- You know, I was in Chicago and the guy picked me up from the airport and he's like, 'Where are you from?'

And I say, Utah.

And he is like, 'Oh, let me stop you.'

And I'm like, no, let me stop you.

(audience laughing) No to everything you're about to ask me.

Okay, no, I don't have 10 wives.

No, I don't wear magic underwear.

No, I don't know what planet God lives on.

Just shut up, you predictable basic hack, okay?

(audience laughing) And then he is like, 'Well, I was just gonna ask if you ski."

(audience laughs) - [Liz] Entertainers here in Utah are finding big breaks on the comedy stage.

Meet two comedians, Brooke Tennison and Andy Gold, whose jokes often center around Utah's perceived culture and religion.

Come backstage with us to get a closer look at how these jokes are formed for different audiences.

Plus learn what it takes to toe the line between funny and offensive in Utah.

I'm Liz Adeola and This Is Utah.

From clean to not so clean comedy, comedians are bringing crowds together for a good laugh and they make it look easy.

I found out it certainly is not.

(microphone feedback) Here's a special shout out to our sponsors.

Thanks for your support.

What made you say this is something that I wanna try and that I can do?

- What made me like really first, like try an open mic was really just like, it was post COVID like 2021 and I just like was so bored and I just really wanted to like, I don't know, do something to make my heart beat a little bit.

So I went to an open mic.

- Would you say that you were a funny kid growing up or did people say, hey you're pretty funny or?

- [Brooke] I don't know if people said funny.

Definitely like I wanted attention and I was working for it.

So my dad especially is very like, he likes to tease and so I kind of grew up like being familiar with like a certain level of irony, I guess.

And knowing something that's said in a certain tone isn't always meant to be serious.

Hi, thank you guys so much for being here.

So I was raised Mormon and I'm not religious anymore.

But I think I'm a living testament to the fact that it is possible for someone to be ethnically Mormon.

(audience laughs) Like Jewish people can do that.

Like they're still Jewish if they're not religious, like I think Mormons should be able to have that too 'cause like I don't go to church anymore, but I still have to walk around with the face of someone whose parents are 13th cousins.

(audience laughs) - Being funny was always kind of my, my trademark.

You should be a comedian was something I heard all the time.

(audience laughs) I've lived in New York, LA, and I was in San Francisco for a few months too.

And the Utah comedy scene is like any of those.

There's a lot of people scratching and clawing to, to get stage time.

The Wise Guys open mic draws an actual audience, which is not normal.

Comedy is very popular, it's having a boom period, I think.

And yeah, Utah isn't exempt from that.

- [Liz] You had mentioned that you feel that open mic is a part of the writing process, not the product of it.

What did you mean by that?

- For most comedians, you don't really know if it's funny until the audience says it is 'cause you know that's, that's who's in charge.

- Isn't that kind of terrifying though?

Not knowing until you're there almost about to jump off the diving board into... - A little bit.

It is.

Oh yeah.

Like trying a new thing, especially if you're excited about it and it doesn't go well, it definitely, yeah, it sucks.

I don't know if I would say that the audience like helps me write the joke, but like they kind of do.

What part of the thing is amusing about the idea helps you to like expand on it in the right direction.

Usually when the idea comes, I jot it down on my phone and then it's just like a little blurb in my notes.

Usually if I expand it, I'll try to write it out on paper.

- When I'm writing, I'm not like a hundred percent chance that's gonna crush and that line is no good.

I'm constantly surprised by the audience feedback.

That's why an audience is so crucial to doing standup comedy.

You need that live audience.

Guy at the other club downtown, you know, homeless guy.

Sad.

He was holding a sign that said "Restore my faith in humanity."

You know, so I just walked up to him and said, hey, most people are doing a lot better than you.

(audience laughs) We doing okay?

How we doing about that one?

Was that too dark?

- [Andy] People ask, did you do it at home in front of a mirror or anything like that?

No, that's like air guitar.

You know, the the audience responds and then you adjust accordingly.

Let's get right to the meat and potatoes of it then shall we?

Let's do it.

I'm a, I'm a recovering heroin addict.

Anybody else?

Anybody not in recovery but currently using heroin?

Anybody actively?

People are thrown by it 'cause I don't really look the part, this whole thing ain't really screaming heroin addict.

I look more like a bully from a 1990s Disney movie.

Or... - [Andy] I discovered heroin in a, 2004 and it became everything for me.

I loved it.

And the turning point was in October 21st, 2009 when I overdosed, I stayed in the hospital for one week in the intensive care unit and left directly from the hospital to rehab.

And most of my downtime I spent watching TV and I watched Comedy Central and found myself actually becoming a fan of standup comedy.

People told me I was funny my whole life, but I never really consumed comedy.

But now an actual interest in standup comedy itself was starting to take hold.

I googled "standup comedy," "Salt Lake City" and Wise Guys was the first place that popped up.

And I remember driving to the club, peeking through the windows, kind of see where the stage was and how it's all laid out and thinking, okay, I'm gonna, I'm gonna try this, you know, I'm gonna try standup comedy.

So I'm very glad that first set went so well 'cause that deluded me enough to keep me going until I actually kind of figured out how to do it.

The whole next day, I didn't think about heroin once.

All I thought about was comedy.

What jokes am I gonna do next time?

Most people trying comedy, people have fantasies about maybe becoming famous and making a ton of money or something.

I wanted to find something that was fun enough where I didn't need to use.

My goals were very, very modest.

Noel - Andy.

- [Liz] Andy's pre-show routine has evolved over the years from crafting a tight set list of jokes written out verbatim to what he calls a flexible Rolodex of material.

- But what I do usually is on a piece of paper I write just key words of the jokes I'm gonna hit that night, which just kind of covers not my whole set list, but the dashes and what's in bold is new stuff that I want to hit.

But if you were to pick this up, it would make no sense to you.

So many of my jokes depend on funny descriptions, but I don't want to be too hung up on getting the wording exactly right.

Um, I want to be in the moment.

- [Announcer] ...for Andy Gold.

(audience applauding) (upbeat music playing) - [Andy] I feel good about making people happy.

I like people driving home and saying, 'Hey, I'm glad we did that tonight.'

- [Liz] Timing and pulling the right punches are often key ingredients in landing a good comedy set.

But knowing specific insights about the audience is just as vital.

As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Brothers Neil and Jeffrey Harmon say they saw a need for entertainment that aligned with Middle American values.

So they worked with Director Isaac Halisima to launch Dry Bar comedy in 2016.

- The, the thought was there are thousands of comedians all over the country doing the circuits.

And if you could go through those and find the comedians that are very, very good talent have not been fully discovered yet, put them on our stage and get them to do family-safe sets.

We use the word family-safe.

It's not necessarily family friendly because some of the jokes might be, marriage jokes or jokes that little kids wouldn't understand.

- It's hard to bomb in Dry Bar.

Yeah, you have to keep it clean, but they wanna come and have a good time.

You guys, I don't want to be one of these comedians who says something triumphant just to get an applause break.

But over the last couple years I've put on about 40 pounds, eh?

(audience laughter) Yeah?!

Thank you!

(audience applauding) Wasn't, thank you.

It wasn't easy, everybody.

This is a whole series of bad decisions.

This is my third go around as a fat man and I knew I was getting fat again when my mom told me it looks like I'm getting strong.

(audience laughter) Dry Bar is kinda a badge of honor, right?

If they can go and put that they've done a Dry Bar special, I know that they're saying they're doing a clean show, it meets these certain standards.

[Jeff]- We tell comedians like there's clean comedy and then there is "Provo Clean," and so there's this range of comedians.

Everything from Leanne Morgan and Jeff Allen who are always clean to Adam Carolla, coming in who are not normally doing clean, and like Adam Carolla said, 'I wanna try it.

It sounds like a challenge.'

- I think the problem with Olympic Fencing is the outfits, you know, they dress like x-ray technicians (audience laughter) with a spaghetti colander on their head.

(audience laughter) They should be forced to wear the outfits of their country's swordsmen from back in the day, right?

(audience cheering) You'd watch that.

France would've a musketeer, you know, a guy with a boot up to here and a suede vest and a felt hat with a feather in it.

Japan would have a Samurai.

United States... a homeless guy with a machete.

(audience laughs) - So when we film a season here at Dry Bar, we'll have anywhere in a year, anywhere from 50 to 60 specials filmed up to 110 specials filmed.

(audience laughter) Yeah, we can crank out a lot.

- We're headed to Boomerangs in Millcreek to an open mic.

I haven't been to this one before, so we're gonna go check it out.

- [Liz] Most comedians hit the stage anywhere from dozens to hundreds of times per year to perfect their craft.

Brooke says her goal is to do five open mic nights per week and shares how it feels to tell jokes to a live audience.

- It's so nice, but it's also so fleeting because then like you get the laugh and it's like, oh good, that worked.

But then it's like, okay, what about that worked?

All right, let's go.

(car door shuts) - [Liz] And yes, that is me for some inexplicable reason, signing up to try standup comedy for the very first time.

So what's going through your mind right now?

- Um, yeah, mostly just wondering like, ooh, I hope like some more people show up, more audience members would be cool.

Just kind of feeling out.

Yeah, I haven't been to this bar before, so just kind of feeling out the vibe.

- What is, what is usually the time frame or the time limit that you have at open mics?

- Um - It's usually like three to five minutes.

- [Liz] Okay.

- Yeah.

- [Liz] Alright, do you have any tips for me or any advice?

- Ooh, I mean, aw man.

For your first open mic?

You just have to do it.

- Just have to do it.

Just rip the bandaid off and get up there.

- Yeah, if it goes terrible, never have to show your face in here again.

- Exactly.

Good evening.

Good evening.

My name is Liz Adeola and when I was about nine years old, I fell in love with one of the elves from the Rice Krispies box.

It was Pop!

You know who it was!

Pop was a looker.

I was in love with Pop.

I would dedicate my heart to Pop and I wanted to run away and be with Pop forever.

And there's actually a whole thread on Reddit of people who would love to go on a date with cereal box mascots.

And I started swiping through the comments and what people were saying and then it got dark and I was like, okay, we're not the same.

This is a a different crowd that is into some weird stuff.

Thank you for not booing me off the stage and that is my time.

Have a good night.

(audience cheering) - I've lost some weight recently.

I've lost about 70 pounds, um which is, yeah, it's like an interesting thing because I look different, right?

So obviously people notice and they wanna make comments and some people aren't very tactful about it.

Like I had this one guy say to me, he said, he started off super strong with just like, 'Hey, did you lose a [BLEEP] ton of weight?'

Which first of all, kind of unnecessary, but I was like, I think I have the worst body type on the system because my body type is apple.

How would you describe their shape?

- [Crowd Member] Round.

- Round, yeah, exactly.

Not unlike the earth.

So that makes me feel real good.

Um, yes, yeah.

See, wasn't that funnier when I weighed 70 pounds more than it was... Yeah, it was a better joke back then.

I can't really do it anymore.

- [Brooke] Especially when you're trying a bunch of new stuff in one night and then none of it goes great.

It's really easy to be like, oh, okay, I guess I'm just not actually funny.

I guess I've just been kidding myself this whole time.

Uh, and about every two weeks I'll feel like that.

Then you just have to Um... Keep believing in yourself and keep showing to mics.

And then, and then at some point you get better.

I think that'll go ahead and be my time.

Thank you so much.

(audience cheering) - You guys, thank you so much.

I had so much fun with you tonight.

It was a great time.

Thank you for coming out.

- Wow, who knew so much hard work and dedication went into telling great jokes and a really good joke will stick with you for quite some time.

Who's the funniest person in your life?

Go ahead and let us know in the comments.

Also, go ahead and check out another This Is Utah video.

The link is right there on your screen.

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(bright music)