Rural Life

Like many comedians, James Johann fell into stand-up after other less-rewarding jobs didn’t pan out. Before he started telling jokes for a living, the Kansas native was employed as a welder. But don’t ask him what he made. “They never even told me what I was working on,” he says. “It might have been golf carts; it might have been the space shuttle. I don’t know.”

Recently, Johann has been busy polishing his Rural Genius syndicated radio spots, which he refers to as “kind of Dr. Phil-billy.” He also gives props to his mom for pushing him in the right direction many years ago: “She said, ‘You think you’re so damn funny, why don’t you go down to the comedy club and find out?’”
Sat., Oct. 13, 8 & 10:15 p.m.; Sun., Oct. 14, 7 p.m., 2007