Joe Nunnink
Midwestern manners that make bizarre confessions sound completely normal.
1 special · 2025
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Nunnink walks onto the stage looking like an employee who wandered in from the break room, holding the microphone loose and speaking in a mild, conversational drawl that barely shifts whether he is talking about office potlucks or cremating his father. He does not push for punchlines. Instead, he will lay out an ordinary circumstance, pause just long enough to let the room settle into believing it is small talk, and then drop a detail so bizarre that the audience has to double back to catch up. When a joke hits, he does not grin or ride the laugh. He blinks, lets his shoulders drop an inch, and moves on as if nothing unusual happened.
Stand-up specials
On stage
In club basements and independent rooms, he is the kind of comic other comedians hang by the bar to watch. He cut his teeth in the Midwest before moving into the New York club circuit, gathering a following through deadpan online sketches and tight room sets rather than mainstream festival machinery.
His special, Keep the Change, is sharpest when grounded in real experience, whether detailing his years working as a certified Lego builder or untangling the odd formalities of grief. The material only sags when he lets a premise float too far into loose absurdity, losing the real-world friction that makes his flat delivery sing.
Before standup became the entire job, he studied animation and worked as a bank teller in Kansas City. That quiet, methodical patience still bleeds through every beat on stage.
Turning points
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First Paid Regular at Comedy Club KC
Became the first paid regular at The Comedy Club of Kansas City and placed second in the Loony Bin's Funniest Person Contest in 2019.
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NYCF Creator to Watch and Pilot Sale
Selected as an official Creator to Watch at the 2023 New York Comedy Festival and co-wrote an animated pilot with Hunter Hancock (MeatCanyon) sold to Roku Animation.
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Release of Debut Special Keep the Change
Filmed his debut hour special Keep the Change at The Gutter in Brooklyn as a CYSK event and premiered it on 800 Pound Gorilla Media's YouTube channel in June 2025.
At a glance
- On stage
- since 2012
- Style
- absurd, storytelling, self deprecating, observational, sketch comedy
- Breakout
- Keep the Change (2025 debut standup special on 800 Pound Gorilla Media's YouTube channel featuring routines on his LEGO Master Builder job, misinterpreting P.O.C., and fraternity-bro Jesus.)
- Influences
- David Cross, Jon Stewart, Dave Chappelle, Nate Bargatze, Woody Allen, Bob Newhart
- Topics
Fans also like
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Nate BargatzeNunnink explicitly cites Nate Bargatze as a major standup influence, sharing an accessible, self-deprecating storytelling sensibility.
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David CrossNunnink cites David Cross as an early comedic influence, aligning with his blend of absurd standup perspectives and sketch comedy.
Also on screen
- Pleasure
- Power and Greed
A clip to start with
My Dead Dad's Wife Is Just a Random Lady Now | Standup Comedy | Joe Nunnink