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

Hi Devon, thanks for joining us today. If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your creative career sooner or later?

I definitely wish I started sooner. I started pursuing comedy in my 40’s. WAY late for the entertainment business but I knew from a very young age that I wanted to do 2 things, make people laugh and feed them. Comedy and cooking are my life’s blood. I spent a lot of my life trying to fit in the regular boxes we are all told we belong in, but I was never happy. It led to bad decisions, depression, and struggles that were all alleviated with the right creative outlet. I’ve always been a writer so when I started writing comedy it came pretty naturally. I picked up on structure quickly and learned to analyze what made me laugh and why. Being on a stage with just a microphone and spotlight on you can be daunting but it’s my own adrenaline rush. I try to leave everything on the stage when I’m done. So yeah, having only been in it just shy of 2 years I definitely would’ve started much sooner!

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 grew up an only child in a very chaotic household. From the outside, we were a middle-class, suburban, happy family. Inside was a different story. A lot of alcoholism and abuse occurred and sometimes it even spilled into public. So funny became my defense and my escape. I immersed myself in the HA! channel (it’s Comedy Central now) and watched every comedy special I could. Not a lot of supervision in my house so I was watching Roseanne Barr, Joan Rivers, and George Carlin at 7 and 8 years old. I knew I had it in me and I knew it was my way out. Temporarily when I was little and permanently when I was older. When I started comedy I took a workshop at Upstage Comedy Lounge (shoutout to Bobby Smith, Mary Becquet, and Chris Grullon) and learned so much about timing, delivery, reading your audience, structured writing, and improvising when things don’t go as planned. I was welcomed with open arms and embraced by the San Antonio comedy community and the thing I hear most from people is they love that I’m genuine. All of my comedy is true. Good, bad, and ugly, it’s all true. And I’ve found that resonates with audiences. They’re more comfortable laughing because they don’t feel like they’re being tricked into laughing. I’m pretty irreverent and sometimes “off-color” but I always do it in a very personal way so the audience knows who I am. Victor Mendoza (GREAT SA Comedian) told me early on, “Find a way to introduce yourself to the audience so the give a …. about what you’re saying. Otherwise, they don’t know you. so they don’t care.” Best advice I’ve ever gotten and that’s exactly what I do now.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

That not everyone who says they are your friend is really your friend. That was a really hard one for me because being an only child and lonely most of the time I built my own family out of my friends. I love people at my core. But I tend to take everyone at face value and in society now that is not always a virtue that goes unexploited. I’ve had new people cleave tightly to me because I get along with just about everyone and I’m a great networker, mainly because I love talking to people. So I’ve had people come in and get really close to me only to find out they only wanted the connection or the “okay” from me to get everyone else on board. That’s heartbreaking when you try to help people the best you can and then they turn on you in ugly ways. I understand that this is a lesson everyone learns in life but it never became such a vital thing to know and look out for until I got into comedy. It’s baffling to do everything you can to help someone and it makes them mad at you. LOL It’s completely backwards. It used to be something I tried very hard to understand and make sense of but now I just realize broken people like to break other people. It’s not my job to fix anyone but I am great to have on your side because i am fiercely loyal.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

My favorite thing is when I’m setting up what is possibly a dark joke and I can hear one or two audience members, “Oh no!” or gasp and then hit the punchline and watch them turn from trepidacious to belly laughing. I also have particular jokes that I’m known for and I’ve had people yell the tagline at me at shows or in public sometimes. It’s awesome to know that you’ve stuck in someone’s heart or mind. I was once working a big show. Wasn’t on it but it was for a great comedian here in SA and as I was walking her back through the MOB of fans getting pics and congratulating her on an awesome show I had a girl stop me and I could barely understand what she was saying. I thought she was holding her phone up for me to take a pic of her and the headliner. Then I leaned in and she said, “I’ve seen you at a few shows and you are hilarious. Can I get a pic with you?” And I won’t even lie, I started crying. I never got her name but whoever you are if you’re reading this, you made my entire year. Somewhere there’s a pic of a very happy young lady and me ugly crying and trying to smile. Thank you! That’s exactly what I do it for!

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unclassycomedy/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UnClassyComedy/
• Youtube: youtube.com/@unclassycomedy