While you can make a good living doing stand-up, it’s not always rock steady work; just ask Jimmy Pardo. While he’s never had trouble filling clubs across America, it was that very success that helped get him a permanent gig warming up the crowd for Conan O’Brien’s Tonight Show. The fact that he hosts a popular podcast, Never Not Funny, helped as well. When Conan was shown the door, another one opened for Pardo. “When we all got fired from NBC,” he explains, “a lot of clubs called and said ‘Hey, Jimmy’s available to go on the road now, can we book him?’ I was panicked that I didn’t have a job, so I didn’t say no to anybody.”
Many people are coming to his shows now, not because they saw him warm up the crowd for Conan, but because they listen to Never Not Funny. “I will say that it is helping a lot in that a lot of the audience is coming from the podcast, which is fantastic, it’s great.” The free-wheeling format of the podcast, has helped Pardo open up even more on stage. “I think it has made me more comfortable just talking more extemporaneously than I had been in the past when it was all crowd stuff. And now because of the podcast I’m not afraid to talk and find the funny and luckily I’ve been doing that on stage.”
Jimmy Pardo performs at Go Bananas in the Festival market Place, Montgomery, Thursday through Sunday. Showtimes are 8 p.m. each night with a 10:15 p.m. performance Friday and Saturday.
Go here for ticket information and venue details.
