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

Brad , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

I’ve been doing stand up comedy for over a decade and did my first sets as a 14 year old in rural Indiana. At 19, I moved from Indiana to Chicago to begin my pursuit for a career in comedy. I spent my 20’s trying to perfect the art from of comedic performance whether it be in the discipline of stand up, improvisation, or acting while touring the country with Chicago as my homebase. Feeling I had hit a ceiling of sorts and inspired by the stagnancy of the pandemic, I made the decision to move East. Moving to New York at 30 I made the decision to work harder than I ever have before, going to open mic after open mic to show off the comedic chops i accumulated over my decade in Chicago. At first I felt lost in the sea of talent a city as big as NYC has to offer, all while knowing full well what I was capable of. It didn’t take me too long to figure out I needed to create my own opportunities and began producing events and shows all over the city. To date over my 3 years in NYC I’ve produced over 100 live shows and 50 podcast episodes all while holding down a day job and working on my own stand up material. In regards to speeding up the process I wish i had moved to a bigger market sooner and had the luxury of free time. I needed to see the best comedic talent the country/world has to offer to force myself into accepting the fact that there are no short cuts. The skills you acquire come from time spent onstage, pondering your material, and pushing your limits creatively. Truly the biggest obstacles that have stood in my way are time and general poverty. I love performing, I love the work of it, and only wish I had an uncle who invented Tupperware so I could roam the streets of New York as a carefree 30 something Nepo Baby.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My industry is joy and happiness, providing people with a distraction from the difficulty of the day to day grind. I began doing comedy as a rebellious preacher’s son who desperately needed an outlet from strict home environment. Lucky (or unlucky) for me I also grew up in a rougher neighborhood spending my formative years in a trailer park right outside of Gary, Indiana. The contradiction of growing up in a strict religious household paired with my life outside the house being a a mirror to struggles of every day Americans made a perfect comedy combo.

To this day the empathy that I acquired from seeing such a spectrum of the country is ever present in my work. As a stand up comic, my material is edgy and dark while maintaining the cartoonish instincts of a child who was always ready to perform. My podcast “The Pimp Daddy Podcast” is a weekly show that I do with one of my best friends Sheri Ciprane, a reformed drug addict and criminal who grew up in a trailer park herself outside of Delaware as an elder millennial lesbian. We focus on filtering through the fake niceties of sponsored based media outlets and do our best to remain authentic truth tellers who are also 100% joke and fun centered.

I guess I’m most proud of my ability to navigate the industry without compromising my message or creative style. My podcast, production company, and personal stand up are all part of my work and I do my best to make sure they work as one constant creative exercise that focuses on the love of the craft and being of the people and not of the industry. The best way to support me is to watch a stand up clip, come to a show, or listen to an episode of the podcast. Either way I promise you’ll get 100% authenticity in the work and I try to introduce as much new talent from across the country as I possibly can along the way.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

Making work that resonates with my audience is always the most rewarding thing. I want people to have that nostalgic feeling of laughing until your ribs hurt. There’s a joy and lightness that comes with laughter; my goal is to have an audience leave my show feeling like a giddy feather. With my background where the world is truly heavy, I hope my content can turn that heaviness into lightness.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

With new media dominating the stand up world, I’d encourage people who watch comedy and podcasts to go see shows live. Look for new artists that you enjoy and be the cool friend who can always suggest a good event to go to.

Comedy is coming off a major boom where a lot of newer talent leveled up via social media. One problem with this was a lot of people were recognized for 30 second clips and then audiences were disappointed when they were bored with them for 45 minutes to an hour.

As someone who watches comedy every night, there are so many comedians who can hold your attention that long and deserve the opportunity to be seen. Don’t fall for the eye candy on social media always, look for great artistry because that’s out there as well.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://bradrickert.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bradaintfunny/
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/bradrickert
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Bradaintfunny