Sacramento comedian Johnny Taylor straight up puts in work. Known for his self-deprecating and lovably sarcastic style, the dude is literally always playing gigs, both in town and on the road, and he’s never not writing—for proof, join his 128K followers on Twitter (@hipsterocracy) for a daily dose of LOLZ. Taylor has shared stages with the late-great Robin Williams, as well as Doug Stanhope, Dave Attell and tons of other big names. He also found great success with his 2014 debut for Stand Up! Records, Tangled Up in Plaid, which peaked at No. 7 on iTunes’ digital comedy charts. After a couple years of further honing his craft and stacking jokes on jokes, Taylor is preparing to record his second album, Bummin’ With the Devil. The taping is going down on Saturday, June 18 at Harlow’s. Tickets are only $13 in advance, available now on Harlows.com. Doors open for this 18-and-over show at 6 p.m. Opening will be fellow Stand Up! Records labelmate and local comedy scene staple, Keith Lowell Jensen, which sort of makes this show a one-two punch to the gut. No really, your stomach will hurt from the laughter. For more on Johnny Taylor, visit his website, Hipsterocracy.com.

If you’ve yet to attend one of Crocker Art Museum’s infamous Art Mix events, this Thursday, Dec. 10, 2015, would be a great place to start. The lineup is absolutely stacked, and we’re predicting it’ll be one of the best ones yet. In true Art Mix fashion, “Revolution” will smash together the worlds of music, art, comedy, film, performance, food, drink and more! Crocker wants you to, “Overthrow 2015 with a bash, a bang and a blast.” Expect great tunes from Lonely Bulls and DJ Larry Rodriguez (aka Flower Vato). Stand-up comedy will be provided by Keith Lowell Jensen and Johnny Taylor. Other community groups involved include American River College Electronics Program, Bobby Edwards’ Transnational Art Project, Isabella Corsetry, Sacramento Young Feminist Alliance, Boomcase, Sacramento Natural Food Co-op, Burly Beverages and many others. Don’t forget to check out the incredible exhibit Divine Ammunition: The Sculpture of Al Farrow, which you might have read about in our last issue. Art Mix runs from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. and has been designed for adults. Crocker members get in free, general admission is $10 for adults and $8 for college students. Learn more at Crockerartmuseum.org or Facebook.com/crockerart

Two of Sacramento’s most prominent stand-up comedians, Keith Lowell Jensen and Johnny Taylor, have teamed up to start a new monthly live comedy show called MASS. This is the same duo that for many years curated the popular but now-defunct comedy night on Wednesday’s at Luna’s Café. Appropriately, MASS will take place on the first Sunday of every month at Momo Sacramento (above Harlow’s), so mark your calendars for the kick-off party on Aug. 2. “Sacramento’s dynamic duo of comedy will be bringing their favorite comedians together for an intimate, laid back night of hilarious story telling, joke slinging, and envelope pushing,” they wrote on the event’s Facebook page. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. for a 7 p.m. show, and the cover charge is just $10. Momo is located at 2708 J Street in downtown Sacramento. Check out Taylor’s latest album Tangled Up in Plaid and Jensen’s newest release Atheist Christmas, both available on iTunes.

Rising Local Comedian Johnny Taylor on How Life Informs His Comedy and Why Sacramento Doesn’t Suck as Much as It Thinks It Does

Last Christmas, comedian Johnny Taylor woke up to receive one of the best presents of his life. It wasn’t a big screen TV or a new car, but a record deal. During the wee hours of Christmas morning he received a text message from Dan Schlissel, the president of Stand Up! Records that read, “I’m about 20 minutes into your album and I want to release it.”

“So he faxed me a record contract, I signed, and I was like fucking Merry Christmas,” explained the stand-up comedian.

At first Taylor’s only reason to even record a comedy album was to have merchandise and make some extra cash after his stand-up gigs. But after taking a chance and sending the president of a huge record company his raw comedy recording he thought, “What’s the worst that can happen?”

Taylor has now turned his small chance into a huge opportunity. His debut album, Tangled Up in Plaid can now be heard worldwide on iTunes, Spotify and Rhapsody.

Taylor turns what should be mundane observations in his life into hilarious comedy bits. His new album is full of his life stories that are brilliantly turned into jokes. At times you can even call it dark comedy, but it will still make you laugh. On the album, he pokes fun at his lazy eye, finding his mom’s sex toys as a kid and hating his day job.

After performing in the Sacramento comedy scene for five years, Taylor has a lot of love for this town. Not only did he record his live album at Punch Line, but he will be holding his album debut party at The Sacramento Comedy Spot on Nov. 15, 2014.

Submerge caught up with Johnny outside of The Mill to talk about his new album, the hipster lifestyle and spreading the wealth of Sacramento’s underappreciated art scene.

Tell me about your new album, Tangled Up in Plaid.
It’s a live recording of my stand-up comedy as it was a year ago. It took longer than I thought it was going to come out, but it’s because I wasn’t anticipating being signed by a label, which is great. I signed a three-record deal with Stand Up! Records. But they had a lot more important people to get out than me, so it took a while for it to come out. Understandably, they had bigger fish to fry, but I’m really happy with how it turned out and proud of it.

Why did you name it Tangled Up in Plaid?
Tangled Up in Plaid is a side effect of living in any sort of hipster-ish part of town. People talk about Midtown Sac having this hipster culture but there is a Midtown Sac in every single town that you go to in America. And that’s where the people wear plaid shirts and skinny jeans, they drink cold brew coffee…you know what I mean? So it’s a matter of being surrounded by that part of the culture. People call me a hipster and a lot of my friends are… Keith Lowell Jensen is the prototypical aging hipster. It’s just about being in the middle of kind of that hipsterocracy. But it’s also a take on Bob Dylan’s, Tangled Up in Blue.

Where do you fit in in the whole hipster scene?
Just like the older uncle. Hipsters are called hipsters because they like what’s cool before anybody else does, and I don’t think there is anything wrong with that. So if people want to call me a hipster, that’s fine. I don’t claim to be one. I think I’m too old to claim that. If being cool is being a hipster, then fuck yeah I want to be hipster because I think I’m pretty fucking cool.

On the live recording of the album, it sounded like the audience was really enjoying your comedy.
Yeah I lucked out, it would have sucked to do my album recording and the audience just be flat but they weren’t. They were totally into from the get-go. I knew when I was watching the openers, I knew this was going to be good. So the only factor was me performing well. It was the perfect coming together, I had a good set and the crowd was hot. And it turned out being a really good record.

It seems like your comedy is based on your personal life stories, is that where you get a lot of your material from?
That’s where I get all of it from. Most of it are things that have happened or things that I was directly or indirectly involved in or just a thought I had. Anything involving work or my personal relationships, it’s not secret. I get a lot of material out of the fact that I have been married and divorced, more than I’d like to admit. But all of it is real personal. I think that’s the only way I know how to write. A lot of people are very good joke crafters and one-liner comics but mine are basically, “This is my life story.” I try to make it as entertaining as possible but they are based on things I would probably tell at a party. When it’s personal there is a passion behind telling it because it happened to them.

Is it ever nerve-wracking revealing yourself to a group of strangers?
It’s weird in general just doing stand-up. But having it recorded on a record that is now being consumed by people that I don’t know, in other parts of the world. I have a Twitter following and I get these weird replies from material from my record and I’m like, “Oh, that’s weird some dude in New Zealand listened to a story about me shitting on a steam cleaner.” It’s hard to wrap your fucking head around it. So yeah, it’s weird.

Did you start performing comedy in Sacramento?
Yeah, I think Sacramento is a good place to start. Sac has such a great art scene and people don’t appreciate it, they have amazing bands and really incredible comics. I can name five right off the bat that I would put up against everybody.

When I think of the Sacramento comedy scene, I think of everyone on it being a big family.
It’s very much like a family. We fight just like a family, but I think you have that in every scene. When my record went no. 7 on iTunes, I was getting messages from people I haven’t talked to in two years. They were like, “Anything you do that brings up Sacramento comedy is a win for all of us.” And that’s so true. I want all of my friends to succeed because I want people to go, “Oh man Sacramento has a good art scene.” I think it’s important and people don’t realize it, then they come here and go, “I didn’t know you guys were so great.” The logo should be, “Sacramento you don’t suck as much as I thought you did.”

Where is your favorite place to perform in Sac?
I have a weekly show [The Infirmary] with five friends of mine. It’s at the Ooley Theatre. And that’s like home base. Its every Wednesday at 8 p.m. at the Ooley. It’s a small theater that only seats 40 people. It can be weird and uncomfortable; some of the best comics are trying out new material, playing ideas. It’s the ultimate workout room. But certain nights you go there, it can be magic and somebody will have a brand new story that they have never told before and it’s just incredible. It creates a whole energy in the room. That’s what I’m about right now… I think part of it is people don’t know about it. You can only flyer and talk about it on podcasts so many times and try to promote it with social media. I think once the word fully gets out that we are doing it, it’s going to be packed and it should be because they are really great shows.

Describe some of the relationships you have with other comedians in town.
There are people that are your best friends, there are people that you work with and get along with and there are people that you don’t really like that much. Some of my best friends I talk to every day, whether it’s bouncing a joke idea or asking, “How’s your day been?” Once you become a comedian you end up hanging out with all these comedians, which can be good and can be bad. Because I think if you hang about too many comedians too much, your whole life revolves around talking with comedians and doing sets, and doing as many sets as possible. And you become so obsessed with it that you stop living a life worth commenting on. What are you going to write about? So I try and hang out with non-comedians a lot, try and do non-comedy-related stuff. I need stuff to happen in my life so I can write jokes about it.

Check out Johnny Taylor live at the Sacramento Comedy Spot on Nov. 15, 2014, and help him celebrate the release of his CD, Tangled Up in Plaid. Tickets are just $8, and the show starts at 10:30 p.m. You can purchase Taylor’s album through his website, Johnnyisntfunny.com.

Sacramento Comedian Mike E. Winfield gets ready for the premiere of his new comedy/music mashup on FUSE TV

Words by Andru Bell

The first thing you notice about comedian Mike E. Winfield before he ever tells a joke is his smile. He has the kind of contagious, ear-to-ear grin that you can hear over the phone.

These days that smile might have a lot to do with the fact Winfield is counting down to the premiere of his new TV show, Off Beat, on the FUSE network Sept. 14, 2012, a dream he has been working toward his entire career. Winfield will host the weekly viral video music/comedy mash up with sidekick Mal Hall dissecting and analyzing the most outrageous music themed videos and viewer submitted clips (think “Chocolate Rain” and “Hot Cheetos and Takis”).

Off Beat features a heavy hitting production team including the legendary Vin Di Bona as one of the executive producers as well as creative consultant Mike Gibbons who worked on Tosh.0. “It’s viral videos that have a connection to music,” describes Winfield. “There could be someone at church dancing and they fall out the cathedral window. That could make the show.”

With the first season wrapped, and Hollywood notoriety around the corner, Winfield is still incredibly humble when speaking about his comedic roots and the path to his current success.

“In school I was hilarious to about three people only,” Winfield says when asked if he was the class clown. “I feel that everyone else knew me as Michael, the dude chillin’, trying to make the team.”

At points, growing up in East Baltimore, Md., was anything but comedic for Winfield. “I didn’t know how bad areas were where I lived until I got older,” he reflects back. “By eighth grade I was able to recognize that people were selling drugs on the block where I lived. I knew where not to get shot. I even knew how to spot an undercover vehicle.”

It wasn’t until moving to Sacramento after high school that Winfield would even step on stage for the first time to try his hand at stand-up comedy. His sophomore year at American River College, a small audience caught the first glimmer of greatness. Or something like that.

“I get on stage at this open mic believing I have the skills to freestyle a five minute set,” Winfield recalls. “I can barely freestyle a five minute set now, so it goes awry. I’m not booed, but it’s silence and stares–very awkward and uncomfortable. I figure that live comedy is not for me…and I focus on finishing college.”

Three years later, after graduating from Sacramento State with a bachelor’s degree in English he is faced with the decision to enter the teaching profession or attempt stand-up comedy again.

“I built the courage to return to the beast,” Winfield says. “But this time, I actually write material, which is the difference.”

The rest is Sacramento comedy history.

“I just started going to open mics and hitting them every week until more shows and doors started opening.” This was 2004.

It feels lightweight cliché to draw a comedic style comparison between Mike E. Winfield and Chris Rock, but the same charisma, originality and ability to relate to a crowd that made the latter a household name has propelled Winfield to where he is today. There is a definitive everyday feel to Winfield’s stand-up that he has maintained throughout all of his mainstream successes.

Since dedicating his life to the art of making a crowd laugh Winfield has been featured on BET’s Comic View, Comedy Central’s Live at Gotham, Showtime’s Comics Without Borders, Comics Unleashed, The Late Show with David Letterman and NBC’s The Office before being selected for his latest role as host of Off Beat.

The audition process for Off Beat started last year in Los Angeles when Mike E. Winfield and thousands of other comedians and on-air personalities of all kinds auditioned for the gig. It wasn’t until this past February that Winfield got word that he had beat out the competition and was Hollywood bound.

“It’s funny because I said, ‘I want my own TV show,’ but something like Off Beat I would’ve never planned,” Winfield says. “It’s weird because I don’t know what else I would be more fit for.”

Though he is the figurehead for a team of writers now, Winfield promises the same personal connection with the audience that has fueled his stand-up success.

“With Off Beat it feels so much like it is mine and people will really get to know me. They see so much of me just being myself so it’s more fitting than anything else I could even imagine.”

Now living back and forth between Los Angeles and Sacramento, Winfield is touring to promote Off Beat’s upcoming premiere. A comedian’s comedian, Winfield isn’t spending all of his time talking to morning news shows though. In fact, he is known for making impromptu appearances at local open mics from Sacramento to New York City. He explains, “Whatever town I find myself in, I’m trying to hit the stage.”

If you don’t Google him, you might spend an entire night hanging out with Mike before you realize that he’s sort of famous.

A few weeks ago, while back home visiting, Winfield dropped by a showcase at Luna’s Cafe, hosted by comedian Johnny Taylor, to do a set completely unannounced. “Mike E. is on the verge,” described Taylor, “but he’s different, because you know he’s one of those guys that really wants to bring the city with him.”

When asked how he plans to deal with the fame monster, Winfield jokingly responds that he has already scouted out a place to buy afro wigs to outfit his army of imposter drones in true pop star fashion.

“Britney Spears has to leave her house through some hidden chamber in the basement and has imposters that look like her,” he explains. “I have this place where I go get afros, throw them on people, and then have them leave before me.”

In reality, the gradual climb up the ladder of success has readied Winfield for the upcoming wave of (much deserved) recognition. “I feel like there was a set up for this,” he explains, “It’s a slow, gradual… BOOM.”

When asked his advice to aspiring comedians, there is no hesitation. His answer is immediate and fires off like a mantra. “Everything is about the work you put in,” he says, “I believe when you work hard at anything you see results even if it comes back to you another way. So it’s not talking about it. It’s doing the actual work. I’ll perform anywhere. I’ve performed at poetry shows, open mics and cafes. I’ve performed in the back of a vegan restaurant. If there is a microphone, I’ve been on it.”

It would be remiss to credit Winfield’s relentless work ethic and fail to mention his secret weapon, wife Kisha, who has stood by the comic’s side every step of the way and played the most important role behind the scenes. “September we’ve been married 10 years,” says Winfield. “The thing is we’re stronger than ever. She’s the one behind the scenes getting stuff done.”

Though his marriage is not off limits as fodder for his stand-up, it is clear that she is another reason for that famous smile. You have to respect and admire a wife that can truly support a struggling comic with showbiz dreams. And clearly Winfield does.

Mike E. Winfield will be back in Sacramento headlining at The Punchline on Oct. 4, 2012 as well as multiple shows over Thanksgiving weekend, also at Punchline. …And you never know where he’ll show up between now and then.

Keep up with Mike E. Winfield as Off Beat hits the airwaves and set your DVRs for the premiere Sept. 14th at 7 p.m. on the FUSE network. You can also follow his misadventures in viral video via his Twitter, @MikeEWinfield, and his website http://mikewinfield.com/. You can see Winfield live at the Punchline in Sacramento on Oct. 4. For tickets and more info, go to http://punchlinesac.com/