For much of his comedy career, Josh Blue has tried to get people to laugh with him about having cerebral palsy.

Although CP will remain a part of his set in some fashion, Blue said he hopes to move to the point where audiences are comfortable with it, allowing him to use other material.

“Now people know who I am, so I don’t have to talk about the disability,” Blue, a Denver native, said. “I have CP, so I have to bring it up, but then I can branch off of what I want to talk about.”

Blue’s big break came when he won the NBC reality show “Last Comic Standing.” Blue said he was headlining comedy clubs before winning the show, but the show allowed him access to more clubs around the country. He said he has been able to come up with a lot more material.

“I really feel like I’ve grown quite a bit,” Blue said. “When I won ‘Last Comic Standing,’ even though I was headlining, it was scary to fill up 45 minutes to an hour. I’m a lot more comfortable doing that amount of time.”

Like many comedians, Blue has used the Web to try and build a bigger audience through online videos. Several of his stand-up routines have more than 1 million views on YouTube, and he has appeared in several viral videos.

“It’s really important to stay in the public eye,” Blue said. “I enjoy doing other things. It keeps the comedy fresh, and it’s fun to work on little, short films.”

Blue said a downside to the explosion of online video is he can’t reuse jokes as much.

“The viral stuff is really hard on a lot of comics,” Blue said. “You used to be able to milk your act for years. Now anyone can watch it. It burns your material up. But it’s good because it keeps comics writing.”

Blue said fans who meet him out and about or after a show send positive messages his way.

“A lot of people that talk to me are happy, and it’s a really good vibe,” Blue said. “I think they pick up on what I’m talking about. What I’m saying has a positive outlook on life. At least I’m being recognized for something good.”

Most people may not know that Blue is a member of the U.S. Paralympics soccer team. Blue said he was a latecomer to soccer but tries to play whenever he can.

“I played street ball as a kid,” Blue said. “I played intramural in college. I’m more of a trickster in juggling. I’m a lazy soccer player. I’m good for the goals though. The hard part is being on the road. I’m not able to work on it as much as I like to or as much as the coach would like me to. But I take a ball with me everywhere I go.”

Blue said reactions to his act can vary at different cities around the country.

“Some places I go surprise me,” Blue said. “I do well in the Midwest. A place like San Francisco is almost too liberal to laugh at you. With all the pot they smoke in that city, you think they would be more loose. But every area of the country has a different type of laughter. It can be a more refined laughter or a redneck laughter.”

Blue said he usually goes out and explores cities while on the road. He said that task is easier in a place like Chicago but a little more difficult in Kansas City, where he usually stays near the airport.

“The ultimate story in Kansas City is when I stayed in a hotel by the airport,” Blue said. “There are woods by the airport, and I found out I wasn’t supposed to go in there. I was out there for 45 minutes with another friend. Out of the corner of my eye I saw two cops creeping up with hands on their guns. We kept walking and we were almost out, but the cop comes up and says, ‘What are you guys doing?’ We told him we were just walking around the woods. I didn’t have anything with me. I thought, ‘Don’t you know who I am? You can see I have CP.’ But he never took his hand off the gun. He must have thought I was a tweaker. He asked if I have any aliases. I told him I didn’t have any ID with me, but he could go check the marquee on the comedy club. So he calls someone on dispatch who said, ‘Oh, that’s the comedian Josh Blue.’”



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