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It’s a widely held belief that most comedians
want to be rock musicians and most rock musicians want to be comedians. Matt
Stanton has both covered. He started out playing music, and today plays in a
band called the Wothmores. “It’s Pop-Punk Ramones-style,” he says. Stand-up
comedy though, has become his passion. Having grown-up watching Saturday
Night Live, making people laugh seemed like a great way to make a living.
But music seemed a more viable way to entertain people. After watching a Brain
Regan comedy special though, Stanton revisited his comic aspirations. “That
made me want to do stand-up again,” he says. To concentrate more on comedy he
moved to Chicago, only to find the Windy City to be more of an improv town, and
less of a hotbed for stand-up comedy. Returning to Cincinnati, he continued to
pursue stand-up, but was also able to work with his old music buddies. While he
enjoys both, he doesn’t think he’ll ever be a guitar-playing comic. “I will
never do that,” he insists. “It’s two different vibes for me. I’m not a big fan
of it either unless it’s done right.” His musical endeavors have occasionally
caused confusion with his stand-up career.
For the full audio of this interview and to hear a song by the Worthmores, listen to PF’s Tape Recorder Episode 24 at pfradio.podbean.com. Matt Stanton features for Tyrone Hawkins (John Bunyan MCs) at Go Bananas Thursday-Sunday.
