Walking A Delicate Balance: Talking Relationships, Politics & Geek Stuff With Comedian Dave Columbo

If you’ve been in social media’s comedic circles in the last few years, you’ve seen a wide range of comedy. Usually a comedian focuses on one thing like political humor, relationships, or maybe even pop culture and geeky stuff. But if you’re one of over a quarter million TikTok users, 81,000 Instagram users or nearly 12,000 YouTube fans of Dave Columbo, you’d know that he’s walking an impressive comedic tightrope of all three.

As Dave launches the next step of his comedy empire — his own podcast with his wife and fellow comedian Laura High — we got a chance to sit down and talk with him about how he does it, and why being funny is important in today’s crazy climate.

Tony Thornley: First of all Dave, I have to start with congratulations! We’re sitting down to talk just as you and your wife are launching your podcast Kidding. This isn’t just another comedian podcast though. What is Kidding and why does it warrant congratulations?!

Dave Columbo: Thank you so much! Kidding is a weekly podcast I started with my wife Laura High, documenting our first pregnancy. As two millennials with limited access to the mindset of our parents while they had us and full access to our podcast studio, we thought it would be fun to document the adventure. 

Tony: As a parent of two great kids, you’re in for an adventure. What’s been the number one bit of advice you’ve gotten so far?

Dave: It’s not so much a specific piece of advice, but we have a few friends who are amazing parents and they’ve given us very much needed encouragement. There’s just an energy they have where they tell us to ‘breathe and enjoy it’ that I find soothing. They’re like Obi-Wan plopping the helmet on us, telling us to “act on instinct”.

Tony: A podcast is a fairly unique way to chronicle a pregnancy and the beginning of the parenting journey. How did you and Laura decide to start on that path?

Dave: I’ve got a few blurry, sun faded pics of my early childhood (what was with the 1980s and sepia toned photography?) and it feels like any connection to my parents’ emotions, choices, and actions that brought me into the world have been lost to time. Since we live in an age where we all have 4K cameras in our pocket, there really is no excuse anymore. If our child has the same curiosity about their origin that I had, they need but search for Kidding wherever they get their podcasts. 

Tony: You’ve got such a unique presence on social media. Comedians tend to focus on certain niches, especially in doing sketches. You’ve got a pretty diverse spread of topics. How did you find yourself in such a wide range of comedy?

Dave: Partially I’m just terrified of being too narrowly branded. You see it all the time — someone goes viral by wearing an aluminum foil suit of armor one time and it’s like “welp, the internet has decreed you are foil armor guy forever”. The goal is for my appeal to be vibes based. Hey, if you liked the way I joked about the news this week, maybe you’d like to hang out while I livestream a video game? 

Tony: You use sketch formats pretty heavily in your political comedy. How has that become the strongest way for you to get the point across?

Dave: There’s a lot of yelling on the internet. After an awful news story, I think we all, myself included, find ourselves detoxing by nodding along with content creators who angrily rant the way we feel but maybe couldn’t quite articulate. But sometimes I don’t think it’s the healthiest thing in the world to open your phone and immediately be thrust into that energy. So I decided a long time ago to forgo immediate commentary for something else. What’s the hook? What’s the hypocrisy I can call out? How can I structure my opinion with more than just venom? It also has the added benefit of making me look like I’m way more emotionally healthy with what’s going on in the world than I actually am.

Tony: Has there been a particular political sketch that you look back and say that you’re particularly proud of?

Dave: I did a few sketches pretending to be the news media I wish we had. It felt liberating to construct what 24 hour news could actually have been if the goal was information instead of advertisers.But the thing I’ve been the most proud of is my News O’Clock show, a Daily Show style recap of the news I do all myself — writing, editing, and graphics. I started it in my room with a dream and no focus assist, and it’s grown to something I’m really happy with. 

Tony: The thing that “won” a follow from me was your geek content. I feel like a lot of comedians are fairly geeky, but no one lets that flag fly in their content. Outside of your Off The Mark Podcast, why has geek content been important to you?

Dave: It’s just a big part of who I am. My wife will tell you sometimes unprovoked I’ll just do the sound effect of Wolverine’s claws popping out or thwip myself onto a wall and start crawling. It wouldn’t seem right to put myself out there online and not include that side of me.

Tony: Every geek has an entry point. For me, it was the last three years of Marvel’s G.I. Joe. What was the thing that made you a geek?

Dave: In the early ’90s, I remember catching the animated X-Men show one morning and thinking “Excuse me? Guy throwing glowing playing cards? Feral dude with claws? Why wasn’t I informed this was a thing?” I went to a comic book store shortly after that and never looked back. 

Tony: Why is geeky and nerdy pop culture an important thing for us to embrace today?

Dave: This is the golden age of choice! There are incredible creators using every genre and every medium to tell amazing stories. It might seem overwhelming, but take a recommendation from a friend and you might find your new favorite thing. 

Tony: One of my favorite recurring bits that you and Laura do together is when you introduce her to something nerdy, like pro wrestling or video games. How did you approach that with her? How has it been bringing her in to something that important and formative to you?

Dave: Since she and I are nerds for very different things, we thought it would be fun to do a series where we introduce each other to our obsessions. The first one ended up being me showing her wrestling, and she was so good at riffing MST3K style over it, that kinda just became the show. People really like the dynamic of me nerding out while she winces and gently roasts me. 

Tony: I’ve been kind of all over the place, but that’s one of the great things about your comedy, you have a lot to offer everyone. What is the number one thing that you would tell someone unfamiliar with your work to show them you have something for them?

Dave: My stand up. It’s a pretty potent distillation of what you’ll get from my social media content. It’s definitely what I work the hardest on. 

Tony: What’s the number one thing you want us to check out as we wrap up today?

Dave: Laura and I are really proud of Kidding. Our dynamic as a comedy couple is on full display, and it’s a fun window into our pregnancy journey documented week by week! 

Tony: Thanks Dave this was a pleasure!

Dave: Thank you! I’m going to go check out Marvel’s G.I. Joe.

Tony: You should, it’s one of my all time favorites!

You can find all of Dave’s social media, as well as his YouTube Channel, at https://www.davecolumbo.com/. Kidding is available on all podcast channels now.