The LAST LAUGH

YOU GREW UP IN THE TINY TOWN OF DEMOTTE, INDIANA. HOW DID THAT PLACE SHAPE YOU AS A COMEDIAN? Well, we were trailer kids. My dad worked at the steel mills up in Gary. There were six of us in a single-wide trailer. My older brother slept in what was supposed to be the dining room. We had these rickety bunk beds where my younger brother and sister slept. And I slept on the floor. It shaped me a lot. I’m not going to pretend it was fun—it’s weird not having a bed until you’re in college. But I kind of had to start early with learning how to overcome things.

OVERCOME THINGS LIKE THE TORNADOES IN YOUR JOKES? Yes, when you get told you’re guaranteed to die every time there’s a storm, eventually you’re just like, “Screw it! I’m not even turning off the Nintendo!”

I’m convinced that discovering the power of laughter early on saved me. We were such a small community that there was no one who looked anything like me. I was one of one. So I learned fast that I had to make the jokes first. Kids are mean. It’s survival of the fittest. And luckily, I learned that right away by