The Superior Express -

Josh Novey, a 39-year-old comedian, will be bringing entertainment to Mankato’s Community Center at 7 p.m., tomorrow (Friday). Curious as to whom Josh Novey is, The Jewell County Record reached out to him.

Novey is from Des Moines, Iowa, but is now living in Phoenix, Ariz. He served as a combat medic in the United States Army, where, on rough days, the guys would gravitate to him. “I would make jokes, or make fun of people,” Novey said. “After so many told me I had to do something with this talent, I started believing them.” After leaving the Army, Novey started doing Open Mics and 11 years later is headlining in Mankato.

Novey has done shows all over the country, Canada and Mexico. He has been on major TV networks. Netflix, Dry Bar Comedy, Sirius XM, Comedy Central and Amazon Prime. “I’ve worked with some of the top companies in the world doing shows,” Novey said. He’s also done shows at churches and comedy clubs.

“My absolute favorite part of being a comedian is meeting people,” Novey said. “Interacting with others where I normally wouldn’t otherwise. The best part of doing comedy is that someone will come up after the show and tell me they haven’t laughed in so long because of a tragedy. The idea that I’m able to give someone a little bit of joy in their life makes me feel like I have a purpose.”

When asked if he ever had stage fright, Novey said, “This is a great question. I don’t really have stage fright. I’m only nervous about shows because I want to bring the absolute best show to the audience that I can and I get nervous that they won’t be satisfied.”

Comedy is Novey’s only job. “If you know the lottery numbers for next week, you have to share!” he said. We then asked Novey what he did in his free time. “Well, in comedy there is no free time,” he responded. “I like to joke that I only work one hour a day, but in reality, I’m busy from the time I wake up to the time I go to sleep, and often I’m waking up to answer e-mails or writing jokes.”

Novey likes to bring joy to people. He said he doesn’t do political humor or anything that will divide a room. “When you come to my show, you’ll be happy for an hour or so,” Novey said. “I also do musical humor in my act. So the audience can expect to hear me jam out on my guitar while making fun of worship leaders.”

Novey said the content in his shows is always family friendly. “The younger children might not understand the jokes,” he said. “But they won’t hear anything you’ll have to explain on the way home. I’m a churchy guy, so I make sure that I represent myself and my faith well on stage. That being said, it’s not a Church comedy show. It’s more of a clean comedy show from the perspective of the churchy guy.”