Jeremiah Watkins: It's Daddy Time Again

With five pre­vi­ous inter­views on Com­e­dy Wham, you’d think there’s no way Jere­mi­ah Watkins has got some­thing new to dis­cuss. But the Los Ange­les-based com­ic always has mul­ti­ple plates spin­ning. He returned to the Moon­tow­er Just for Laughs Com­e­dy Fes­ti­val this year and spoke with us about his many ​“babies” — both lit­er­al­ly and fig­u­ra­tive­ly. Between father­hood, suc­cess­ful pod­casts, a standup career, writ­ing, and audi­tions, to say Watkins is busy is an understatement. 

Just this March Watkins released his sec­ond hour-long standup spe­cial ​“Dad­dy” which he self-pro­duced, direct­ed, and edit­ed him­self. ​“I put a lot of ener­gy into this spe­cial release that I just put out on YouTube,” he says. ​“It’s stress­ful lead­ing up to it and when it’s actu­al­ly being released, but I’m real­ly glad that I did, because it’s a moti­vat­ing fac­tor for me to work on that next hour and start putting that together.” 

The new mate­r­i­al con­tains a mix of jokes from his decade-plus career in com­e­dy. Some even start­ed as impro­vised jokes on his Stand-Up on the Spot, where comics ditch their writ­ten mate­r­i­al and make up jokes on the spot based on audi­ence sug­ges­tions. ​“That’s a real­ly cool thing to see that go from just the seed or a nugget of a joke to all the way make it into a spe­cial.” Oth­er jokes were writ­ten years ago, though not nec­es­sar­i­ly in the rota­tion. Rather than sav­ing any jokes for the future, he knew he need­ed to get it all out there. ​“Some of the jokes that made the cut are lit­er­al­ly jokes that are 10 years old, and I’m like I got­ta put this on spe­cial. And I got­ta release this and I got­ta move on to the next hour that I want to be work­ing on.”

After baby num­ber two’s arrival some­time in June, Watkins plans to take some time off to spend time with his fam­i­ly and adjust to the new nor­mal. But he’s not slow­ing down just yet. He and his wife Maja are work­ing on an orig­i­nal ani­mat­ed pilot for chil­dren that focus­es on social and emo­tion­al learn­ing, a per­fect blend of their back­grounds in com­e­dy and edu­ca­tion. And when he’s not writ­ing, he’s audi­tion­ing for voiceover roles. He’s already booked a hand­ful of roles so far. 

When it comes to bal­anc­ing father­hood and career, Watkins def­i­nite­ly feels the pull at home. He tries to make up for it but admits it’s becom­ing hard­er as his old­est son gets old­er and becomes more aware. ​“You have to be a lit­tle bit more strate­gic about real­ly mak­ing the time count when you are home.” His approach is qual­i­ty over quan­ti­ty and being present when he does spend time with his son. ​“You can be a dad that is home every day with your kid, but if you’re on your phone all the time around them and you’re not present, that’s not as effec­tive as lit­er­al­ly 15 min­utes a day com­plete­ly undi­vid­ed atten­tion where the rest of the world does­n’t exist.”

Watkins tries to have a zen approach to his com­e­dy career. Being a hus­band and father has taught him the impor­tance of being mal­leable and open to expe­ri­ences, even if they’re uncom­fort­able. He’s also not in any hur­ry and has plen­ty of per­son­al projects to keep him occu­pied. ​“I want longevi­ty in this field. I don’t want a quick skyrocket…I’m ok with the steady climb.” 

We want longevi­ty for Watkins, too. After all, we need to keep this recur­ring episodes streak going for years to come.

Fol­low Jeremiah

• Web­site — www​.Jere​mi​ah​Watkins​.com
• Twit­ter — @jeremiahstandup
• Insta­gram — @jeremiahstandup
• Face­book — Face​book​.com/​J​e​r​e​m​i​a​h​.​W​a​tkins
• Youtube
  • Standup on the Spot — Youtube​.com/​@​s​t​a​n​d​upots
  • Scis­sor Bros — Youtube​.com/​S​c​i​s​s​o​rBros
  • Jere­mi­ah Won­ders — Youtube​.com/​J​e​r​e​m​i​a​h​W​o​nders

Jere­mi­ah can be seen and heard:

• Spe­cials
  • New Spe­cial: Jere­mi­ah Watkins: Daddy
  • Debut Spe­cial: Jere­mi­ah Watkins: Fam­i­ly Reunion (Ama­zon, Google Play, Apple TV)
• Pod­casts (avail­able on Youtube and your favorite pod­cast player)
  • The Scis­sor Bros
  • Jere­mi­ah Wonders
  • The Build­ing Years
• Album — Regan and Watkins (2019)
• Host­ed Shows — Standup on the Spot at The Com­e­dy Store and around the country