The very colorful and stylish comedian: Josh Barnes

One night while walking into a comedy club in Temecula, Josh Barnes’s friend said to him,” Hey how about, if we go to this club, if there’s an open mic thing then you have to like figure it out and do comedy.” Barnes had gone to this club to what he described as millions of times and not once had there ever been an open mic until that night. Unprepared, Barnes went up on that stage and from then on decided he was going to be a comedian. 

“The second I got into it, I was like oh this is what I’ve been looking for,” Barnes said. 

Initially he didn’t want to perform comedy, Barnes had been primarily working on rap music in Southern California but found that being a comic brought him happiness. He took a couple of comedy classes after his first open mic and in 2016 moved to Humboldt. Barnes came to Humboldt to be with his former partner but when things didn’t work out, he decided to stay here and focus on his career as a comedian. 

“I feel joy being able to help somebody like have a moment to break from whatever else is happening in the world to laugh for a bit,” Barnes said. 

When Barnes got here there wasn’t a comedy club so he had to perform where he could. He performed comedy at The Jam, Northtown Coffee, Ferndale and even at a local smoke shop. What was missing was a place to bring together comics. For Barnes it’s about connection. 

In November 2018, Chris Durant opened the Savage Henry Comedy Club. Durant came up with the name from the famous movie scene, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Durant and Barnes met before this club opened and since then Barnes has been a regular comic. When describing the Savage Henry Comedy Club Barnes says, “its home”. 

“It’s something I didn’t know I’d love doing,” Barnes said. 

It’s been 10 years and he continues to perform at Savage Henry having recurring shows such as Just Joshin Jeopardy and The Latest Show. Durant spoke admirably about Barnes’ determination to perform even when there’s a small crowd or even no crowd at all.

“He’s always got a good natural approach to comedy, he works on the craft, he studies its history,” said Durant. 

Barnes briefly mentioned he had a stressful childhood so seeing people laugh provides a break for both him and those laughing at his jokes. It’s a form of real joy. The comedy club and his fellow comedians inspire him to keep pursuing comedy.

When describing his thought process for coming up with jokes or “material”. Barnes waits for the same idea to strike him twice. If a joke seems really promising and it comes into his thoughts a second time he writes it down. It’s the beginning of his creative process. 

“I’m a long-winded comic as I like to say,” Barnes said.

His favorite types of jokes are stories with “call backs”. Barnes explains that call back jokes are stories that have a set up in the beginning and by the end of the joke that same thing mentioned in the beginning becomes part of the punchline. 

Barnes watched a lot of Def Comedy Jam and BET TV as a kid, that was his first introduction to comedy entertainment. As he got into comedy as an adult, he stopped watching comedians on TV so that he wouldn’t be influenced by their material. 

Outside of comedy he coaches his kid’s basketball teams, writes rap songs and makes music beats. 

“I mostly just do comedy and hangout with my kids,” Barnes said. 

If you walk into Savage Henry and see a comedian with a perfectly color coordinated outfit and some unique sneakers, you’ll know that’s Barnes. 

Upcoming shows and other content: 

Savage Henry Comedy Club has booked a variety of black comics for Black History Month and Barnes will be hosting most of the shows starting Feb.1. 

“We were able to book comics out of town, all black comics on all the lineups and that way it’s a celebration for Black History Month,” Barnes said. 

Barnes’ music can be found on Spotify and his comedy album called,” Petty since 83” is available on YouTube. His first two music albums are called, “Sad Boy Summer” and “A Fall Up”, he is currently working on another album but no release date has been announced yet.