From the vault: my second Instagram post ever. May 26, 2014. Caption: “Slinging jokes!”
Two days after post number one, I had already leveled up. I had a caption. Growth is growth, and I will not apologize for it.
Look at this one, though. Same guy, different night, and this time I am really feeling myself. Black t-shirt with The Dude on it, because of course, jeans, mic in one hand, and the other arm thrown all the way out like I am presenting the joke to the room like a gameshow prize. There is a brick wall behind me, a stool with a red drink on it, and the silhouette of somebody’s head in the front row, which is the most honest review a comic can get. You are either in the shot because you are laughing, or you are in the shot because you showed up.
“Slinging jokes!” That is the whole caption. No setup, no punchline, no hashtag strategy. Just a guy announcing to the internet that he was, in fact, slinging jokes. I love the confidence of that exclamation point. I had done maybe a handful of sets at this point and I was already talking like it was a trade. Like, yes, I sling jokes, it is what I do, catch me at the brick wall.
Here is the thing nobody tells you when you start: the arm-out pose is not a bit, it is a survival tactic. You get up there, the room goes quiet, and your body has to do something while your brain catches up to your mouth. So you gesture big. You point at nothing. You look like you are directing traffic for jokes.
Same guy now, on the roster at Comedy Works, won their 2026 New Faces Contest, out on the road hosting THE DOSE. The t-shirts got better. The arm still goes out sometimes. Old habits, and honestly, the jokes are still being slung.
Nic
Original post: https://www.instagram.com/p/oeJjwDCVpj/ , see the current tour dates at nicdean.net