Get Your Laugh On With Country Comic Joe Denim

“You’ve got 17 seconds to get someone in music, you’ve got seven seconds to get them in comedy,” Joe Denim says. “So you gotta shock ’em quick.”

The comedian/singer/songwriter explains how he lures audiences in as they settle into their seats for the “I Love the ‘90s” tour, reminiscing on his grandparents and their plastic-covered furniture. Then, he hits them with a punchline offering an unexpected explanation.

“Who knew grandma was a squirter?”

It’s that kind of clean language and unclean content that’s made Joe Denim a natural fit to open for the likes of Vanilla Ice and Color Me Badd, a knack for telling risque jokes for a middle-aged audience that’ll entertain before they offend.

“I come out in this Hawaiian shirt and you can hear ‘em every night be like, ‘Oh, here we go again,’” he says. “And if people don’t laugh, and find it funny here, they’re gonna laugh their asses off on the car ride home. Because it’s all awkward, funny moments that we’ve all experienced.”

Denim looks every part the comedian with his wild, curly blonde hair and colorful shirts. But few laughing at his opening shtick know he’s also an accomplished songwriter, trained classical pianist, avid deer hunter, and one of the most intriguing individuals to ever blend stand-up comedy and country music.

Joe Denim grew up on a dairy farm in, as he calls it, Middle of Nowhere, Ohio, technically somewhere between Lima and Finley. There wasn’t much in the way of sports or entertainment, so he and his family spent their time hunting, fishing, and long-range shooting.

“We had a lot of lakes and stuff, so we’d go up and catch the flyaways and just fell in love with duck hunting,” he remembers. “We’d hunt squirrel, deer. I think between that and getting up at 5:30 or 6 in the morning, I spent 10-14 hours outside every day.”

But Denim knew dairy farming wasn’t how he wanted to spend the rest of his life.

“I had two choices: Stay on the farm or go to the factory,” he says. “I wasn’t much into sports, so I thought music could be my way out. I had this Kenny Rogers record, and I’m like, ‘I wanna do that!’”

Denim began studying classical piano, but he struck a deal with his teacher: For every Chopin or Bach song he had to learn, he got to play a country or blues song too. He went on to play bars and honkey tonks in high school and college, trying to make it as a musician and occasional songwriter.

“I’ve always been a funny-looking guy, people like to laugh at me,” he says. “Then I started playing in bars when I was 17, and once I got into college, everybody wanted to hear my stories from the weekend. And I had the craziest stories, and everything was funny. I grew up on ‘The Far Side,’ so everything to me was a funny skit.”

After college, he did what any aspiring country musician does and moved to Nashville. He played piano and B3 organ in blues clubs, writing songs with local musicians on the side. He’d ultimately collaborate with the likes of Steve Holly, Tommy Two Tone, and even Jelly Roll, before he was famous.

Flash forward to 2012, and Denim found himself out in Las Vegas writing songs with Rodney Carrington. As the pair swapped jokes and funny stories, Carrington encouraged Demin to get into comedy, and his career took on a new track.

Denim began writing songs with a humorous bent, most notably “Pray for You” by Jaron and the Long Road to Love. The song is a breakup anthem, listing all the tragedies he prays befall a recent ex, from pots falling off a windowsill to brakes going out while you roll downhill.

“If you’re from the ’90s, you’ve got several exes,” he says. “And we’ve found that (on the ’90s tour) they sing every word. It’s a country audience, but they’re there on hip-hop terms.”

This kind of audience, he says, is much better for his brand of humor than traditional country crowds.

“They're already a little predisposed to hear some stuff that might be a little more offensive than what Zach Brown is playing. The jokes work way better on the hip-hop side.”

Denim says the I Love the ’90s tour’s fly-in, fly-out format isn’t as conducive to hunting and fishing on the road as country tours’ long bus rides.

“On country tours, we've actually planned stops around hunting and fishing, like trout fishing in Montana or dispatch fishing in Kentucky,” he says. “We did a lot of boar hunting down in Georgia or Texas. The Montana Rifle company used to just drop ship guns to me. We'd pick 'em up and go hunt and send 'em back.”

Still, he says, he’s enjoyed introducing hip-hop and R&B musicians to the outdoor world, and getting to know a different kind of artist than he’d worked with before.

“There aren't a lot of hip-hop guys that hunt and fish. I mean, they’ve all got guns, but they’re not into hunting and fishing,” he says. “I’d love to take (Vanilla Ice) on a duck hunt, or any of these guys out to shoot deer. Rule number one is, you gotta roll down the window before you shoot, though.”

The experience also hasn’t been without its share of funny stories, either.

“I took a 2,000-pound cow into a Vanilla Ice meet and greet in Iowa,” he says. “I told him, ‘Hey man, there's some big girls up here in Iowa. And I got a heavy one for you to meet tonight. In fact, she's so big we can barely get her through the door.’ And when he saw this cow, he just literally just fell out. Capone, the DJ for Rob Base, walks in, and he wouldn’t come near it. He’d never even seen a cow in real life. Then after the show, we took the cow to this packed bar.”

So while his work trips might not get him outdoors as much as he’d like, Joe Denim seems right at home alongside Tone Loc, Young MC, and the rest of the I Love the ’90s tour. And, he says, he still has plenty of time while he’s at home to get out on the lake and in the fields. Check out the tour’s website to see when it’s coming to a city near you. And when a funny-looking guy in a Hawaiian shirt comes out to start the show, try to hold back your groans.

Joe Denim is a comedian and hit songwriter who is also a classically trained pianist, blending all three elements into his performances. 

He is currently opening for Vanilla Ice on the *I Love The 90s* tour, which features a rotating lineup of hip-hop icons like Rob Base, Tone Loc, All-4-One, C&C Music Factory, and Color Me Badd. 

Born in Warsaw, IN, and raised on a dairy farm in Vaughnsville, OH, Joe was homeschooled and learned to respect and work with animals from a young age. He even honed his harmonica skills by playing for the cows while watering them in the mornings! 

How did a homeschooled kid from a dairy farm in Ohio end up on a hip-hop tour doing comedy and music? The abridged version: By practicing piano to avoid chores, which led to him playing B3 organ in Detroit jazz clubs as a teenager. 

A move to Nashville put him on the road playing keys with artists like Steve Holy and Uncle Kracker, who encouraged him to step into the spotlight. He rebranded as Joe Denim—and hasn’t looked back since. 

Beyond music and comedy, Joe is an avid hunter and conservationist. A member of Hunter Nation, he hunts and fishes responsibly when he pursues deer, turkey, and ducks. Adding another layer to his story, Joe is also a fine artist and is entering the Federal Duck Stamp Contest for the second year in a row. 

Joe's latest song is called "Yes Dear Season" and is getting a great response from radio and TV! Check out the music video here: https://youtu.be/PPVHqaxGLsg?si=XzLmVkR26SJkSx0C