Meet Chris Wilson | Stand Up Comedian

We had the good fortune of connecting with Chris Wilson and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Chris, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
I could never figure out what to do with my life. I don’t think I was particularly great at anything and I couldn’t think of anything to do as a career. I always thought it would be a cool job to be a comedian. I would always watch comedy specials growing up. Making people laugh for a living seemed like a neat thing to do. I always wanted to try it. I did, and it went ok. It terrified me and I never did it again, as I had severe stage fright with public speaking. Years went by and I always wondered what would have happened if I had stuck with it. It took a long time, but even if I didn’t get far with it, I wanted to try again, because I didn’t wanna spend the rest of my regretting it. So, I did. Now, I’ve been doing it ever since.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Comedy is difficult. There’s a lot more work involved in comedy than people think. Getting up in front of a room full of people you (mostly) don’t know and try and make them laugh is tough. Not to mention, that you have a set amount of time to do it. There’s those magically nights where you get laughs every time you speak. They don’t happen all the time. Those times are the best. Then, there’s those “other” times. The times it doesn’t go so great. It can be anything, maybe you are having a bad day, maybe you got a lot going on at the time. Or, some nights it’s just not in the cards. Some nights the audience just isn’t into what you’re doing for whatever reason. You’ll have both of those kind of nights. I’ll be honest, it can get to you if you let it. One night you might have the show of your life, the next night you might be lucky to get chuckles. It happens. It’s unavoidable. I had some one tell me that was in a band, they’d play a few shows and for some reason or another it didn’t go well. But, then they would play a show and blow the roof off the place. That one great show will overshadow the bad ones. I’ve seen a comic have a killer set, and the next night get almost nothing. No knock on them, of course… I’ve been that comic. So, support your comedy scene. Comics work hard. It LOOKS easy, but it’s not.

For me, I try to think in a certain mindset. If I’m on a show, I go on thinking that for whatever amount of time I have… it’s my show. For this amount of time, I’m the star of the show. I think that’s a good way to think. It’s not an ego thing, it just takes some of the nerves off. They are here to see me. Are they actually? Probably not, but it’s a good mindset to put yourself in.

I also don’t go in with jokes where I think this might be funny. I go in with “This is funny, and let me tell you why it’s funny.” It helps you tell jokes with confidence. It’s what helps me.

I’ve learned to never judge someone by one comedy set. An open mic for example… Not everything always hits with an audience, but at an open mic, comics are testing out new material. You gotta practice it somewhere. You gotta learn how to deliver it, and you may have to tweak it. By the time the joke is good enough to take to the bigger stages, it might be a totally different joke.

I’ve learned that you can and will have good nights and bad nights. That’s just how comedy works.

I’ve learned that what works for this person and what works for you can be totally different. You have to go your own path. You can take tips and advice and listen to others, but you have to carve your own path.

I’ve learned some people will not like what you say and do. No matter what you do. You won’t be everyone’s cup of tea. You can’t please everyone. I’ve had people double over from laughter and I’ve even been booed. It’s just a part of it.

I just wanna make people laugh. It’s nice to forget about your stress and problems for an evening and just enjoy yourself.

Support comedy and support your friends that do it. This isn’t easy and requires a lot of hard work people don’t know about.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Well, if I had to spend a week with my best friend, it’d be interesting. Nobody I know really wants to go super fancy. If I had to go fancy I’d probably go to Volcano Korean BBQ and Hotpot. It’s good. You have to cook your own food, so hopefully they can help me cook, as I can’t cook.

I’m not gonna like we are gonna hit up Taco Bell…

I would probably go check out Pinky’s Revenge in Anderson. It’s a really cool retro arcade. It’s the closest you’ll get to an arcade from your childhood.

Maybe go to Borderlands Comics. I’m not the biggest comic book guy, but they got something in there for anyone.

I’d try to go to a Barnes and Noble. I love the bookstore.

I’d probably go to the planetarium at Roper Mountain Science Center. I always thought that was a cool place.

I’d probably go to Distinct Cider Room for a drink and maybe go to Rise Bakery for some kind of pastry.

You’d have to go downtown. I’d probably take them to Comedy Zone so they could see and meet some of my friends.

There’s always the movie theater.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My mother for sure. She’s always supported anything I’ve ever tried to do, no matter how crazy my ideas were. I wanted to be a pro wrestler growing up. I tried that. I have a lot of physical problems, and honestly my body couldn’t handle all that comes with pro wrestling. But, she always supported anything I tried to do. Well, mostly. I had to talk her into the wrestling thing.

I traded in stretchy tights for a microphone. I decided to do comedy. I got to go to The Laughing Skull in Atlanta, GA, which is a pretty big club. It was an open mic, but still a pretty cool thing to do. They give you 4 minutes. The drive was like over 3 hours with traffic. I can’t medically drive and she drove me down there. Not only that, she sat front row. I did pretty good I think. My mom was proud of me, that’s all I wanted.

My friends who come out to see me. It’s rare to get people to come out and see you. A lot of people say they will, but don’t. I know people are busy with their own lives, and that’s totally understandable. But, when someone comes out to support you, it means the world to me. They can literally be doing anything else, but it’s amazing when people support you.

Website: https://www.chriswilsoncomedy.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chriswilsoncomedy

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chriswilsoncomedy

Youtube: https://youtube.com/@chriswilsoncomedy

Image Credits
1-3: Hue Kirby Photography
4-6: Kali Passafiume Photography
7: Ben Jennings