We were lucky to catch up with Noah Vargas recently and have shared our conversation below.
Noah, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.
Hello! My name is Noah Vargas. I am a stand-up comedian and the host of the OnlyKings Podcast based out of Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Growing up I had a growing interest in film, video games, comic books, etc that most young boys do, and thankfully my interest has stuck with me well into my late 20s. However, the art form that always stood out the most to me was stand-up comedy. I thought (and still do) about how mind blowing it is that these performers are able to get on stage, with only a microphone, and entertain an audience. To the point that some audience members would lose their breath, fall out of chairs, spill drinks, and much more just from laughing uncontrollably. Truly blew my mind. I grew up in a deeply religious household, and due to this the first comedian I was able to convince my mom to buy me a DVD of was Jeff Dunham, clearly she knew nothing about his material, all she saw were the puppets. My friends and I watched and re-watched it dozens of times.
What changed everything for me was when we got cable TV in our spare bedroom, and I stayed up much later than I should have to watch Comedy Central’s stand-up specials. Especially the Comedy Central Roasts. Combine this with Netflix moving to streaming slowly but surely, and then they started adding stand-up to their platform? It was over for me and I was hooked.
I never actually believed that I would ever give stand-up a try. I had way too much respect for the art to ever think that I could go on stage and do it. Flash forward to summer of 2020, I recently got home from a deployment with the New Mexico National Guard and I needed something to do. Talked to a couple of buddies of mine about the idea of doing my own podcast, and the collective answer was “why not?”. Much like many men in their late teens into their 20s I had become a huge fan of the Joe Rogan Experience in about 2016-2017, and am still an avid listener to this day. I begin my own podcast, “OnlyKings Podcast”, with sitting down with my friends and having unfiltered, ridiculous, and often wholesome conversations. I figured if Rogan could do it, why couldn’t I? After a ton of help, both financially and technically from my friends, the podcast began. As it started to grow inside Albuquerque, I found myself speaking with local stand-up comedians. Honest to God I didn’t even know we had stand-up comics here in New Mexico. As I began to speak to more of them, and I started attending local shows, the idea to give it a try made its way into the back of my head and never went away.
Finally, on June 7th of 2023, after watching an open mic, two comedians I had become friends with – AMarie Castillo and Robert “Buck D” Gipson, told me I would be doing stand up at their mic the following week. Didn’t matter if I had the full 5 minutes, or 20 seconds, I was going up. I bombed my ass off. But man did I love it. AMarie saw something inside my dumpster fire of a set, and booked me for a show the following month. I immediately went from doing a horrible 5 minutes, to having to figure out a good 5-7 minutes at a real show.
The show went shockingly well, with veteran comics that I was on the show with and who were in attendance, complimenting me on the guts I had to go up being so new, and how surprised they were at how my set went.
From there it hasn’t stopped. I continue to get booked regularly here in Albuquerque, the podcast is continuing to grow, and I genuinely feel like the luckiest man on the planet right now to be able to pursue a dream I could never conceive I’d ever be worthy to try.
Noah, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
As a stand-up comedian and podcaster, it is primarily my job to entertain my audiences, both virtually and in person. As I stated before, I got into stand-up comedy after being a lifelong fan of the art form and finally getting pressured to give it a try by two local stand-up comics I had become friends with. I started my podcast, OnlyKings Podcast, following my return from a deployment with a need to create something. Being a huge fan of the Joe Rogan Podcast; I figured, “why can’t I”?.
Currently, what I believe sets myself aside from other podcasters in New Mexico is that I am the only independently sound podcaster in New Mexico, speaking financially, technically, and personally. What I mean by that is first and foremost; I am a radical believer in free speech, and I only speak to individuals that I am genuinely interested in speaking with. This is the most important to me because it is my job to create an environment that the guest feels as comfortable as humanly possible to speak what is on their mind, and do so without fear of judgement. This, combined with the fact that I am the only person who does the booking for the podcast, makes for a better listening experience for the audience. What has made podcasting such a dominant way of communication is the authenticity of the platform. People can catch on very quickly if a podcast episode was thrown together for commercial, marketing, financial etc reasons, and your audience will lose interest quickly. If the host is actually interested in the person; and therefore invested in what they have to say, it makes for a well executed podcast all around. I also pride myself on the high end equipment I have inside my home studio. I recognize fully that I am blessed beyond measure to have the microphones, cameras, live-streaming tech, lighting, and more that I do. Or the fact that I have a dedicated podcast studio in the first place, let alone in my own home. I let nothing about this opportunity go to waste, as this provides the guest with an amazing lived in experience, as well as the best quality audio and video production possible. I also am very proud and thankful of the fact that because of this independence, I am not beholden to anyone to censor myself or change my views based upon current events or anything that happens around me. I currently have two amazing sponsors: Chopped Chile Co. and High Desert Relief, both located here in New Mexico. These two have been extremely supportive of myself, the platform and my comedy. Neither have done anything to try to change how I operate or conduct myself, and I believe this is due to in large part the product I have been producing when they found me, and the quality in which I continue to produce. Both in the podcast and stand-up comedy world.
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
Regarding the stand-up comedy world – go to local shows. Sure, it is awesome going to major clubs that may be in your city. But, your favorite comedian was once a local comedian, playing free or $5 shows at local bars, bowling alleys, venues, or literally anywhere that will allow comedy. Go support local comedians, give them a follow on Instagram, it means the absolute world.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.
In my opinion, something that can be a struggle to understand at first is the amount of time that goes into a creative endeavour if the person is truly passionate of making it, or themselves great. This applied to family, friends, loved ones, anyone in that person’s circumference. It can be taxing to try and understand why someone is pouring so much time and energy into a creative project; especially when there is no money, fame, notoriety, etc. I can’t blame them at all for having thoughts about why they aren’t spending more time with them (whomever they may be), and to an extent I agree. Close loved ones should not be neglected, period. However, to succeed at anything, especially things that are driven completely by the individual, require time and energy, and unfortunately that time and energy must be taken from something.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/onlykingspodcast/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OnlyKingsMedia
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@onlykingspodcast
