We recently connected with Dan Kulp and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Dan thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Do you think your parents have had a meaningful impact on you and your journey?

I was my parents’ 5th child, and in 1971 they gave birth to their 6th. Matthew was born with Down syndrome. At that time, many people told my parents they should get rid of him by putting him in an institution. One suggested, “forget he was ever born.” My parents didn’t like that idea very much. They decided to keep Matthew and raise him along with the rest of us. Matthew was such a blessing to the family, my parents eventually ended up adopting 3 more children with Down syndrome. And this is how I grew up. My older siblings were all much older than I and moving out and beginning their own lives, but me and Matthew and my new siblings were all close in age.

My parents’ decision had a profound impact on my life, and I am eternally grateful. Obviously, their choices and decisions helped shape and mold my own journey. So much so, that my wife and I were able to adopt whom we have been told is the first child adopted out of China to the U.S. who has Down syndrome – our son Simon! A year later we adopted our daughter Danielle from China and she has a condition called Alfi’s syndrome in which part of her 9th chromosome is missing. Two years after that, we adopted my son Shea from Ukraine who has Spina Bifida. Since then, we have given birth to 2 more children.

My parents’ example of making radical choices and offering unconditional love to children with special needs was a terrific blueprint for my future choices and family. They taught me to take chances in life and to open our hearts and homes to those who are underdogs in this world.

Dan, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am a stand-up comedian and have successfully managed to wrap up my inspirational true story into my comedy. As a comedic actor, I have twice been seen on Good Morning America and as a stand-up I have appeared on the Huckabee TV Show. My DryBar Comedy special produced by Angel Studios was recently released called “Stupid Skills.” I am also the author of the book ‘Confounding the Wise – A Celebration of Life, Love, Laughter, Adoption and the Joy of Children with Special Needs.’

Previous to my life as a comedian, I toured the country as a lead singer for a rock band And that was pretty cool too.

Have you ever had to pivot?

As mentioned earlier, I used to tour the country as the lead singer for an indie rock band called The Dig Project. In 2007, when the economy wasn’t going well, it got very difficult to support all 5 of us guys on the road. The other guys were fine. One guy owned a family business. Another had a real estate license. Another joined the National Guard and went to Afghanistan. Yet another started working for “the Man” at Apple. I however, had no idea what to do with my life and put all my eggs in the band basket hoping it would be my long-term career. All I really had was my story of growing up with 4 siblings with Down syndrome.

So I took a singer songwriter friend of mine named Jason on the road with me and booked a tour with all of my old band contacts. We called it the Stories and Songs tour. I told my story to audiences, and we broke them up with songs my buddy Jason would sing. I was able to hone and craft the stories after many times of delivering them and they became funnier and funnier.

One day, a comedian buddy of mine named Dave from a comedy musical duo named Dave and Brian called me and told me they would soon be doing a show at Syracuse University. He said he knew i had been telling funny stories and asked If I would like to open up for them at the show.

I drove out to Syracuse U. and did my thing. I don’t think it was incredibly great or that I knocked it out of the park, but afterwards, Brian pulled me aside and said, “I know you’re trying to figure out what to do with your life, I think you should go into stand up comedy.” I thought about that all the way home and decided to make the leap.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

My resilience? Well, you can’t be in the field of comedy if you are not resilient. It’s a job in which in order to hone and craft your comedy, you have to fail in front of people many, many times. That is how you work on your material. You also have to face rejections on a consistent basis – from audiences to bookers to even fellow comics. Hey, sometimes even your own friends don’t want to hear what you have to offer in the world of stand up! And, if you want ti get anywhere in comedy, you just have ti keep going and going and going.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/comediandankulp/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dankulp/
• Twitter: https://x.com/comediandankulp
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@comediandankulp
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@comediandankulp