The Dry Bar Comedy Podcast · Dry Bar Comedy

Ep. 40 - Shaka Comedy w/ Josh Fonokalafi

·33 min·2 clips

Josh’s first off-site gig was an Amber Alert benefit with children’s missing-person presentations and Elizabeth Smart.

1. The Dry Bar Comedy Podcast episode with Josh Fonokalafi centers on Polynesian culture, stand-up origins, and driving-test stories. 2. Josh Fonokalafi joins Taylor Nielsen and Jordan Macon as the guest comic, and his name matters because the hosts keep talking about how it gets spelled and pronounced. 3. The episode asks what it means to be “the American Islander” while also working as a comedian and road tester. 4. Josh describes the shaka, the Polynesian Cultural Center of Hawaii, and the way visitors are encouraged to participate in island presentations. 5. He says poi is a root paste and jokes about which foods are actually Polynesian, including teriyaki chicken and mac salad. 6. Josh explains that he moved back to Utah after a breakup, then found a Wiseguys open mic ad in the paper. 7. He says his first open mic in 2009 went well, and the next 13 sets were terrible. 8. Josh recalls an early joke about being called a homophobe and answering that he loves homes and staying in them. 9. He says his dad showed him a Brian Regan VHS, which made him realize comedy could be something people get paid for. 10. Josh tells a story about a first off-site gig for the Amber Alert that included costumes, presentations, and a room full of emotional context. 11. He names Elizabeth Smart as part of that event and says the organizers had a musical slideshow about children who had gone missing in Utah. 12. The hosts react to that booking as a difficult place to do stand-up because the audience had already sat through serious presentations. 13. Josh compares that room to other bad gigs, including a 40-year class reunion where he was making jokes about people in the audience who were already dead. 14. He also talks about Pepper Tree, where a dance party started right after comedy and the crowd heckled him off stage. 15. Josh says he left that stage by wishing there was a dam nearby he could blow up, and the audience booed him after hearing it. 16. He describes his day job testing drivers, including teenagers and people with DUIs, and says the score system works like golf. 17. Josh says the worst result is hitting a person, and he gives the example of failing someone for almost running over pedestrians at an intersection. 18. The tone stays loose and conversational, with Taylor Nielsen and Jordan Macon interrupting often and turning several stories into quick back-and-forth banter. 19. Fans of stand-up road stories and Utah comedy history would get the most from this episode. 20. Listeners wanting a tightly structured interview without tangents may skip it.

As heard by us

Loose banter, a real origin story, and a guest who keeps the room moving.

This Dry Bar Comedy Podcast installment opens in a relaxed register, with Taylor Nielsen and Jordan Macon trading spider-shirt, Halloween, and beard-trim jokes before Josh Fonokalafi brings the hour back to a plain account of moving back to Utah, spotting a Wise Guy open mic ad,…

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Why you'd press play

You want a loose hang where a beard trim, a spider shirt, and an open-mic stumble become jokes.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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