Blake Hammond

Blake Hammond treats a microphone like he is trying to be heard over a crowded bar. He calls himself a loud comedian and he delivers on the promise, pacing the stage and shouting his premises. But underneath the volume is a comic who builds careful, tightly wound jokes. He will set up a familiar premise about his cousin coming out as gay, and then pull the rug out, ignoring the emotional weight of the moment to complain about trying to win a fifty-dollar bet with his dad. He does not waste words, even when he is yelling them.

Hammond is a Cincinnati lifer, choosing to stay in the Midwest rather than relocate to the coasts. He writes for the syndicated Bob and Tom Show and runs a weekly joke-writing workshop for local open-micers. He is a reliable local opener for headliners like Patton Oswalt and Kyle Kinane, building an audience through regional club weekends and rowdy basement shows.

He writes entire chunks about pop-punk culture and being a guy in his thirties. He dissects the questionable lyrics of early-2000s emo bands and roasts Taylor Swift to rooms full of defensive fans. He uses the tension of being a large, bearded guy who looks like a bouncer but possesses incredibly specific opinions about mid-aughts music. When a bit works, he laughs along with the room. When a crowd gets quiet, he happily berates them for failing to follow his logic.

Before comedy, Hammond studied journalism at the University of Cincinnati. That training shows up in how he trims his setups, cutting away everything that does not serve the punchline.