out her dad's dream for her. She works in publishing and...

Jethro Trogo started doing stand-up in the Philippines in 2013 and moved to St. Paul, Minn., near the end of 2019 for his job as a software engineer. Quite the shift in culture and weather. He's been able to work himself into the comedy scene a...

Shawn Barnes did his first set while going to SUNY Oneonta back in the early 2010s and occasionally came back to stand-up. It wasn't until an established comedian moved upstairs that he decided to give it a real go. Now he's working all over Ne...

Matt Drufke has been doing stand-up in and around Chicago for about 20 years. He's one of a nine-person team behind the Still Not Friday show in Aurora, Ill., that just celebrated its 10th anniversary. He was able to book Kyle Kinane for that s...

Isaac Kozell started doing stand-up in Pittsburgh about 14 years ago. He was living in Wheeling, W. Va., but had to chase the stage elsewhere. He worked in marketing and fixed up houses on the side, something he'd learned as a kid. Once his nei...

Tommy Cook started doing stand-up outside of Detroit about 2 1/2 years ago. He grew up on a steady diet of musicals, thanks to his grandparents. He played in the marching and concert bands in high school and became the lead singer of Granola Ad...

Conor McCann only started doing stand-up in July of 2024. He entered the Rochester's Funniest Person contest two weeks after his first open mic and took second place. He came back this year and won the title. A former musician from the Cold Spr...

Alex Nicolas has been a fixture of the Jersey City, N.J., comedy scene since 2014. He started doing stand-up under the recommendation of a former boss combined with his mom telling him he wasn't funny. He spent a couple years working at the Str...