We were lucky to catch up with Spencer Mills recently and have shared our conversation below.

Spencer, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

As a middle child who’s school atire was ill-fitting hand-me-downs, I learned quickly that laughs were the great equalizer. I was no longer judged by my seven year old tattered jeans, or my speech impediment. If I made them laugh I was accepted and part of the group. My circumstances were no longer the story.
Initially I took joy in the Culinary Arts. The animosity of the Chef was alluring to me. Another way to hide and let my art speak for me without judgement. My applause were the cleaned plates coming back to the dishpit. But the joy was always in the comradery of the Joke.
Stand-up had always been an elusive idea when you live in southeast Oklahoma. The idea of a comedy club is about as tangible as Atlantis. But one day on social media, I saw a person who attended a comedy show at a bar, and suddenly this wasn’t an idea contained to New York and Los Angeles. I immediately found an open mic night and haven’t looked back yet.

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

I was born and raised on a small farm, but that’s the simplest of versions. My parents were hippies and both raised in military families. They had stories and life lessons from across the globe that kept my imagination anywhere but on the farm. I was a middle child so I quickly learned that the laugh was how I could get attention.
I have been making jokes and cutting up my entire life. I started with school plays, boy scout skits, even church nativity scenes.
I gave up those dreams as an adult, until I discovered what a comedy open mic was. An open mic means anyone can participate and I instantly fell in love with stand up.
Now I perform and produce shows based in Oklahoma but all over the flyover states, and would consider myself just a simple country boy trying to get some laughs. Some people think I’m a country comic. Some people think I’m a comic who happenes to be country.
I think I’m a guy trying to make the room I’m in laugh.

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

I think the most important aspect to help grow a creative scene is to understand misses lead to improvement and are neccassary. If you are at a comedy show and a comedian tells an unfunny joke, being silent is more helpful than a heckle. A heckle causes our defense mechanisms to say “roast them, get the pain off of you”, and the point is missed. A dead silent room after a joke tells the comedian a detailed story of joke suckage.
The second most important point is to understand comedy is like music. If you really like death metal, you will not have fun at a bluegrass concert. Comedy isn’t thought of in genres but the quicker society comes to that conclusion, the less upset people there will be at shows.

Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

I want to say I wish I knew about comedy open mics sooner, but I thinks that’s not true. I believe if I had started as a younger man my comedian skills would obviously be better but my blindspots would be much larger. All of my life’s events have made me understand the world in a way that comedy may have overshadowed. I have been in situations as adult that have changed me for the positive, as a human.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: SpencerMillsComedy
• Facebook: SpencerMillsComedy
• Youtube: SpencerMillsComedy
• Other: tiktok- SpencerMillsComedy
  email- [email protected]

Image Credits

Rik Clement