NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Comedian Byron Kennedy is opening Sunday night for Rob Schneider at the Kansas State Fair. His career was in the radio and records industry before leaving there to become a stand up comic.
"It's funny, because when I went into radio originally, that's what I wanted to do," Kennedy said. "I wanted to entertain people. I always dreamed of being a stand up comic, but I didn't have the courage, to be honest with you. It seemed terrifying to me. I couldn't think of anything scarier than stand up comedy. On the radio just felt a little safer to me. On the radio, you don't see the audience. In your mind, they're always laughing. You're always killing it."
The process of getting material that works is a grind.
"To get the consistency, you just have to do it," Kennedy said. "You just have to get on stage, get on stage, get on stage. You have to fail many, many, many times. You have to be willing to fail many times. When I first started doing Las Vegas, it's the hardest city in America to do comedy and it will beat you up and it will make you question your sanity and it will make you want to quit, especially, when you start breaking into the Vegas scene, you're going to be doing midnight shows. You're going to be up there opening for drunk crowds that really don't care what you have to say, and you just have to figure it out."
Kennedy said his style is just to tell people what he's experienced.
"I don't know, I seem to have a lot of crazy things happen to me all the time," Kennedy said. "You tell those stories in an interesting, fun way that hopefully resonates. The State Fair show is definitely going to be a little different than the Las Vegas show. It will be a lot more family-friendly."
The Grandstand show starts at 7:30 p.m. Sunday. You can still buy tickets online.
Below is the podcast of Byron's interview with Nick Gosnell...
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