For professional comedian Gabriel Rutledge it was touch-and-go for a number of years whether giving up pizza delivery was the right choice.
The Boob Tour regular can look back on his beginnings some 13 years ago and probably surmise that yes, it wasn’t such a bad choice — at least according to a resume that includes a few awards, a healthy share of television appearances including Live at Gotham on Comedy Central or Comedy.TV and a busy touring schedule.
“The first six months was absolute terror. I thought I was gonna die,” reminisces the comic, who said he hopes to continue more television appearances in the future, mixed with his regular touring and gigs.
“I tend to set my goals too small…everything I said I wanted to do, I’ve accomplished, so I think I’ve got to set some more.”
A husband and father of three, Rutledge resides in Olympia, Wash. — a town south of Seattle that isn’t necessarily funny, but “it’s a good place to raise kids…a little hippie town with a lot of gluten-free items available.”
Rutledge said being a family man and a comic has its challenges. He described his wife as ‘the best’, and is reminded of this every time he’s on the road and has to talk to her via Skype.
“She’s like a reporter imbedded in war-torn Afghanistan — there’s things flying behind her, kids screaming…”
It’s likely the theme behind his upcoming release, Breeder, available for purchase in the coming weeks.
For Rutledge, the quest for the right audience never lets up.
“There’s a sweet spot between too stuffy and too drunk that we’re all looking for,” he explained, adding that whenever a gig doesn’t go as planned, all he has to do is compare it to the worst performance of his career — at a nursing home where three audience members fell asleep and one took off mid-set in his scooter to go back to his room, leaving behind an unresponsive audience who just weren’t connecting to the material.
Describing his material as “somewhere in between on the fun-clean spectrum”, Rutledge said all ages shows can be the most work, as kids and adults don’t always find the same things funny, leaving Rutledge thinking, “Oh man, that kid’s gonna need counselling.”
His autobiographical style of self-deprecation has also earned him first place in the Seattle International Comedy Competition.
Learn more at gabrielrutledge.com.
Rounding out the Boob Tour’s comedian lineup will be Daniel Taylor (dantaylortalks.ca).
