May 4, 2026 • 32 mins
Text the Show or Leave a Voicemail
Some of the funniest people I know are cops. Comedy is a coping mechanism and humor, even dark humor, helps us regain control over uncontrollable circumstances. So today I want to introduce you to a cop turned comedian, Jim Perry. Jim was an officer near Chicago for several years before a medical retirement and now he's a comedian and comedy club owner in Arizona. We're going to talk about his journey into stand up comedy and why cops are a natural fit to tell jokes, deal with hecklers, and survive when your jokes bomb on stage.
Hey Chaplain Podcast Episode 140
Music is by Kevin McLeod
Tags:
Police, Alarms, Career, Comedy, Contentment, Family, Grief, Home Security, Injuries, Trauma, Chicago, Arizona, Illinois
Thanks for Listening! And, as always, pray for peace in our city.
Subscribe/Follow here:
- Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hey-chaplain/id1570155168
- Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2CGK9A3BmbFEUEnx3fYZOY
Email us at: heychaplain44@gmail.com
You can help keep the show ad-free by buying me a virtual coffee!
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/heychaplain
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Hey, you're listening to the Hey Chaplin
(00:01):
Podcast, and this is JoeGrisella the third.
And hey, you're listening to theHey Chaplin Podcast, and this is
Joe Grisella Jr.
That's right.
There's two of us, and we'reboth thanking you for listening
to this wonderful show.
Welcome to Hey Chaplin.
My name is Jared Altic, and I'ma chaplain with the police
department.
The Hey Chaplin Podcast is abouttalking to police officers who
(00:24):
say, Hey Chaplin, I've got astory to tell and some
hard-earned wisdom to share.
The guests on Hey Chaplin comefrom across the world, from the
LAPD to Scotland Yard.
And they're sharing their wisdomwith you because they want you
to learn from their mistakes.
And as a patrol chaplain, I'meager for you to hear something
(00:46):
positive and encouraging.
Some of the funniest people Iknow are police officers.
Comedy is a great copingmechanism, and humor, even dark
humor, helps us regain somecontrol over otherwise
uncontrollable circumstances.
So today I want to introduce youto a cop-turned comedian, Jim
(01:09):
Perry.
Jim was an officer near Chicagofor several years before a
medical retirement, but now he'sa comedian and comedy club owner
in Arizona.
We're going to talk about hisjourney into stand-up comedy and
why cops are a natural fit totell jokes, deal with hecklers,
(01:30):
and even survive when your jokesbomb on stage.
Here's Jim Perry.
Hello, Jim.
How are you today?
SPEAKER_02 (01:41):
I'm good, sir.
Thanks for having me.
I appreciate you, Jared.
Thanks so much.
SPEAKER_00 (01:45):
Well, I'm glad to be able to get you on.
I just saw you perform a set inKansas City.
At the time we record this, itwas just a few weeks ago.
SPEAKER_02 (01:53):
Yeah, Kansas City, uh the Heroes Off Duty comedy
tour.
Yeah.
All first responders wereperformers and a lot of first
responders in the audience.
That was that was an awesometime.
It was so cool.
SPEAKER_00 (02:05):
Is that normal?
It did seem like there were alot of first responders in the
audience.
Is that a typical audience forthat show?
SPEAKER_02 (02:11):
For that comedy show, that is very typical.
It's usually first responders orfamilies and friends of first
responders.
And as a performer who was afirst responder, it's awesome
because normally my shows are infront of uh civilians, if you
will.
So it was nice to tailor it in amore personal way.
And I almost felt like I wasdoing it in front of family.
(02:31):
And what was cool was I was ableto get more transparent and a
little bit more real on stage.
Um it was just a cool moment.
So I really like doing shows forfirst responders.
SPEAKER_00 (02:42):
No, it was good.
And first of all, you opened.
And so you were like, hey,you're setting a tone for the
night.
SPEAKER_02 (02:48):
They call it they call it taking the bullet, which
is sometimes tough.
That's usually the guy thatbombs, but I I had a great set.
SPEAKER_00 (02:55):
So no, you did.
You did great.
And you did get real about uh, Ithink you even mentioned
post-traumatic stress and thingslike that, and just said, you
know, hey, this is this is usgetting healthier as a
community.
And I I thought that was reallyprofound.
Uh, do you always include thatin your sets, or is that really
just when you know you have thatfirst responder audience?
SPEAKER_02 (03:16):
No, what's funny is I've been doing comedy almost 10
years, and in the last sixmonths, I just started
interjecting and admitting tothe audience that um I was
diagnosed with PTSD about 10years ago.
I'm fine, I'm doing really goodright now.
But my point is, is like where Iwas struggling as a comedian is
I'm up there telling dirty jokesor silly jokes and exaggerating
(03:39):
stuff for laughter.
And it was like, you know, Ineed a moment in this set where
they know I'm a real person.
And what was so awesome aboutthat is when I started admitting
that I suffered from PTSD backin the day, I started having
people come up to me after myshow and talking to me about
that.
And I'm real involved in mychurch, I'm real involved in um
(04:02):
a program called CelebrateRecovery.
I'm good at counseling andtalking, and I'm very open about
things.
But it was cool.
I mean, I've had men crying withme, and we're in a we're in a
field, me being a retired cop atleast, and I was in the service
too.
And you're in a field where it'snot always, at least when I was
in, it was not always encouragedto share your feelings.
(04:24):
And I think that's probablywhere my dark sense of humor
came from.
My point is I just startedtalking about that on stage, and
it's been opening up doors to methat have more meaning to it.
Like I met you because Imentioned that, whereas I could
have just been the the naughtyjoke guy on stage, you know.
And I didn't I didn't I I wantyou to know I'm a real person
too.
SPEAKER_00 (04:43):
Yeah.
Now I noticed after that showyou stayed and you there was
kind of a receiving line wherepeople at the show could come by
and meet you and get your get apicture with you, and you you
stuck it out all the way throughthe end.
And uh that's gotta beexhausting though, because
performing is I'm sureexhausting.
But then to have people come upand everyone has 30 seconds to
(05:06):
like vomit their story on you.
Yeah, do you how do you keepgoing through that?
That seems that seems likethat'd be a marathon.
SPEAKER_02 (05:14):
Uh coffee and a little bit of uh drugs.
No, I'm just saying that's allright.
We can edit that out.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, I uh I got a lot of it onthe street, was able to uh
impound that.
No, I'm not gonna do that.
Okay.
Um no, it you know what it is,it is exhausting, um, mentally
(05:34):
exhausting, but there's timeswhere you have to make
sacrifices and what's for whatwould God want me to do?
You know, I'm I'm veryreligious.
You wouldn't know that fromlistening to my jokes, but I do
clean shows and I do shows likeyou saw, and then I do
in-between shows.
But my point is I look ateverything like that as like,
what would God want me to do?
And the thing is stay there andtalk to someone that wants to
(05:55):
talk about it, and you neverknow what a silly meet and greet
will lead to.
And uh you said you were at theKansas City one.
SPEAKER_00 (06:01):
Yes, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (06:02):
I mean, I had at least two guys come up to me and
talk about PTSD at that show,and now I do it at every show
because obviously maybe that wasthe purpose, maybe that's the
whole purpose of why I'm doingcomedy.
I don't know, but I know I get alot from it, and I I it it's
awesome when you know thatyou're giving something for the
audience to get something out ofit too.
(06:24):
Yeah, you know what I mean.
SPEAKER_00 (06:25):
Yeah, you told me off air that you were a police
officer for several years in theMidwest.
So when you were an officer,were you funny like in the squad
room making your buddies laugh,or were you trying to be funny
out on scene?
SPEAKER_02 (06:39):
I would say people would say both.
I mean, I was the police officerthat would do pranks that would
sometimes get me in trouble.
I was gonna say both can get youin trouble.
That's right.
These are gonna sound like theseare kind of jokes of my act, but
this really happened.
Like, you know, I would battlethings with a sense of humor.
So one time we had this sergeantthat would fall asleep on the
(07:00):
midnight shift all the time.
And I thought it'd be funny totake a picture of him when he
fell asleep in the break room.
And he was eating like a roastbeef sandwich.
Oh, and it was crumbs all overhim.
And I posted a picture on ourFacebook page.
I thought it was a private page,it's uh is it was a public page,
but what got me in trouble wasthe caption I wrote, this little
piggy had roast beef.
(07:20):
So uh yeah, so my sense of humorwould get me in trouble a little
bit, and then like the bodycamera.
I used to work sex crimes for alittle bit, despicable stuff,
and I got caught on the bodycamera one time going, uh, this
guy I'm putting in the cell.
And I he goes, See you later,alligator.
And on camera, I said, at thetrial, pedophile.
And I got told.
(07:40):
I mean, there's so manyincidents like that, but that's
kind of how I battle it.
And I and a lot of dark stufftoo, that I mean the regular
public wouldn't probably findfunny.
But sometimes, you know, some ofthat stuff is hard to deal with
that you see, and I've seen somereally terrible things in the
military and on the policedepartment, and humor is what
got me through.
SPEAKER_00 (07:59):
Yeah, yeah.
As a as a chaplain, I neversquelch the dark humor.
Yeah, I I don't almost I don'talways approve of it, but but I
but I approve of it at least ina general sense, because it is a
way to to vent that stress andand to get that out there.
And a lot of times it's reallywhat what will carry a person
(08:20):
through those dark hours.
And so I'm I'm totally for it,even if I can't repeat half of
it.
It's still it's still stilltotal totally worth it.
Any of those times ever give youa day off?
SPEAKER_02 (08:31):
Oh, I've had quite a few days off.
Uh the one that got me introuble the most, I think, you
know, and I don't, it was fine.
A day or warning or a scolding,but purple.
Yeah, at the end of the day,they were laughing as hard as I
was.
Yeah, I had this guy one time,he was super drunk, and he was
(08:53):
like, F you pig, pig this, pigthat, and he was high or
something, you know, God blesshim.
And as I'm putting the handcuffson him, he peed his pants.
And I got caught on the bodycamera going, Yeah, I might be
the pig, but you're the onethat's gonna wee wee wee all the
way home.
And very silly joke.
And my sergeant overheard it,and he's like, Yeah, I gotta
give you a day for that.
(09:14):
You gotta stop your comments.
So I was like, all right.
And he was laughing as hard as Iwas, so it was yeah, little
silly things.
Um, but nothing, no, what Iwould say is I've never been in
real trouble.
Okay, just silly stuff.
SPEAKER_00 (09:27):
Yeah, I've had officers who could do a spot-on
impersonation of the major andwhen he's not in the room, and
I'm always worried, oh, if thatmajor comes walking back in
here, you are toast.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (09:39):
And I used to roast like at roll call, you know,
guys, cops are are funny people,man.
And you know, they think the youknow, people see you and they
think we're all robots.
And the reality is, you know, alot of us are very funny, and
yeah, some of the humor is dark,and they're the worst roasters.
I always think it's funny when Iget heckled at a comedy club.
(10:01):
I'm like, oh, I've heard so muchworse on the police department.
You're not gonna phase me.
So right, right.
SPEAKER_00 (10:06):
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
It part of your initiation as anofficer in most police culture
is is getting kind of teased andhazed and made fun of, and and
the ones who can't suffer it getpushed out.
Yeah.
And and usually the older copsare like, good riddance, because
you're gonna get worse on thestreet.
(10:27):
So if you can't take us makingfun of you.
SPEAKER_02 (10:30):
Yeah.
Good luck with the the drunkthat's got a lot more serious
issues, and his joking may notmay be pretty real.
SPEAKER_00 (10:38):
So you retired at one point.
In fact, I think you told me youyou had to retire uh earlier
than you planned.
Um, you had uh maybe a medicalor something like that.
SPEAKER_02 (10:47):
Yeah, so I was a policeman almost 10 years in the
Chicago area in Illinois, and Ivolunteered in a training to be
tased.
And uh you've heard of thefive-second ride, I'm sure, in
training when you get tased.
The cops that were assisting meto the ground when I got tased,
the one guy didn't mean it, buthe held my arm in a position
(11:08):
where it wasn't able to movewhen I was being tased, and it
tore up my shoulder.
And I had already had an injuredshoulder from another incident.
And uh, if you can't jump afence, you can't be a cop.
So we came to an agreement and Iended up leaving law
enforcement.
What's funny though is you know,I was so depressed after that
(11:28):
because I thought I was gonna bea cop for 30 years, ended up
being a cop for about 10, andthat happened, and I had to
redefine myself and and andreally rethink things out of
what I was gonna do.
And I went from that depression,and there was a moment, if I'm
being real, it there was amoment where I felt suicidal,
and that's when I decided to getsome help.
(11:49):
And I was already having issuesfrom stuff I saw on the service
and stuff I had when I wasgrowing up.
I always tell people that ifyou're having a bad day, you
know, it sounds cliche, buttomorrow's a new day, and and
that is a real thing because ifyou don't think like that, it's
hard to get through stuff.
Yeah, so I injured my shoulderin the tasing incident.
(12:10):
The funny there is a funny partof it, but a month before I was
doing a call, a burglary call,it was an alarm call at a
restaurant, and I go in thething, the restaurant wasn't
broken into, it was a falsealarm, but I slipped in the
kitchen on grease, and thatgrease was bacon grease.
(12:32):
So the jokes about cops and pigsand bacon, oh my god, it never
ended.
They talked about it at myretirement party when I retired,
but um, I already had kind of abad shoulder, and then when that
taser incident happened, that'swhat put me over the edge where
I had to retire.
SPEAKER_00 (12:47):
What did you lose when you retired?
SPEAKER_02 (12:49):
Yeah, let me back you up a little bit.
So, as a kid, um, and I won't gotoo deep into it, but as a kid,
I had a biological dad that wassuper abusive.
I saw horrible domestic violencegrowing up, and I saw things
that a little kid shouldn't see.
And when I became 18 years old,I joined the military and I was
over in Iraq, and I'll just sayI saw a lot of terrible things.
Okay.
(13:10):
And then you get on the policedepartment, and you know, you're
dealing with suicidal calls, andthen I'm almost having PTSD from
the domestic violence calls thatI'm seeing from when I was a
kid, and then PTSD went over theedge because I was relating
stuff to the military.
You know, I was seeing deadbabies, I was seeing dead
adults, and it just starts toget to you.
(13:33):
And you're not really allowedback then to ask for help.
I'm my understanding is thingsare better now.
We didn't have a chaplain uh togo to.
Um, you know, the best I did wasgo out to the bar with another
cop and and drink until we weresilly.
But in a lot of ways, I'm not analcoholic, so in a lot of ways
that was good for me is somehowto talk to somebody about it
(13:54):
because I didn't want to bringit home to my my my wife or my
mother or my dad.
I didn't want to, I didn't wantto worry them.
So my point is I just thought Iwas gonna be one of those guys
that would be a cop for 30 yearsbecause that's where I belonged.
And then when I got hurt, I waslike, oh, I need to reinvent
myself.
So we ended up moving fromIllinois to Arizona, and I ended
(14:15):
up selling um home securityalarms for ADT.
And what's funny is that marketand that job is filled with a
lot of young men that never seena burglary in their life and
they're selling security.
So I was really good at itbecause I had a background in
police work.
Yeah and what was funny, when Iwas a police officer, I was a PR
(14:38):
guy a lot.
I was like the DARE cop, I wasthe hostage negotiator, I was
always the guy that they wouldput in front of the camera to
talk.
Um, I think that's why they putme in dare because I talked too
much on the street.
I was a B cop and they're like,You're too nice, go teach the
kids.
So my point is when I did ADT, Iwas really good at it.
And then my wife and I decidedto open up our own business.
(14:59):
And uh, I've been doingsecurity, home security uh
business and sales for over 10years now.
SPEAKER_00 (15:07):
I mean, to me, a a second chapter for a cop getting
into something security relatedis very common.
Uh there's a lot of guys wherethey go back to that area
because they have expertise andbecause they will run into other
people who they have connectionswith.
(15:27):
Yeah.
You know, they can be somewherethat's gonna attract other
veterans, other firstresponders, and then also sales.
A lot of cops make fantasticsalesmen.
I mean, kind of one of thecliches is that they all go sell
used cars.
Yeah, and that that that is kindof true because most cops are
excellent talkers and they talkwell under pressure.
(15:47):
Yeah, so so what you were doingdo selling home security
actually makes a lot of sense.
So, how do you get into comedy?
That seems like a totallydifferent route, you know.
SPEAKER_02 (15:58):
Yeah.
So I wish I had a fun answer tothat.
It's it's it's pretty sad,actually.
Um, but yeah, I do agree withlike sales was a natural
transition for me because on thepolice department, I felt at
times like a social worker, Ifelt like a parent, I felt like
a friend to people.
And talking's always came easy.
And I've always volunteered atthe church.
(16:18):
I was a youth pastor when thekids were little, um, and always
in a uh teaching position.
I teach celebrate recovery nowbecause of the stuff I went in
the back.
And then I started doingsecurity, got really good at it.
So, this is what happened withcomedy, which it's not I don't
know if this would be a normalway for someone to get into
comedy.
My mom got cancer.
(16:40):
My mom got cancer.
I'm an only child, my mom's mybest friend, especially all that
stuff that happened with mybiological dad, and I was
really, really distraught.
And my security business was ata point then where it was almost
running itself because I hadbuilt it, so I was only involved
if there was a problem.
And I had way too much time tothink about mom, and it was
(17:04):
driving me crazy and sad andmaking me more depressed.
Was she with you in Arizona orwhat she was, she was there when
she got sick, and cancer, as youknow, can be a very long
disease.
She got lung cancer.
So I decided as a distraction,I'm on Facebook one day
scrolling, and I see a comedyclass.
(17:24):
And I'm like, you know what?
I'll take a comedy class.
I need a laugh.
And I go to the comedy class,and I'm the first time I just
watch everybody, and I'm like, Icould I could do this.
And which by the way, if youthink that there's more to it.
So I start doing comedy at thisclass, and then when you're
(17:45):
doing comedy in a class format,it's very structured to teach
you what a joke is.
Me being funny with you at thebar is very different than being
funny on stage in front ofpeople, it's very different.
A lot of people think, oh, I'mfunny at the bar.
Well, it's a different skillset.
Um, but my point is I gotaddicted to comedy because it
was a distraction from mom.
(18:06):
And the only reason I'm sayingthat now is because my friend
that happens to be a pastor istelling me that I've refused to
grieve my mother, so this is howI went about it.
And then what happened was I wasdoing comedy a very long time.
2020 happens, COVID happens, momdies in May of 2020.
Wow.
And I've been doing comedy for abit as a distraction.
(18:28):
I'm still, you know, don't getme wrong, I'm still with my mom
a lot and I'm visiting her andstuff, but it's it's still a
nice distraction from it.
And uh mom dies, and instead ofme going to like a grieving
counselor or a pastor, I decideto open a comedy club.
And I open a comedy club inArizona, which I currently own
now, that's doing very well.
(18:50):
And then I'm meeting people andheadliners at the club, and then
my comedy is starting to grow.
And now I tour all over theplace doing comedy.
But my point is, my friend islike, yeah, dude, you need to
grieve your mother.
Like you're just distractingyourself over and over again.
So luckily, I went through agrieving class at my church, and
um it it it made me realize alot about myself and that I do
(19:14):
use distraction.
I use work as a distraction whenI don't want to think about
serious things.
And then comedy was adistraction when my mom died.
And then a year to the dateafter my mom died, my stepdad
died.
Um, he hit his head on a curbwalking the dog.
He got attacked by a dog thatwas attacking his dog.
He falls, hits his head on acurb, and dies.
(19:36):
Oh my god.
My stepdad was kind of like myfather because of my biological
dad being so bad when I waslittle.
Um, so it was a lot, man.
And and comedy.
Did I approach comedy in ahealthy way?
I would answer that no.
But I would say that now that Iunderstand it, comedy is helping
(19:57):
me keep moving.
And now it's more healthy.
SPEAKER_00 (20:01):
Yeah.
And I feel like I'm giving back.
And that that might actuallyhave answered my next question
because I was wondering ifthere's a period in your
development as a comedian ormaybe even a particular set or
particular joke that likeclicked and was like, This uh,
this is actually helping me.
I feel better, you know, sayingthis out loud in front of an
audience.
SPEAKER_02 (20:19):
But it was a lot of it, a lot of it happened in the
last six months, mentioningPTSD, which is not a joke at
all.
But what happened was if that'sthe way you can get someone to
like you, and then you throwsomething serious out that and
that gives them thecomfortability to approach you.
Yeah, I really believe in the12-step program.
I've been through a few of them,not for alcohol, for other
stuff.
One part of the 12-step programis step 12, and I feel like I'm
(20:41):
in step 12 now.
So once you go through aprogram, then it's about giving
back and helping others.
And I feel like that's where I'mat now.
But at the same time, I stillhave moments that hit me hard
and I grieve my mom.
And I'll be honest, I don't knowif that's ever gonna go away, no
matter how many classes and howmany prayers I make.
You know, that's where I'm atright now, is I feel like I'm in
(21:02):
a better place than when Istarted comedy.
And comedy's become therapeuticfor me.
And I really like doing thecomedy in front of first
responders because it's adifferent connection.
Because I do miss thatbrotherhood and that group of
people, because now I'm kind ofin the entertainment world, and
without like throwing that underthe bus too bad, it's very
(21:23):
different.
Yeah.
And I have to navigate thatdifferently.
And I do miss my church guys,and I miss my my brothers and
first responders, and then mymilitary people.
But at the same time, thosethose those circles all gave me
the skill set to deal with theentertainment industry.
SPEAKER_00 (21:40):
So I don't Well, I was gonna ask, you know, who you
know, what's I mean, what's thedifference between like the
people you've arrested on thestreet versus you know the
people who pay to come watch youdo a show?
Uh sometimes not any differenceat all.
SPEAKER_02 (21:57):
It really depends on the show, my friend.
Um Um a late show on a Fridaynight at a club, a comedy club,
yeah, they're it could be prettysimilar.
But the funny thing is, um, Ithink I mentioned earlier, you
know, a guy'll heckle you at ashow and it's like, I just feel
like really you're not gonna getmy attention, or um, they're not
gonna throw me off because Ialmost feel like police workers
(22:19):
prepped me for that.
SPEAKER_00 (22:20):
Well, I was gonna ask about that too.
I mean, do you are hecklers werethey even early on, were they
much of a challenge, or is it acase by case basis?
SPEAKER_02 (22:29):
It's really a case by case.
It depends on how you define aheckler, a comedian to define a
heckler by anyone that'sinterrupting their set.
Some hecklers are on your side,you know, they're like, yeah,
that's awesome.
Oh, great.
And they're throwing off yourrhythm.
They're throwing off your timingand they don't even know it.
And then you have people thatwant the show all to be about
them.
And then you have the peoplethat I remember very great from
(22:50):
the police department that arejust drunk, ignorant, terrible
people in that moment.
You know what I mean?
But I what I like about comedyso much more than police work,
if any police officer was everinterested in it in any way, is
that in police work, you tend toget called to the worst day of
someone's life.
That starts to weigh on you.
(23:12):
And now in comedy, I'm getting,hey, I was going through the
worst day of my life.
I came to this show, and thankyou for making me laugh.
I almost feel some kind ofweird, like, I don't know if the
right word, penance orsomething.
I feel like it's it's a goodopposite of where I came from,
if that makes sense.
SPEAKER_00 (23:33):
It's a nice reversal.
SPEAKER_02 (23:34):
Yeah, I it almost feels like I need to balance it
out.
But it wasn't planned.
I mean, I wasn't a kid that waslike, I'm gonna be a comedian
one day.
Like, this is a weird thing Godpresented me, and I I that's how
I went about it.
So I usually do comedy clubs,and comedy clubs are all over
the country, they're smallrooms, and they can be great and
(23:56):
they can be a little bit tough,but now I've been doing these
theaters shows for firstresponders, and I feel like I'm
giving back to my brothers andsisters.
Um, I also do cruise ships andtravel um in that way, doing
cruise ship comedy, and I've hadsome good moments there too,
because there's always a veteranon the ship.
(24:18):
There's a guy that's a firstresponder that didn't want to
tell anybody.
But can't you but can't you spotthose guys?
Yeah, I'm just for you to saythat.
If if if cops or firemen orwhoever want to admit it or not,
you stick out like sore thumbs.
Oh, yeah.
And I'm like, Were you a cop?
What do you do?
And sure enough, they're they'reusually a cop or a um a fireman.
I still get told that, and Idon't think I look like one at
(24:39):
all anymore, but I'm told it allthe time.
They're like, Are you still acop?
SPEAKER_00 (24:42):
And I'm like, no, I'm not.
But you're sitting with yourback to the wall watching the
door.
So we all know you're a cop,right?
Yeah, and cleaning my gun on thetable, so I don't know.
That's awesome.
That's awesome.
If you're if a cop wanted to getinto comedy and maybe doesn't
appreciate how difficult thatactually is, do you have any
(25:03):
word of advice or maybe awarning about what it's like to
actually get on stage?
SPEAKER_02 (25:09):
Well, if a cop wants to do anything outside of law
enforcement, I would encourageit.
Because I think, in my opinion,what can be bad about police
work or any any business reallyis if your whole circle of
influence is just policeofficers.
I think the most important thingis to expand your circle of
(25:30):
influence.
And, you know, I had my church,I had my military guys, I had my
friends from growing up.
Um, and now I have comedyfriends.
But specifically, if they wantto do comedy, comedy isn't hard
to do as far as getting in.
You know, there's somethingcalled an open mic at a lot of
bars and restaurants.
You can Google your city thatyou're in and just type in open
(25:52):
mic comedy.
And there's somebody that ifyou're willing to put your name
on a list and go up on stage foryou know a minute to five
minutes and share whatever youthink is funny, they'll allow
you to do that.
The audience will determine ifyou're actually funny or not.
And then that's up to you if youwant to develop the skill set to
perfect that.
You have to be a humble person,I think, to do comedy.
(26:15):
You have to have a thick skin,and people can't offend you
easily.
And I think that's why I thinkcops would make good comedians
because we do have thick skinsand we can usually deal with the
public differently than theaverage person.
How do you recover from bombing?
I've had a couple, a couplereally bad bombs, and I don't
(26:38):
know if this is denial or or myweirdness, but I don't ever
think I feel like that's likenot me on stage.
I feel like it's almost apersona of me.
And this is a graphic way to sayit, but I feel like I'm a bag of
meat talking up there.
(26:59):
And if I say something that'snot funny, I never take it
personally.
They're looking at this person,and is this person making them
laugh or not?
And if I don't make them laugh,I don't feel like they hate me.
I feel like they hated the joke.
So I just don't take itpersonal.
That's how I get past it.
And bombing's important.
If you're not bombing in comedy,you're not learning and you're
(27:21):
not gonna get better.
Every bomb I've had, I've alwaysturned around and got even
better.
It's part of it.
So if you're not bombing, you'renot doing it right.
So that's excellent.
That's you got to be willing totake a risk and go up there and
say vulnerable things and andstuff that you think's funny,
and then you're gonna find outreal quick if if the public
(27:41):
thinks it is.
And then you take notes, yourecord every set, and you're
like, oh, people related tothat, they didn't relate to
that, and then you cut that, andthen you build off the thing
they're related to, and then itjust keeps keeps going.
And you're disciplined to goback and listen to yourself.
Yeah, there's a lot ofdiscipline in comedy.
A lot of a lot of comedianssuffer from that.
Um, you know, I got in comedy ata later age, so um, you know,
(28:04):
you're your own business, youknow.
It's it depends on how youmarket yourself.
And, you know, it's not alwaysabout being funny, it's about
showing up on time and andmarketing yourself.
And a lot of opportunities, ifyou have a good work ethic, will
people call it luck.
And it's not always luck, it'swork ethic.
What's on your comedy bucketlist?
Actually, um, you're meeting meat a point in time where I'm
(28:28):
very content in comedy.
I uh was at a point where I feltlike there was no ending to
this.
Like I kept chasing it andchasing, and I'm like, what am I
chasing?
And I'm at a point where I'mtouring with these theater shows
with the heroes off duty comedytour.
I'm doing cruise ships andtraveling.
You know, you do four or fiveshows a week, and you're sitting
(28:49):
on a beach most of the time withmy wife, and I'm getting paid to
go on vacation.
And then I work the comedy club,which now when I even though I'm
working, I love comedy so muchthat I never feel like I'm at
work.
So doing the club and a tourhere and there and the cruise
ships with the wife, I guess mygoal is to not mess up what I
(29:12):
have.
That's awesome.
Um, because I'm pretty happy.
Am I trying to get famous or aNetflix special?
Um, I if that happened, I'm notgonna um be mad about it, but
I'm not pursuing it because um,as a club owner, I meet people
that are famous.
It's hard to find one that'sactually happy behind behind the
(29:33):
stage.
And when I hear about what needsto be done to get to that next
level, I'm not really interestedthat in my seasonal life.
I'm just not interested in that.
Sacrificing too much.
SPEAKER_00 (29:44):
Yeah, I'm married with two kids, and yeah, I want
to I think it was Socrates whosaid that he is richest who is
content with the most.
SPEAKER_02 (29:52):
And it's taken, you're meeting me at a point
where honestly, man, I thought II was like, what is contentment?
Will I ever find it?
And I I I think I found it.
So that's awesome.
Um, but at the end of the day,if you never feel content, I
think the only can the only timeyou really truly feel content is
if it is if you give your lifeto God, because that's what's
gonna give you contentment isyour relationship with God.
SPEAKER_00 (30:14):
So that's awesome.
Hey, these are all things I wantto hear from a retired cop.
SPEAKER_02 (30:18):
That makes me happy.
SPEAKER_00 (30:19):
That is good stuff.
SPEAKER_02 (30:20):
I still have a Twitch though.
SPEAKER_00 (30:23):
Hey, tell me, tell me where we can find you.
What's the name of your club anduh where can we find you?
SPEAKER_02 (30:29):
So uh my name's Jim Perry.
Again, Jim Perry, not JimCarrey, Jim Perry.
And then uh, if you want tofollow my comedy, everything is
on my website and it'll lead youto all my other stuff at the
copcomic.com.
Again, thecopcomic.com.
And then I live in Gilbert,Arizona, and I own JP's Comedy
(30:49):
Club.
It's also known as the GilbertComedy Club, and you can look up
information there atJP'scomedyclub.com.
SPEAKER_00 (30:56):
That's awesome.
Jim, thank you so much for beingon the show.
SPEAKER_02 (30:59):
Of course, yeah.
Thanks for having me.
This is awesome.
SPEAKER_00 (31:03):
I want to thank Jim for being on the show, and both
of those websites, his personalwebsite and the website for his
comedy club, are going to belisted in the show notes.
I hope that you take Jim'sadvice.
And if you feel like you want togive comedy a try, go to one of
those open mic events and giveit a shot.
Get some feedback, try again,record yourself, listen, keep
(31:27):
honing your craft because a lotof you are capable of doing
this.
In my opinion, far more than theaverage non-LEO.
The views expressed here are thepersonal views of the host and
our guest, and do notnecessarily represent the views
of any law enforcement agency orits components.
(31:48):
If you like this episode, pleaseshare it with a cop or someone
who loves a cop.
Thank you for listening to HeyChaplin.
And as always, let's pray forpeace in our city.
SPEAKER_02 (32:03):
So, yeah, before I was a police officer, I was a
security officer at a hospital,which is funny because I got in
more fights doing that job thanI ever did on the police
department.
Some of my church friends cometo my comedy shows and hear my
dirty jokes, and I think theythink I'm uh a little bit
twisted.
SPEAKER_00 (32:23):
All right, I'm going to say hello to you.
Like we just picked up thephone.
Oh, you can call me Jared or youcan call me Chaplin.
Either one or both.
SPEAKER_02 (32:31):
Not the one from Subway, I hope.
SPEAKER_00 (32:33):
No, mercy.
That was great.
There's actually a Facebookgroup um that are just for
people named Jared, spelledJ-A-R-E-D.
Oh, geez.
And and that that guy, thatpedophile from Subway, is like
the bane of our existence.
Hey, you're listening to the Hey Chaplin
(00:01):
Podcast, and this is JoeGrisella the third.
And hey, you're listening to theHey Chaplin Podcast, and this is
Joe Grisella Jr.
That's right.
There's two of us, and we'reboth thanking you for listening
to this wonderful show.
Welcome to Hey Chaplin.
My name is Jared Altic, and I'ma chaplain with the police
department.
The Hey Chaplin Podcast is abouttalking to police officers who
(00:24):
say, Hey Chaplin, I've got astory to tell and some
hard-earned wisdom to share.
The guests on Hey Chaplin comefrom across the world, from the
LAPD to Scotland Yard.
And they're sharing their wisdomwith you because they want you
to learn from their mistakes.
And as a patrol chaplain, I'meager for you to hear something
(00:46):
positive and encouraging.
Some of the funniest people Iknow are police officers.
Comedy is a great copingmechanism, and humor, even dark
humor, helps us regain somecontrol over otherwise
uncontrollable circumstances.
So today I want to introduce youto a cop-turned comedian, Jim
(01:09):
Perry.
Jim was an officer near Chicagofor several years before a
medical retirement, but now he'sa comedian and comedy club owner
in Arizona.
We're going to talk about hisjourney into stand-up comedy and
why cops are a natural fit totell jokes, deal with hecklers,
(01:30):
and even survive when your jokesbomb on stage.
Here's Jim Perry.
Hello, Jim.
How are you today?
SPEAKER_02 (01:41):
I'm good, sir.
Thanks for having me.
I appreciate you, Jared.
Thanks so much.
SPEAKER_00 (01:45):
Well, I'm glad to be able to get you on.
I just saw you perform a set inKansas City.
At the time we record this, itwas just a few weeks ago.
SPEAKER_02 (01:53):
Yeah, Kansas City, uh the Heroes Off Duty comedy
tour.
Yeah.
All first responders wereperformers and a lot of first
responders in the audience.
That was that was an awesometime.
It was so cool.
SPEAKER_00 (02:05):
Is that normal?
It did seem like there were alot of first responders in the
audience.
Is that a typical audience forthat show?
SPEAKER_02 (02:11):
For that comedy show, that is very typical.
It's usually first responders orfamilies and friends of first
responders.
And as a performer who was afirst responder, it's awesome
because normally my shows are infront of uh civilians, if you
will.
So it was nice to tailor it in amore personal way.
And I almost felt like I wasdoing it in front of family.
(02:31):
And what was cool was I was ableto get more transparent and a
little bit more real on stage.
Um it was just a cool moment.
So I really like doing shows forfirst responders.
SPEAKER_00 (02:42):
No, it was good.
And first of all, you opened.
And so you were like, hey,you're setting a tone for the
night.
SPEAKER_02 (02:48):
They call it they call it taking the bullet, which
is sometimes tough.
That's usually the guy thatbombs, but I I had a great set.
SPEAKER_00 (02:55):
So no, you did.
You did great.
And you did get real about uh, Ithink you even mentioned
post-traumatic stress and thingslike that, and just said, you
know, hey, this is this is usgetting healthier as a
community.
And I I thought that was reallyprofound.
Uh, do you always include thatin your sets, or is that really
just when you know you have thatfirst responder audience?
SPEAKER_02 (03:16):
No, what's funny is I've been doing comedy almost 10
years, and in the last sixmonths, I just started
interjecting and admitting tothe audience that um I was
diagnosed with PTSD about 10years ago.
I'm fine, I'm doing really goodright now.
But my point is, is like where Iwas struggling as a comedian is
I'm up there telling dirty jokesor silly jokes and exaggerating
(03:39):
stuff for laughter.
And it was like, you know, Ineed a moment in this set where
they know I'm a real person.
And what was so awesome aboutthat is when I started admitting
that I suffered from PTSD backin the day, I started having
people come up to me after myshow and talking to me about
that.
And I'm real involved in mychurch, I'm real involved in um
(04:02):
a program called CelebrateRecovery.
I'm good at counseling andtalking, and I'm very open about
things.
But it was cool.
I mean, I've had men crying withme, and we're in a we're in a
field, me being a retired cop atleast, and I was in the service
too.
And you're in a field where it'snot always, at least when I was
in, it was not always encouragedto share your feelings.
(04:24):
And I think that's probablywhere my dark sense of humor
came from.
My point is I just startedtalking about that on stage, and
it's been opening up doors to methat have more meaning to it.
Like I met you because Imentioned that, whereas I could
have just been the the naughtyjoke guy on stage, you know.
And I didn't I didn't I I wantyou to know I'm a real person
too.
SPEAKER_00 (04:43):
Yeah.
Now I noticed after that showyou stayed and you there was
kind of a receiving line wherepeople at the show could come by
and meet you and get your get apicture with you, and you you
stuck it out all the way throughthe end.
And uh that's gotta beexhausting though, because
performing is I'm sureexhausting.
But then to have people come upand everyone has 30 seconds to
(05:06):
like vomit their story on you.
Yeah, do you how do you keepgoing through that?
That seems that seems likethat'd be a marathon.
SPEAKER_02 (05:14):
Uh coffee and a little bit of uh drugs.
No, I'm just saying that's allright.
We can edit that out.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, I uh I got a lot of it onthe street, was able to uh
impound that.
No, I'm not gonna do that.
Okay.
Um no, it you know what it is,it is exhausting, um, mentally
(05:34):
exhausting, but there's timeswhere you have to make
sacrifices and what's for whatwould God want me to do?
You know, I'm I'm veryreligious.
You wouldn't know that fromlistening to my jokes, but I do
clean shows and I do shows likeyou saw, and then I do
in-between shows.
But my point is I look ateverything like that as like,
what would God want me to do?
And the thing is stay there andtalk to someone that wants to
(05:55):
talk about it, and you neverknow what a silly meet and greet
will lead to.
And uh you said you were at theKansas City one.
SPEAKER_00 (06:01):
Yes, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (06:02):
I mean, I had at least two guys come up to me and
talk about PTSD at that show,and now I do it at every show
because obviously maybe that wasthe purpose, maybe that's the
whole purpose of why I'm doingcomedy.
I don't know, but I know I get alot from it, and I I it it's
awesome when you know thatyou're giving something for the
audience to get something out ofit too.
(06:24):
Yeah, you know what I mean.
SPEAKER_00 (06:25):
Yeah, you told me off air that you were a police
officer for several years in theMidwest.
So when you were an officer,were you funny like in the squad
room making your buddies laugh,or were you trying to be funny
out on scene?
SPEAKER_02 (06:39):
I would say people would say both.
I mean, I was the police officerthat would do pranks that would
sometimes get me in trouble.
I was gonna say both can get youin trouble.
That's right.
These are gonna sound like theseare kind of jokes of my act, but
this really happened.
Like, you know, I would battlethings with a sense of humor.
So one time we had this sergeantthat would fall asleep on the
(07:00):
midnight shift all the time.
And I thought it'd be funny totake a picture of him when he
fell asleep in the break room.
And he was eating like a roastbeef sandwich.
Oh, and it was crumbs all overhim.
And I posted a picture on ourFacebook page.
I thought it was a private page,it's uh is it was a public page,
but what got me in trouble wasthe caption I wrote, this little
piggy had roast beef.
(07:20):
So uh yeah, so my sense of humorwould get me in trouble a little
bit, and then like the bodycamera.
I used to work sex crimes for alittle bit, despicable stuff,
and I got caught on the bodycamera one time going, uh, this
guy I'm putting in the cell.
And I he goes, See you later,alligator.
And on camera, I said, at thetrial, pedophile.
And I got told.
(07:40):
I mean, there's so manyincidents like that, but that's
kind of how I battle it.
And I and a lot of dark stufftoo, that I mean the regular
public wouldn't probably findfunny.
But sometimes, you know, some ofthat stuff is hard to deal with
that you see, and I've seen somereally terrible things in the
military and on the policedepartment, and humor is what
got me through.
SPEAKER_00 (07:59):
Yeah, yeah.
As a as a chaplain, I neversquelch the dark humor.
Yeah, I I don't almost I don'talways approve of it, but but I
but I approve of it at least ina general sense, because it is a
way to to vent that stress andand to get that out there.
And a lot of times it's reallywhat what will carry a person
(08:20):
through those dark hours.
And so I'm I'm totally for it,even if I can't repeat half of
it.
It's still it's still stilltotal totally worth it.
Any of those times ever give youa day off?
SPEAKER_02 (08:31):
Oh, I've had quite a few days off.
Uh the one that got me introuble the most, I think, you
know, and I don't, it was fine.
A day or warning or a scolding,but purple.
Yeah, at the end of the day,they were laughing as hard as I
was.
Yeah, I had this guy one time,he was super drunk, and he was
(08:53):
like, F you pig, pig this, pigthat, and he was high or
something, you know, God blesshim.
And as I'm putting the handcuffson him, he peed his pants.
And I got caught on the bodycamera going, Yeah, I might be
the pig, but you're the onethat's gonna wee wee wee all the
way home.
And very silly joke.
And my sergeant overheard it,and he's like, Yeah, I gotta
give you a day for that.
(09:14):
You gotta stop your comments.
So I was like, all right.
And he was laughing as hard as Iwas, so it was yeah, little
silly things.
Um, but nothing, no, what Iwould say is I've never been in
real trouble.
Okay, just silly stuff.
SPEAKER_00 (09:27):
Yeah, I've had officers who could do a spot-on
impersonation of the major andwhen he's not in the room, and
I'm always worried, oh, if thatmajor comes walking back in
here, you are toast.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (09:39):
And I used to roast like at roll call, you know,
guys, cops are are funny people,man.
And you know, they think the youknow, people see you and they
think we're all robots.
And the reality is, you know, alot of us are very funny, and
yeah, some of the humor is dark,and they're the worst roasters.
I always think it's funny when Iget heckled at a comedy club.
(10:01):
I'm like, oh, I've heard so muchworse on the police department.
You're not gonna phase me.
So right, right.
SPEAKER_00 (10:06):
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
It part of your initiation as anofficer in most police culture
is is getting kind of teased andhazed and made fun of, and and
the ones who can't suffer it getpushed out.
Yeah.
And and usually the older copsare like, good riddance, because
you're gonna get worse on thestreet.
(10:27):
So if you can't take us makingfun of you.
SPEAKER_02 (10:30):
Yeah.
Good luck with the the drunkthat's got a lot more serious
issues, and his joking may notmay be pretty real.
SPEAKER_00 (10:38):
So you retired at one point.
In fact, I think you told me youyou had to retire uh earlier
than you planned.
Um, you had uh maybe a medicalor something like that.
SPEAKER_02 (10:47):
Yeah, so I was a policeman almost 10 years in the
Chicago area in Illinois, and Ivolunteered in a training to be
tased.
And uh you've heard of thefive-second ride, I'm sure, in
training when you get tased.
The cops that were assisting meto the ground when I got tased,
the one guy didn't mean it, buthe held my arm in a position
(11:08):
where it wasn't able to movewhen I was being tased, and it
tore up my shoulder.
And I had already had an injuredshoulder from another incident.
And uh, if you can't jump afence, you can't be a cop.
So we came to an agreement and Iended up leaving law
enforcement.
What's funny though is you know,I was so depressed after that
(11:28):
because I thought I was gonna bea cop for 30 years, ended up
being a cop for about 10, andthat happened, and I had to
redefine myself and and andreally rethink things out of
what I was gonna do.
And I went from that depression,and there was a moment, if I'm
being real, it there was amoment where I felt suicidal,
and that's when I decided to getsome help.
(11:49):
And I was already having issuesfrom stuff I saw on the service
and stuff I had when I wasgrowing up.
I always tell people that ifyou're having a bad day, you
know, it sounds cliche, buttomorrow's a new day, and and
that is a real thing because ifyou don't think like that, it's
hard to get through stuff.
Yeah, so I injured my shoulderin the tasing incident.
(12:10):
The funny there is a funny partof it, but a month before I was
doing a call, a burglary call,it was an alarm call at a
restaurant, and I go in thething, the restaurant wasn't
broken into, it was a falsealarm, but I slipped in the
kitchen on grease, and thatgrease was bacon grease.
(12:32):
So the jokes about cops and pigsand bacon, oh my god, it never
ended.
They talked about it at myretirement party when I retired,
but um, I already had kind of abad shoulder, and then when that
taser incident happened, that'swhat put me over the edge where
I had to retire.
SPEAKER_00 (12:47):
What did you lose when you retired?
SPEAKER_02 (12:49):
Yeah, let me back you up a little bit.
So, as a kid, um, and I won't gotoo deep into it, but as a kid,
I had a biological dad that wassuper abusive.
I saw horrible domestic violencegrowing up, and I saw things
that a little kid shouldn't see.
And when I became 18 years old,I joined the military and I was
over in Iraq, and I'll just sayI saw a lot of terrible things.
Okay.
(13:10):
And then you get on the policedepartment, and you know, you're
dealing with suicidal calls, andthen I'm almost having PTSD from
the domestic violence calls thatI'm seeing from when I was a
kid, and then PTSD went over theedge because I was relating
stuff to the military.
You know, I was seeing deadbabies, I was seeing dead
adults, and it just starts toget to you.
(13:33):
And you're not really allowedback then to ask for help.
I'm my understanding is thingsare better now.
We didn't have a chaplain uh togo to.
Um, you know, the best I did wasgo out to the bar with another
cop and and drink until we weresilly.
But in a lot of ways, I'm not analcoholic, so in a lot of ways
that was good for me is somehowto talk to somebody about it
(13:54):
because I didn't want to bringit home to my my my wife or my
mother or my dad.
I didn't want to, I didn't wantto worry them.
So my point is I just thought Iwas gonna be one of those guys
that would be a cop for 30 yearsbecause that's where I belonged.
And then when I got hurt, I waslike, oh, I need to reinvent
myself.
So we ended up moving fromIllinois to Arizona, and I ended
(14:15):
up selling um home securityalarms for ADT.
And what's funny is that marketand that job is filled with a
lot of young men that never seena burglary in their life and
they're selling security.
So I was really good at itbecause I had a background in
police work.
Yeah and what was funny, when Iwas a police officer, I was a PR
(14:38):
guy a lot.
I was like the DARE cop, I wasthe hostage negotiator, I was
always the guy that they wouldput in front of the camera to
talk.
Um, I think that's why they putme in dare because I talked too
much on the street.
I was a B cop and they're like,You're too nice, go teach the
kids.
So my point is when I did ADT, Iwas really good at it.
And then my wife and I decidedto open up our own business.
(14:59):
And uh, I've been doingsecurity, home security uh
business and sales for over 10years now.
SPEAKER_00 (15:07):
I mean, to me, a a second chapter for a cop getting
into something security relatedis very common.
Uh there's a lot of guys wherethey go back to that area
because they have expertise andbecause they will run into other
people who they have connectionswith.
(15:27):
Yeah.
You know, they can be somewherethat's gonna attract other
veterans, other firstresponders, and then also sales.
A lot of cops make fantasticsalesmen.
I mean, kind of one of thecliches is that they all go sell
used cars.
Yeah, and that that that is kindof true because most cops are
excellent talkers and they talkwell under pressure.
(15:47):
Yeah, so so what you were doingdo selling home security
actually makes a lot of sense.
So, how do you get into comedy?
That seems like a totallydifferent route, you know.
SPEAKER_02 (15:58):
Yeah.
So I wish I had a fun answer tothat.
It's it's it's pretty sad,actually.
Um, but yeah, I do agree withlike sales was a natural
transition for me because on thepolice department, I felt at
times like a social worker, Ifelt like a parent, I felt like
a friend to people.
And talking's always came easy.
And I've always volunteered atthe church.
(16:18):
I was a youth pastor when thekids were little, um, and always
in a uh teaching position.
I teach celebrate recovery nowbecause of the stuff I went in
the back.
And then I started doingsecurity, got really good at it.
So, this is what happened withcomedy, which it's not I don't
know if this would be a normalway for someone to get into
comedy.
My mom got cancer.
(16:40):
My mom got cancer.
I'm an only child, my mom's mybest friend, especially all that
stuff that happened with mybiological dad, and I was
really, really distraught.
And my security business was ata point then where it was almost
running itself because I hadbuilt it, so I was only involved
if there was a problem.
And I had way too much time tothink about mom, and it was
(17:04):
driving me crazy and sad andmaking me more depressed.
Was she with you in Arizona orwhat she was, she was there when
she got sick, and cancer, as youknow, can be a very long
disease.
She got lung cancer.
So I decided as a distraction,I'm on Facebook one day
scrolling, and I see a comedyclass.
(17:24):
And I'm like, you know what?
I'll take a comedy class.
I need a laugh.
And I go to the comedy class,and I'm the first time I just
watch everybody, and I'm like, Icould I could do this.
And which by the way, if youthink that there's more to it.
So I start doing comedy at thisclass, and then when you're
(17:45):
doing comedy in a class format,it's very structured to teach
you what a joke is.
Me being funny with you at thebar is very different than being
funny on stage in front ofpeople, it's very different.
A lot of people think, oh, I'mfunny at the bar.
Well, it's a different skillset.
Um, but my point is I gotaddicted to comedy because it
was a distraction from mom.
(18:06):
And the only reason I'm sayingthat now is because my friend
that happens to be a pastor istelling me that I've refused to
grieve my mother, so this is howI went about it.
And then what happened was I wasdoing comedy a very long time.
2020 happens, COVID happens, momdies in May of 2020.
Wow.
And I've been doing comedy for abit as a distraction.
(18:28):
I'm still, you know, don't getme wrong, I'm still with my mom
a lot and I'm visiting her andstuff, but it's it's still a
nice distraction from it.
And uh mom dies, and instead ofme going to like a grieving
counselor or a pastor, I decideto open a comedy club.
And I open a comedy club inArizona, which I currently own
now, that's doing very well.
(18:50):
And then I'm meeting people andheadliners at the club, and then
my comedy is starting to grow.
And now I tour all over theplace doing comedy.
But my point is, my friend islike, yeah, dude, you need to
grieve your mother.
Like you're just distractingyourself over and over again.
So luckily, I went through agrieving class at my church, and
um it it it made me realize alot about myself and that I do
(19:14):
use distraction.
I use work as a distraction whenI don't want to think about
serious things.
And then comedy was adistraction when my mom died.
And then a year to the dateafter my mom died, my stepdad
died.
Um, he hit his head on a curbwalking the dog.
He got attacked by a dog thatwas attacking his dog.
He falls, hits his head on acurb, and dies.
(19:36):
Oh my god.
My stepdad was kind of like myfather because of my biological
dad being so bad when I waslittle.
Um, so it was a lot, man.
And and comedy.
Did I approach comedy in ahealthy way?
I would answer that no.
But I would say that now that Iunderstand it, comedy is helping
(19:57):
me keep moving.
And now it's more healthy.
SPEAKER_00 (20:01):
Yeah.
And I feel like I'm giving back.
And that that might actuallyhave answered my next question
because I was wondering ifthere's a period in your
development as a comedian ormaybe even a particular set or
particular joke that likeclicked and was like, This uh,
this is actually helping me.
I feel better, you know, sayingthis out loud in front of an
audience.
SPEAKER_02 (20:19):
But it was a lot of it, a lot of it happened in the
last six months, mentioningPTSD, which is not a joke at
all.
But what happened was if that'sthe way you can get someone to
like you, and then you throwsomething serious out that and
that gives them thecomfortability to approach you.
Yeah, I really believe in the12-step program.
I've been through a few of them,not for alcohol, for other
stuff.
One part of the 12-step programis step 12, and I feel like I'm
(20:41):
in step 12 now.
So once you go through aprogram, then it's about giving
back and helping others.
And I feel like that's where I'mat now.
But at the same time, I stillhave moments that hit me hard
and I grieve my mom.
And I'll be honest, I don't knowif that's ever gonna go away, no
matter how many classes and howmany prayers I make.
You know, that's where I'm atright now, is I feel like I'm in
(21:02):
a better place than when Istarted comedy.
And comedy's become therapeuticfor me.
And I really like doing thecomedy in front of first
responders because it's adifferent connection.
Because I do miss thatbrotherhood and that group of
people, because now I'm kind ofin the entertainment world, and
without like throwing that underthe bus too bad, it's very
(21:23):
different.
Yeah.
And I have to navigate thatdifferently.
And I do miss my church guys,and I miss my my brothers and
first responders, and then mymilitary people.
But at the same time, thosethose those circles all gave me
the skill set to deal with theentertainment industry.
SPEAKER_00 (21:40):
So I don't Well, I was gonna ask, you know, who you
know, what's I mean, what's thedifference between like the
people you've arrested on thestreet versus you know the
people who pay to come watch youdo a show?
Uh sometimes not any differenceat all.
SPEAKER_02 (21:57):
It really depends on the show, my friend.
Um Um a late show on a Fridaynight at a club, a comedy club,
yeah, they're it could be prettysimilar.
But the funny thing is, um, Ithink I mentioned earlier, you
know, a guy'll heckle you at ashow and it's like, I just feel
like really you're not gonna getmy attention, or um, they're not
gonna throw me off because Ialmost feel like police workers
(22:19):
prepped me for that.
SPEAKER_00 (22:20):
Well, I was gonna ask about that too.
I mean, do you are hecklers werethey even early on, were they
much of a challenge, or is it acase by case basis?
SPEAKER_02 (22:29):
It's really a case by case.
It depends on how you define aheckler, a comedian to define a
heckler by anyone that'sinterrupting their set.
Some hecklers are on your side,you know, they're like, yeah,
that's awesome.
Oh, great.
And they're throwing off yourrhythm.
They're throwing off your timingand they don't even know it.
And then you have people thatwant the show all to be about
them.
And then you have the peoplethat I remember very great from
(22:50):
the police department that arejust drunk, ignorant, terrible
people in that moment.
You know what I mean?
But I what I like about comedyso much more than police work,
if any police officer was everinterested in it in any way, is
that in police work, you tend toget called to the worst day of
someone's life.
That starts to weigh on you.
(23:12):
And now in comedy, I'm getting,hey, I was going through the
worst day of my life.
I came to this show, and thankyou for making me laugh.
I almost feel some kind ofweird, like, I don't know if the
right word, penance orsomething.
I feel like it's it's a goodopposite of where I came from,
if that makes sense.
SPEAKER_00 (23:33):
It's a nice reversal.
SPEAKER_02 (23:34):
Yeah, I it almost feels like I need to balance it
out.
But it wasn't planned.
I mean, I wasn't a kid that waslike, I'm gonna be a comedian
one day.
Like, this is a weird thing Godpresented me, and I I that's how
I went about it.
So I usually do comedy clubs,and comedy clubs are all over
the country, they're smallrooms, and they can be great and
(23:56):
they can be a little bit tough,but now I've been doing these
theaters shows for firstresponders, and I feel like I'm
giving back to my brothers andsisters.
Um, I also do cruise ships andtravel um in that way, doing
cruise ship comedy, and I've hadsome good moments there too,
because there's always a veteranon the ship.
(24:18):
There's a guy that's a firstresponder that didn't want to
tell anybody.
But can't you but can't you spotthose guys?
Yeah, I'm just for you to saythat.
If if if cops or firemen orwhoever want to admit it or not,
you stick out like sore thumbs.
Oh, yeah.
And I'm like, Were you a cop?
What do you do?
And sure enough, they're they'reusually a cop or a um a fireman.
I still get told that, and Idon't think I look like one at
(24:39):
all anymore, but I'm told it allthe time.
They're like, Are you still acop?
SPEAKER_00 (24:42):
And I'm like, no, I'm not.
But you're sitting with yourback to the wall watching the
door.
So we all know you're a cop,right?
Yeah, and cleaning my gun on thetable, so I don't know.
That's awesome.
That's awesome.
If you're if a cop wanted to getinto comedy and maybe doesn't
appreciate how difficult thatactually is, do you have any
(25:03):
word of advice or maybe awarning about what it's like to
actually get on stage?
SPEAKER_02 (25:09):
Well, if a cop wants to do anything outside of law
enforcement, I would encourageit.
Because I think, in my opinion,what can be bad about police
work or any any business reallyis if your whole circle of
influence is just policeofficers.
I think the most important thingis to expand your circle of
(25:30):
influence.
And, you know, I had my church,I had my military guys, I had my
friends from growing up.
Um, and now I have comedyfriends.
But specifically, if they wantto do comedy, comedy isn't hard
to do as far as getting in.
You know, there's somethingcalled an open mic at a lot of
bars and restaurants.
You can Google your city thatyou're in and just type in open
(25:52):
mic comedy.
And there's somebody that ifyou're willing to put your name
on a list and go up on stage foryou know a minute to five
minutes and share whatever youthink is funny, they'll allow
you to do that.
The audience will determine ifyou're actually funny or not.
And then that's up to you if youwant to develop the skill set to
perfect that.
You have to be a humble person,I think, to do comedy.
(26:15):
You have to have a thick skin,and people can't offend you
easily.
And I think that's why I thinkcops would make good comedians
because we do have thick skinsand we can usually deal with the
public differently than theaverage person.
How do you recover from bombing?
I've had a couple, a couplereally bad bombs, and I don't
(26:38):
know if this is denial or or myweirdness, but I don't ever
think I feel like that's likenot me on stage.
I feel like it's almost apersona of me.
And this is a graphic way to sayit, but I feel like I'm a bag of
meat talking up there.
(26:59):
And if I say something that'snot funny, I never take it
personally.
They're looking at this person,and is this person making them
laugh or not?
And if I don't make them laugh,I don't feel like they hate me.
I feel like they hated the joke.
So I just don't take itpersonal.
That's how I get past it.
And bombing's important.
If you're not bombing in comedy,you're not learning and you're
(27:21):
not gonna get better.
Every bomb I've had, I've alwaysturned around and got even
better.
It's part of it.
So if you're not bombing, you'renot doing it right.
So that's excellent.
That's you got to be willing totake a risk and go up there and
say vulnerable things and andstuff that you think's funny,
and then you're gonna find outreal quick if if the public
(27:41):
thinks it is.
And then you take notes, yourecord every set, and you're
like, oh, people related tothat, they didn't relate to
that, and then you cut that, andthen you build off the thing
they're related to, and then itjust keeps keeps going.
And you're disciplined to goback and listen to yourself.
Yeah, there's a lot ofdiscipline in comedy.
A lot of a lot of comedianssuffer from that.
Um, you know, I got in comedy ata later age, so um, you know,
(28:04):
you're your own business, youknow.
It's it depends on how youmarket yourself.
And, you know, it's not alwaysabout being funny, it's about
showing up on time and andmarketing yourself.
And a lot of opportunities, ifyou have a good work ethic, will
people call it luck.
And it's not always luck, it'swork ethic.
What's on your comedy bucketlist?
Actually, um, you're meeting meat a point in time where I'm
(28:28):
very content in comedy.
I uh was at a point where I feltlike there was no ending to
this.
Like I kept chasing it andchasing, and I'm like, what am I
chasing?
And I'm at a point where I'mtouring with these theater shows
with the heroes off duty comedytour.
I'm doing cruise ships andtraveling.
You know, you do four or fiveshows a week, and you're sitting
(28:49):
on a beach most of the time withmy wife, and I'm getting paid to
go on vacation.
And then I work the comedy club,which now when I even though I'm
working, I love comedy so muchthat I never feel like I'm at
work.
So doing the club and a tourhere and there and the cruise
ships with the wife, I guess mygoal is to not mess up what I
(29:12):
have.
That's awesome.
Um, because I'm pretty happy.
Am I trying to get famous or aNetflix special?
Um, I if that happened, I'm notgonna um be mad about it, but
I'm not pursuing it because um,as a club owner, I meet people
that are famous.
It's hard to find one that'sactually happy behind behind the
(29:33):
stage.
And when I hear about what needsto be done to get to that next
level, I'm not really interestedthat in my seasonal life.
I'm just not interested in that.
Sacrificing too much.
SPEAKER_00 (29:44):
Yeah, I'm married with two kids, and yeah, I want
to I think it was Socrates whosaid that he is richest who is
content with the most.
SPEAKER_02 (29:52):
And it's taken, you're meeting me at a point
where honestly, man, I thought II was like, what is contentment?
Will I ever find it?
And I I I think I found it.
So that's awesome.
Um, but at the end of the day,if you never feel content, I
think the only can the only timeyou really truly feel content is
if it is if you give your lifeto God, because that's what's
gonna give you contentment isyour relationship with God.
SPEAKER_00 (30:14):
So that's awesome.
Hey, these are all things I wantto hear from a retired cop.
SPEAKER_02 (30:18):
That makes me happy.
SPEAKER_00 (30:19):
That is good stuff.
SPEAKER_02 (30:20):
I still have a Twitch though.
SPEAKER_00 (30:23):
Hey, tell me, tell me where we can find you.
What's the name of your club anduh where can we find you?
SPEAKER_02 (30:29):
So uh my name's Jim Perry.
Again, Jim Perry, not JimCarrey, Jim Perry.
And then uh, if you want tofollow my comedy, everything is
on my website and it'll lead youto all my other stuff at the
copcomic.com.
Again, thecopcomic.com.
And then I live in Gilbert,Arizona, and I own JP's Comedy
(30:49):
Club.
It's also known as the GilbertComedy Club, and you can look up
information there atJP'scomedyclub.com.
SPEAKER_00 (30:56):
That's awesome.
Jim, thank you so much for beingon the show.
SPEAKER_02 (30:59):
Of course, yeah.
Thanks for having me.
This is awesome.
SPEAKER_00 (31:03):
I want to thank Jim for being on the show, and both
of those websites, his personalwebsite and the website for his
comedy club, are going to belisted in the show notes.
I hope that you take Jim'sadvice.
And if you feel like you want togive comedy a try, go to one of
those open mic events and giveit a shot.
Get some feedback, try again,record yourself, listen, keep
(31:27):
honing your craft because a lotof you are capable of doing
this.
In my opinion, far more than theaverage non-LEO.
The views expressed here are thepersonal views of the host and
our guest, and do notnecessarily represent the views
of any law enforcement agency orits components.
(31:48):
If you like this episode, pleaseshare it with a cop or someone
who loves a cop.
Thank you for listening to HeyChaplin.
And as always, let's pray forpeace in our city.
SPEAKER_02 (32:03):
So, yeah, before I was a police officer, I was a
security officer at a hospital,which is funny because I got in
more fights doing that job thanI ever did on the police
department.
Some of my church friends cometo my comedy shows and hear my
dirty jokes, and I think theythink I'm uh a little bit
twisted.
SPEAKER_00 (32:23):
All right, I'm going to say hello to you.
Like we just picked up thephone.
Oh, you can call me Jared or youcan call me Chaplin.
Either one or both.
SPEAKER_02 (32:31):
Not the one from Subway, I hope.
SPEAKER_00 (32:33):
No, mercy.
That was great.
There's actually a Facebookgroup um that are just for
people named Jared, spelledJ-A-R-E-D.
Oh, geez.
And and that that guy, thatpedophile from Subway, is like
the bane of our existence.
Popular Podcasts
Hey Jonas!
Hey Jonas! The official Jonas Brothers podcast. Hosted by Kevin, Joe, and Nick Jonas. It’s the Jonas Brothers you know... musicians, actors, and well, yes, brothers. Now, they’re sharing another side of themselves in the playful, intimate, and irreverent way only they can. Spend time with the Jonas Brothers here and stay a little bit longer for deep conversations like never before.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com