Avery Pearson - Not Your Stanchion Comic

They say behind every good man is a good woman. Well, behind every good stan­chion is an artist yearn­ing for more. In Avery Pearson’s case both could be said, but Avery Pear­son is here to tell you he’s ​“not a stan­chion com­ic.” I am shar­ing this inside joke from our inter­view with you up top because I need you to under­stand how much fun we had with Pear­son. I laughed when we were there and I laughed just as hard lis­ten­ing back. Before we even hit record, Pear­son was impro­vis­ing a song for us to play for his friend, Jere­mi­ah Watkins, using only a key­board app on his phone. Genius.

Valerie and I first became aware of Pear­son through Moon­tow­er and The God­damn Com­e­dy Jam; as such a cru­cial part of the Jam he caught our atten­tion and we became über fans. We’ve seen him on Jeff Ross’ His­tor­i­cal Roasts and this years NFL Hon­ors and each time we see him on our screens we cheer. Pearson’s musi­cal tal­ent and comedic tim­ing blend per­fect­ly to make him an absolute force in the com­e­dy scene.

Like many actors/​comedians/​musicians Pear­son got his start because of a crush. The apple of his ele­men­tary school eye was going to the arts school so Pear­son fol­lowed quick­ly along. Pear­son remained in art schools there­after, pick­ing up act­ing, music, and even stand up via the cur­ricu­lum. And though he found com­e­dy to be a blast, Pear­son was focused on becom­ing a seri­ous dra­mat­ic actor. So what changed his tra­jec­to­ry? His ulti­mate crush, A.K.A. his wife MJ, told him that com­e­dy was his call­ing and that’s what he need­ed to pur­sue. Thank you, MJ!

Fol­low­ing his wife’s advice Pear­son got a job work­ing the door at the Hol­ly­wood Improv, pay­ing his dues for years with­out com­plaint. One night he was play­ing piano before a show and the man­ag­er asked him to stay up. You see, Pear­son would play and riff with crowds before shows. Catch­ing the atten­tion of the afore­men­tioned Jeff Ross, Pear­son was asked to remain on-stage, adding a sound­track to Ross’ roast. Soon oth­er per­form­ers were ask­ing Pear­son to riff with them dur­ing sets. 

It’s not sur­pris­ing that this is how Pear­son got his start because, while you’ll hear first­hand in our inter­view how Pear­son is unequiv­o­cal­ly fun­ny, he also has an excep­tion­al gift for bring­ing out the bril­liance in oth­ers. Pear­son says, ​“I’m real­ly good at mak­ing very tal­ent­ed peo­ple even bet­ter with piano and work­ing with them. I’m very good at sup­port­ing.” The skill has been noticed by so many in the indus­try that it earned Pear­son a Sat­ur­day Night Live musi­cal cred­it just last year for a song he cre­at­ed for Aris­to­tle Athari’s char­ac­ter Angelo. 

While Pear­son has a gift for sup­port­ing, he’s still com­plete­ly com­fort­able being the cen­ter of atten­tion. He start­ed his own vari­ety show The 88 Show (a nod to the 88 keys on a piano — triv­ia buffs, take note), and it is his baby. Pear­son curates the show to fea­ture hilar­i­ous guests, includ­ing, most recent­ly Rachel Bloom. Pear­son loves to con­nect with the audi­ence and have a good time. He states ​”I just kind of look at it like … you’re in my liv­ing room and I just want to have fun. And I feel very com­fort­able up there on stage.”

On-stage, front and cen­ter, is exact­ly where Avery Pear­son belongs. Don’t believe me? Just ask Sir Paul McCart­ney. Now that’s a sto­ry you’ll have to lis­ten to our inter­view to hear.

Thank you once again to Avery Pear­son for the orig­i­nal song ​“Wham of Fame” which is fea­tured on the 2022 Moon­tow­er episode Jere­mi­ah Watkins: Still the Best.

Fol­low Avery

• Web­site — www​.Avery​Pear​son​.com
• Twit­ter
  • Avery Pear­son — @averyfunny
  • The 88 Show — @the88show
• Tik­Tok — @AveryFunny
• Insta­gram
  • Avery Pear­son — @averyfunny
  • The 88 Show — @the88show
• Face­book — Face​book​.com/​A​v​e​r​y​P​p​e​arson
• Youtube — Youtube​.com/​A​v​e​r​y​P​e​arson

Avery and his music can be seen and heard:

• The 88 Show with Avery Pear­son — Cre­ator and host; live at the Hol­ly­wood Improv (check Insta­gram for dates)
• The God­damn Com­e­dy Jam — Keys in the Band
• His­tor­i­cal Roasts (Net­flix)
• The Iliza Schlesinger Sketch Show (Net­flix) — Music supervisor
• Sat­ur­day Night Live — Ange­lo sketch music by Avery Pear­son — Youtube/​SNLAngelo
• NFL Hon­ors 2022 (ABC) — Open­ing Num­ber written/​composed by Music Direc­tor for the Band, Avery Pearson
• Christ­mas Mag­ic for Com­e­dy Gives Back — Writ­ten and per­formed by Avery Pear­son — Youtube/​ChristmasMagic
• “I’m not Equipped to be a Father” — Youtube/​ImNotEquippedtobeaFather
• TV Appear­ances: Suits, Mas­ters of Sex, LA Complex