Standing up in front of a crowd of people trying to make them laugh is no easy feat. But for Marion native and ORR graduate Mike Mulloy, it’s something he loves to do. The 26-year-old has taken his stand-up comedy show to some of the larger venues in Boston.
“My favorite part is definitely just the rush that you get from being in front of a crowd,” said Mulloy. “There’s really not many feelings like it in the world.”
It all started as a New Year’s resolution in 2011. Mulloy, who had tried stand up a couple of times while attending college at Bridgewater State University, wanted to give it another try.
“I always regretted not pursuing it, so one day I was just like, ‘screw it, I’m doing it,” he said.
While Mulloy grew up watching the acts of famous comedians such as Louis C.K, Norm McDonald and Chris Rock, he had no formal training in comedy or theatre. During his time at ORR, he was a member of the football team, but never did anything with performing arts.
“In retrospect, I probably should have considering I had always had that itch to be doing stand up,” he said.
After college, Mulloy made the move to Boston. During the day, he works in sales for an online news company- a job that helps balance the comedy lifestyle.
By Katy Fitzpatrick
“If I wasn’t doing something during the day, I would lose my mind,” Mulloy said. “I like working. love comedy, but I don’t think I could lead the comedian lifestyle.”
Mulloy also said working in both comedy and sales helps on both ends of the spectrum. Whether he’s trying to read a crowd or reading a potential client, the two are very similar.
Still, Mulloy finds himself performing at least once a week at clubs in and around Boston. Thursdays he can be found performing at Nick’s Comedy Stop located in the Theatre District on Warrenton Street. But he says he doesn’t get nervous, even in front of large crowds.
“I get super anxious before being on stage, but not nervous. There’s a huge difference,” he said. “Nervous would imply that I’m afraid to be up there. I want to be up there so badly during that time before that I just want to fast forward to when I’m on stage.”
His material covers a wide variety of topics such as sports, television, pop culture, movies, his family and much more. Even with a broad repertoire, coming up with fresh content can be somewhat difficult.
“A lot of my jokes are very time sensitive so I have to toss a lot of it after a few weeks,” he said. “I might need to start focusing on more evergreen content.”
For more information on Mike Mulloy and his performances, visit www.twitter.com/mike_mulloy or www.facebook.com/mikemulloycomedy.