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I remember a few months back I was able to perform on one of my favorite shows in these here United States of America: The Meltdown in Los Angeles. That show is always amazing but this show in particular was  stacked. The order that evening was as follows: Drew Carrey,  Louis C.K., your boy Adam Cayton-Holland, Daniel Tosh and then . Yeah. I had to follow Louis CK. And I’m proud to say that I did so just fine. Made a crack about him being my opener – weak-sauce but you have to say something – and the audience enjoyed my subsequent jokery. I climbed my way out of the hole. And I was proud. But if you ask anybody who had the set of the night that evening it was Tommy Johnagin. Hands down. Some people may find that fact surprising. I did not. I think Tommy Johnagin is one of the funniest comedians on the planet. He was deservedly on stage with those titans and not only did he hold his own, he clobbered the place.

As for me? Well, I’ll leave that to the people eventually writing my biography. And I urge them to be generous or I will haunt them from beyond the grave.

The point remains: Johnagin rules. What always impresses me watching him is the sheer amount of jokes he throws at you. There are so many punchlines laced throughout his headlining set, sometimes it’s hard to catch your breath. Old school, cheesy club owners would applaud his LPM’s – laughs per minute – and there is something old-school about Tommy Johnagin. You watch him and you can tell that dude came up in the mid-west, relentlessly clawing his way up to feature, then headliner, at a pace that must have made his peers’ jaws drop. It’s jokes first with him, not persona, not attitude. Jokes. Sure his stuff can be subversive and his viewpoint is always just left of center, but there’s something about Johnagin that’s just comforting, and I think that’s his amazing jokesmanship. Like you can set your watch to him and you won’t be that late. No wonder Letterman has had him on his show a half dozen times.

I caught up with Tommy when he was in Denver recently and we chatted for a bit on the patio of the condo that Comedy Works keeps for headliners rolling through town. We talked about his daughter, Ken Griffey Jr., and opening for soul legends, amongst other things. Then we went to a Rockies game together. All in all a lovely afternoon and I hope you enjoy listening to me chat with Tommy as much as I enjoyed hanging out with him. My only regret from the whole experience is that I forgot to ask Tommy if he was cool with me calling him “Tommy Johnagin Surgery” from here on out. I’ll just assume he is.

Tommy Johnagin Surgery wanted you to watch this video by The Black Keys.

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