Today we’d like to introduce you to Nick Murphy.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Nick. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Born and raised in Atlanta. Most of my adolescence revolved around basketball and chess if you can imagine such a combination; more travel games and tournaments than I can remember. The chess stopped shortly after my high school team won the 2009 state championship; I was by no means our best player and felt it was best to go out on top. Most shocking of all though—and I know this will be hard to believe—absolutely no one cared about the championship. No shit, we didn’t even get a photo in the yearbook. Not sexy enough I guess. Our football team even got in despite only winning one game that year. I should know; I was the quarterback.
After being able to focus entirely on basketball, I led all DeKalb County Schools in free throw percentage for the ’09-’10 season, so naturally I had to turn down scholarship offers from Duke, North Carolina, and Kentucky in order to attend Division 3 Birmingham Southern College in Birmingham, Alabama. I enjoyed my time at BSC, but decided to hang up the shoes after two years and finish my education at the University of Georgia.
I had always wanted to try to stand up, and after UGA I had to choose my next direction or my mother told me she would choose for me. I was a big fan of Anthony Jeselnik and knew that he took a comedy class, so I figured I could at least give that a shot and see what happened. Now, here we are four and a half years later and I can now say to you, Mom, if you’re reading this: We’ll see.
Has it been a smooth road?
No, not smooth at all. Starting out in stand up comedy involves mostly struggling. Meaning not being funny. A lot. I remember trying a joke once that involved me dropping the microphone straight down onto the stage. I expected it to just kinda ‘thud’ on the stage so I could pick it right back up and continue, instantly earning me a huge laugh immediately followed by a Netflix comedy special. Instead, the microphone exploded, and I spent the rest of my set picking up all of the pieces across the room. This was considered very unfunny by the entire audience, and if I could give one piece of advice to comics just starting out, it would be to just go ahead and not do that. I’ve already tried it.
Struggling is sort of the point of stand up though, then you (ideally) struggle less and less as you get better and better. It’s not unlike other jobs/skills in that regard; it takes work. The difference is you’re up there by yourself and it can really, really, suck when it goes poorly. A lot (see broken microphone story above). My biggest thing is just trying to keep getting better overall while understanding there will probably be a lot of setbacks.
Please tell us more about what you do, what you are currently focused on and most proud of.
The main thing people tell me about my style is that I look like a serial killer and I am “very dry” onstage. I know they mean “dry” as a compliment, but it always sounds like a negative. “Dry” sounds like a bummer. There’s a reason they call Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson the Splash Brothers; “splash” sounds sexy. If they were called the Dehydrated Brothers, they would likely have zero championships.
As far as looking like a serial killer, I don’t have a very strong argument against that and you may blame my parents for the eyebrows.
Right now I’m focusing on doing lots of shows, expanding my act as much as possible, and applying to some comedy festivals along the way.
Finally, I am probably most proud of the fact that I can recite the entire movie Triple X (2002) starring Vin Diesel without any mistakes. For the sake of my close friends and family who can confirm this, I will take no further questions about the film at this time, but in closing would just like to say: “Welcome to the Xander Zone.”
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
I like the activity in Atlanta. There’s always an event or show going on or something to do or somewhere to be. Plus, if you want to do nothing, that option is also available.
This is probably the part where I’m supposed to say I hate Atlanta’s traffic, but I’d actually like to get a little more specific than that, if I may; To the gentleman in the blue Toyota Camry that cut me off yesterday: You Sir are my least favorite thing about Atlanta.
Contact Info:
- Email: nick10murphy@gmail.com
- Instagram: IG: @n10murph
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nick.murphy.142
- Twitter: Twitter: @murphn10
Image Credit:
Ian Tumey and Michele Murphy
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