Stand-up comic Juston McKinney looks to bring new material to Samuel Slater’s

Portsmouth, New Hampshire, native Juston McKinney has been a fixture in stand-up comedy ever since he started honing his craft in New York City during the late ‘90s. There, he eventually became a regular performer at legendary clubs including Comic Strip Live, Stand-Up New York, Dangerfield's, Gotham Comedy Club and Caroline's on Broadway.

During his career, McKinney performed numerous times on two incarnations of “The Tonight Show” when it was hosted by Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien along with having a few specials on Comedy Central, being on the television show “The King of Queens” and winning the award for “Best Acting Performance” at the New Hampshire Film Festival for the short film he wrote and acted in titled “Suck It Up.” On May 23 at Samuel Slater’s Restaurant on 200 Gore Road in Webster, McKinney is going to be headlining a night of comedy that also features fellow stand-up comics Al Park and Kathy Gilmour with it all starting at 7:30 pm.

Before pursuing his current career, McKinney was a Deputy Sheriff in York County, Maine for seven years. Despite being part of a severely short staffed department while covering a very wide area, he utilized his sense of humor to handle certain situations before they got way out of hand.

“I was an officer in Maine and these sheriffs departments patrolled these small towns that don’t have their own police department and there are 14 of them in York County,” he says about his previous profession. “There were two deputies on at any one time when I was working and we each had seven towns a piece, so we were the police department for these towns. It was 500 square miles for the two of us, a lot of times I was by myself and I learned how to diffuse and de-escalate situations while using humor to try to calm people down when I found it necessary.”

'I wanted to be a comedian'

McKinney knew that he wanted to do stand-up ever since he was a teenager. As he got older, he eventually started performing at open mics at clubs in Boston while still having his job as a Deputy Sheriff.

“One of the earliest moments was when I was in junior high in the library,” he mentions about how he got into wanting to do stand-up.” Myself and some friends were talking about what we wanted to do when we were older, and I said that I wanted to be a comedian and they all laughed. I remember thinking, ‘Wow, that was easier than I thought’ and that was the first laugh I got. I didn’t know how to do it when I got into high school, but it was just something that I had always thought that I wanted to do. My dad would watch ‘The Tonight Show’ and I could remember seeing the monologues and the jokes while my mind thought it in funny ways at a young age, but I didn’t know how to do it. I then became an officer, but in the back of my mind it was something that I had always wanted to try.”

“While I was still a member of the police department, I went down to Boston to do open mics back in the mid-'90s,” McKinney adds.

When it comes to his most recent specials “Parentally Challenged” and “On The Bright Side”, McKinney has them both available for streaming on Amazon Prime. He also has them available for free on YouTube as a way to increase his fan base while aiming to have more people purchase tickets to his live performances.

“With the way people get content now, there are all these different ways,” he says about his current way of making specials. “My way of thinking of putting it on YouTube, because I have done them for Comedy Central, is that it allows me to reach more fans who might not have heard of me and hopefully that turns into them coming to see me live and selling some tickets. It’s a little bit of a different approach.”

'Working on new material'

For the upcoming show, McKinney is very excited to be exhibiting his craft in an intimate setting. He also has a bunch of projects in the works, which includes a TED Talk that he did a few days ago.

“I’m really looking forward to coming out to Samuel Slater’s, I’ve heard nothing but great things about the room,” he says about the upcoming show. “I do a lot of theaters and theaters are fun, don’t get me wrong, but they’re not as intimate as some of these smaller rooms, so I really look forward to that. I’m in the process of working on stuff for my new special, but I don’t know where that’s going to be yet. I’m currently working on new material, so people won’t be seeing those jokes from my previous specials when they come to Samuel Slater’s. I’m always adding new material, I’m always touring and I’m a dad of two kids that are teenagers.”

“They’re 14 and 16, so because of their age I really try to stay home a lot,” McKinney adds. “The next couple of years are crucial in my kids’ lives, so I’ve been taking my touring way down and I only get on a plane around twice a year now. As far as projects, I have a couple different ones. I never like to talk about it because I don’t want to jinx them but I hope to hear something about them soon. I also just did a TED Talk that’s more of a serious talk mixed with a little humor than a stand-up set.”

Comedian Juston McKinney and friends

When: 7:30 p.m. May 23

Where: Samuel Slater’s Restaurant, 200 Gore Road, Webster

How much: $20, samuelslaters.com.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Comedian Juston McKinney set to perform at Samuel Slater's in Webster