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Meet Chip Nicholson

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Chip Nicholson.

Chip, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
For a while, Comedy was my stepdad. When I was growing up my mom and I would fill the room laughing together watching Mad TV, SNL, In Living Color, All That, Def Comedy Jam, Martin, Fresh Prince of Bell Air, the Jamie Fox Show… I loved seeing my mom laugh and these shows made us feel like a whole family. To me, those adults seemed so cool they had something and shared it and it looked like so much fun. I’d watch these shows and knew I wanted to have that kind of something with those kinds of people. I didn’t know how to get my foot in that door, until at 22 years old, I tripped and fell through it. On day 4 of the 6 day National Comedy Theatre Level 1 Improvisation class two of my classmates convinced me to play hooky, “we think you’d be great at this open mic And it’s free!” I was sold. I remember the moment after the last word, the last “Joke”, and the applause blurred with the bright lights and I couldn’t stop smiling and that’s when I knew. I had tripped and fallen through the door and in love with Stand Up Comedy.

In the coming year I hopped from mic to mic doing 4-6 open mics a night. When there wasn’t a mic I’d ask to do time at Karaoke’s. When there wasn’t, a Karaoke I’d ask to sit in the back of a show giddy to learn from the greatest… I was addicted. Later that year I was selected as Best of San Diego and new hire at the World Famous La Jolla Comedy Store. I was ecstatic it was happening. More doors opened and soon I became a regular in San Diego at the MadHouse Comedy Club, The Comedy Palace, and American Comedy Company. In that time I started a room Called the Comedy Den out of a sushi restaurant, became the resident host of Comedy Juice, was regularly commissioned to perform for San Diego State University and toured in Canada. But I wanted more. so my eyes turned to LA and after graduation I moved up. Recently winning 2019 top Finalist of the San Diego Comedy Festival, winner of the Live indi.com Comedy Competition and 5 time winner of the Burbank Comedy Festival’s Best of Fest, I currently live in LA loving the many doors of opportunity and excited to stumble forward through the next one.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?? 
Struggle and Comedy are synonymous. I was living out of my car the first couple months I moved to LA. Two weeks in I had ten stitches in  my hand from a work injury, was sick with the flu homeless in February in the dead of winter parked outside UCLA. Between chattering teeth I yelled, “Fuck that! you ain’t gonna beat me LA!” It was a rough Black History Month. Along the way life happens and my biggest obstacles are what i’m willing to sacrifice; relationships, money, and food are just a few. Comedy isn’t as convenient as it is charming, but that tease is alluring. I’ve worked hard and it’s been rough at times but that’s how journeys go. Those rough times, they  helped to polish the person and comedian I am today.

We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
Focused on foresight, I’m currently working on  projects to connect with more people. With that goal in mind I’ve hit the ground running with two main focuses since moving to LA. First,  after an amazing first and second we are back with Season 3 of the Quick and Easy Spanish Podcast a podcast and sketch comedy group with my cousin Gus Russell and friend Matt Robinson. Check us out on Spotify and YouTube! The other is my very first Stand up comedy album being recorded live in San Diego, on my birthday! It’s a big project, but I can’t wait to share my wacky world. I’m a goofy person, I bring a happy go lucky sense of humor to the stage. Stylistically (partly because of my ADHD and love of anything Disney) my comedy is light-hearted with act outs, characters, and Narratives; cutting, edgy, silly shared slices of life. I believe in the magic of  laughter and in the magic of sharing it with each other. I believe that humor is how we human humbly. It’s how we clumsily triumph through challenges, how we build rich relationships and how together we cope with loss. And as a stand up comedian, I enjoy specializing in sparking that magic and making those connections with people every night.

What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
Getting to perform for my family and hear them laugh the way my mom and I laughed watching those comedy shows together are my proudest moments. I love sharing this world of comedy past that door I didn’t even know how to get my foot in. A world where you fall, and fly.

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