Today we’d like to introduce you to Michael Joiner.
Hi Michael, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I started doing stand-up comedy in 1991, and like most comedians, I started at the very bottom. I spent years doing every kind of gig imaginable—clubs, colleges, churches, corporate events, cruises, and plenty of what comedians affectionately call “hell gigs.” Somewhere along the way, I figured out how to make a living doing what I loved, and I’ve now been a touring comedian for more than 30 years.
Comedy eventually opened doors for me in writing and acting. I became a contributing writer for The Tonight Show, was signed with Larry the Cable Guy’s Git-R-Done Records, and had the opportunity to perform all over the country and on cruise ships. My Dry Bar Comedy special introduced me to an even larger audience.
Acting and filmmaking have always been another major part of my creative life. I’ve been fortunate to work professionally as an actor, including starring in the Sony Pictures film The Grace Card, but over the years I became increasingly interested in creating my own projects—writing, producing, directing, and developing films rather than waiting for somebody else to give me permission to be creative.
More recently, social media has opened up an entirely new chapter. I started creating short comedy characters and sketches, particularly my character Cooter McScooter and the Cop vs. Cooter series. Those videos have reached millions of people and introduced my comedy to an audience I never could have reached when I started back in 1991.
So today I really look at myself as three things that all feed each other: a comedian, an actor, and a filmmaker. Stand-up taught me how to connect with an audience, acting taught me how to inhabit a character, and filmmaking gave me the ability to take an idea in my head and actually put it on the screen.
It’s been a long and sometimes very strange road, but more than three decades later, I’m probably more excited about creating than I’ve ever been.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Definitely not—and I’m not sure a career in entertainment is supposed to be a smooth road.
Probably the biggest risk I ever took was packing up my entire family and moving to Hollywood. We really didn’t know what to expect. Fortunately, I was already able to make a living as a stand-up comedian, which allowed me to support my family while I seriously pursued acting. I studied with some incredible A-list acting coaches and spent about a year and a half training before I even got my first audition.
Once the auditions started, though, they really started. During the eight years we lived in Los Angeles, I went on somewhere around 350 auditions. That means hundreds of times preparing, driving across L.A., sitting in waiting rooms, giving it everything I had—and then usually hearing nothing. You learn very quickly that rejection is simply part of the business.
The funny part is that one of the biggest rewards from taking that risk didn’t happen until after we moved back home from Hollywood. After eight years and hundreds of auditions, I landed the lead role in the Sony Pictures film The Grace Card. So in a strange way, Hollywood finally paid off after I left Hollywood!
There have been plenty of other ups and downs along the way. Stand-up comedy itself can be feast or famine, and acting and filmmaking are even less predictable. I’ve had seasons where everything seemed to be happening at once and others where I wondered what was coming next.
But I’ve learned that very little of the work is wasted. The years of stand-up made me a better actor. The acting training made me a better filmmaker. The hundreds of auditions taught me persistence and prepared me for the opportunity that finally came. And even now, more than 30 years into this career, I’m still finding new audiences and new opportunities I never could have predicted.
If there’s been one constant throughout the whole journey, it’s that I’ve learned to keep creating—even when I don’t know exactly where it’s going to lead.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
At my core, I’m a comedian, actor, writer, and filmmaker. I’ve been doing stand-up for more than 30 years, and one of my specialties has always been audience interaction and crowd work. I love the unpredictability of live comedy—taking something that happens in the room that nobody could have planned and turning it into a moment everyone remembers.
My comedy has also always occupied an interesting space. I can work completely clean for churches and family-oriented events, but I also perform what I call “clean for adults”—comedy that can be edgy and fearless without relying on profanity. I’ve performed everywhere from comedy clubs and corporate events to churches, casinos, military events, and cruise ships, so I’ve learned how to connect with very different audiences.
Over the last several years, filmmaking and character comedy have become an increasingly important part of what I do. I write, produce, direct, and act in my own projects, and recently my character Cooter McScooter has found a huge audience online. My Cop vs. Cooter sketches and other Cooter videos have generated millions of views and helped introduce my work to an entirely new generation of viewers. It’s been exciting to discover that after more than three decades in comedy, there’s still a completely new chapter waiting for me.
As an actor, I’m probably most proud of starring in the Sony Pictures feature The Grace Card. Landing a lead role in a major motion picture after years of training and hundreds of auditions was an enormous milestone. But I’m equally proud that I didn’t stop there. Instead of spending my career waiting for someone else to cast me, I started writing and producing my own films and creating my own opportunities.
I think that’s ultimately what sets me apart. I don’t fit neatly into one box. I can walk onto a stage and do stand-up or crowd work, step onto a movie set and play a dramatic role, create an absurd character like Cooter, or take an idea from a blank page all the way through writing, directing, acting, and producing it for the screen.
What I’m most proud of is the longevity. After more than 30 years, I’m not simply hanging onto a career I started a long time ago—I’m still growing it, reinventing myself, finding new audiences, and creating some of the most successful work of my career right now.
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
I grew up in Gary, Indiana, raised by a teenage single mother, and we certainly didn’t have much. It was a pretty rough environment, but looking back now, I can see God’s hand on my life even during the times when I couldn’t see it myself.
Personality-wise, I think I always had that performer in me. I loved making people laugh, I loved movies and entertainment, and I had a big imagination. Humor also became a way of dealing with some of the harder realities around me. I certainly didn’t grow up with some master plan that said, “I’m going to be a comedian, actor, screenwriter and filmmaker.” I just knew there was something creative inside me that needed somewhere to go.
My road to adulthood wasn’t easy. I went through periods of drugs and alcohol and made plenty of bad decisions. The first time I moved to Hollywood by myself in the 1980s, I even experienced homelessness. There were times when my life could have gone in a very different direction.
But God brought me through all of it. I also had some wonderful Christian people come into my life at important moments who believed in me, encouraged me and helped point me in a better direction. With their help, my faith, and a determination to change my circumstances, I was eventually able to build a completely different life.
And the greatest part of that life isn’t anything I’ve accomplished in show business. I married the most wonderful woman on the planet, and together we’ve raised three wonderful sons. When I look at where I started compared to the life and family God has given me today, that’s something I don’t take for granted.
What’s especially exciting to me now is that I’m at an age when a lot of people are thinking about slowing down or retiring, and I feel like I’m just hitting some of the biggest milestones of my career. New doors are opening in stand-up, acting, screenwriting and filmmaking, and I’m reaching more people with my comedy than ever before.
So when I look back at the kid growing up in Gary, the young man who struggled with addiction, or the guy who once found himself homeless in Hollywood, I don’t see a straight line to where I am today. I see a lot of detours, mistakes, second chances and grace.
And I believe some of the best chapters are still ahead of me.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://michaeljoiner.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cleancomedian
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ComedianMichaelJoiner
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MichaelJoinerIsFunny
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2XPhq6JOdZb8xcBtEn4Cn6?si=K7Fqrm5WRgCLQMEzOpdNQA
