We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Josh Nicols. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Josh below.

Josh, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. So, naming is such a challenge. How did you come up with the name of your brand?

From March 2020 until June of 2021 we were closed. Nick and I had just taken over the theater a year earlier. The theater had a lot going for it but at the time it was very close to closing it’s doors, it wasn’t the right time to rebrand when we first took over but once we were closed and we watched what was happening in the world, in our country and in Denver. it became clear it was the right time to start Rise Comedy as a rebirth coming out of the shutdown. We wanted to focus on our role in our community. Helping them and us get back on our feet and on stage, building people up and provide levity for our patrons. This made the word Rise a connecting concept in our role and mission and a new theater, Rise Comedy was born. We’re grateful for the legacy of the old theater of Voodoo Comedy Playhouse and for the foundation on which Rise Comedy was built but we feel the building and the spirit that has been nurtured better reflects our role, mission and especially Nick and I. We live for the joy and success of others.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I’m an improv professional. I make my living teaching, performing and producing improvisation. Improv can be so many things but essentially it’s theater without a script. I started improv in high school at the age of 14 to find a way to channel my creative energy and make friends. Since then I’ve traveled the country and abroad as a performer, student and teacher of improv. I’ve performed in shows similar to Whose Line Is It Anyway with theatre games as well as less structured shows shows that move at the pace of dreams and imagination, to narrative shows in different genres. I’ve directed and performed in improvised full length plays, with one garnering Best Play of The Year.

Rise Comedy is known for it’s welcoming community, funny festivals, impactful corporate trainings, a world class training center and hilarious shows. We’re known for our community focus and our passion for the joy and growth of others. Our brand is for conscientious comedy, where it comes from personal lived experience and is empathetic to the journey of others. Comedy doesn’t need to trade on other peoples suffering for laughs. We’re looking to elevate comedy and include informed context in our choices.

We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.

NIck is one of the most important figures in modern improv. His camps and their associated philosophies have connected communities from all over the states and abroad. I first attended his camp as a camper looking for growth and connecting in the improv world. I got it. I got friends for life, I also got to connect with folks who helped me better understand my own community and experience. I know many folks who feel camp has changed their life for the better and forever. There are lot of great names worthy of a lot of praise in improv, Viola Spolin for instance, Nick Armstrong belongs among those names for what he has done for the improv landscape for both theaters and individuals.

I attended every Improv Utopia camp I could from that day on, during those camps Nick and I really connected as people who shared a similar vision. I was asked to help at camp and eventually it culminated in Nick and I working together at Westside Comedy in Santa Monica. From there we decided to make an offer for the Voodoo in Denver and it was accepted.

This has been a challenge to say the least, to create, maintain and grow and arts space through the last 5 years has aged me like a president. There is simply no way it would have worked without Nick. His drive, heart, focus, connections, and spirit have left a mark on Rise and myself. Challenges in this line of work are a constant, having someone with a good heart and a passion for getting things right is something to be valued and treasured. Nick has made a positive lasting impact on improv, Denver and myself. I’m forever grateful for him, he’s always been a wonderful mentor and friend.

Do you have multiple revenue streams – if so, can you talk to us about those streams and how your developed them?

We have a unique business in that it’s a multitude of different businesses that can impact each other. We are an entertainment venue, which has a bar, which are by themselves their own businesses. Then we are also a school for folks who are looking to learn different aspects of comedy. We have taught or teach improv, sketch, stand up, clown, puppetry and many other disciplines. We are also a community third space, a place to make friends, find like minded folks, and find easy ways to connect with new people. We also do trainings for companies and organizations looking to utilize the skills that help improv to help with skills like communication, team work and social cohesion. Which leads me to one of my favorite businesses, a vending machine, which next to owning a bar was always a boyhood dream of mine, having said that at this point, I rarely drink and I’m doing my best to not eat all the food in the vending machine, I guess this is growing up.

All of these business, especially the vending machine and bar, are super dependent upon us having great classes and shows. Great classes are taught by great teachers, who learned from great teachers in great classes, those folks show their quality on stage, which will help bring in new laughers, who might want to take a class. If any of those businesses aren’t doing their part, the others suffer from it and can create a negative loop, but the opposite is also true, when one element is booming the others see both direct and indirect benefits. The goal is to get them all working well so they create a positive loop of growth for all elements, including the vending machine, We make sure to load it with healthy options for sustenance and energy which helps make the shows and classes better as well. They all require their own knowhow and investment, but they all impact each other immensely.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://risecomedy.com
• Instagram: @risecomedy
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-nicols-0115a154/

Image Credits

Josh Nicols