Paranormal comic, podcaster Ryan Singer explores the esoteric
The Alter andWright State grad has been living in Los Angeles since 2011.
Because of his offbeat sensibilities, Ryan Singer has been considered an alternative comic since his first open mike appearances at the now defunct Jokers Comedy Café in the early 2000s. The Alter High School graduate ventured even further from the mainstream in 2015when he beganwritingmaterial exploring his interest in spirituality and the esoteric. This creative shift was prompted by the Los Angeles transplant’s growing involvement in his podcast, “Me & Paranormal You.”
Singer, 44, posted the program’s 500th episode on March 31, soon after the coronavirus shutdowns began to impact theUnited States. He co-hosts another podcast, “This Is Where the Magick Happens,” withpsychicmediumAngelaLovell. While Singer hasn’t been on stage since March, he has continued to produce both podcasts throughout the pandemic.
Singer, who graduated from Wright StateUniversity with a creative writing degree, has been living in Los Angeles since 2011. The comedian, podcaster and paranormal investigatorwas recentlymaking plans for a cross-country drive to visit family in Dayton when he hopped on the telephone for an extended conversation. These are editedexcerpts fromthat interview.
What prompted this trip back home?
For the last 10-plus years, I’ve been such a creature of traveling. I’ve essentially been a road comic, so being solitary this long has been areallyinterestinganduniqueexperience for me. It’s only been six months since I’ve been on the road but, at the same time, that feels like forever. Summer is usuallywhen I domy long tour soI’mmissing that. That’s usually when I seemy family and friends. I just want to see people back home so I’m going to hit the road. Then, who knows? I honestly have no idea, I could be staying two weeks or I could be staying two months.
Have you performed live since the shutdowns in March?
No and I anticipate I won’t be performing inside a comedy club until next year. I’ve done some virtual things, but that’s not the same at all. You still get someof that preshowenergy, but there’s something really different about that that connectionandhumanenergy of being intheroomtogether. There’sasense ofcommunitywe can fosterwhen we realizewe all laugh at the same things nomatter howdifferentwe thinkwe may be. That’s the magic of comedy for me and that’s what I miss the most.
It’s a tough time to rely on live performance to pay the bills.
People are desperate for live entertainment. Trust me, I amtoo. Stand-up comedy is my favorite thing. I’d love to be in the back of a room nowlaughing. I don’t even knowif there is a circuit you could be doing right nowto really survive as a stand-up. I haven’t looked into it because it’s not something I feel is achievable. I knowthere are people that have mortgages, kids and bills to pay that I can’t even comprehend as a single guy. If comics are hitting the road right now because they have to, I really hope it doesn’t end up causing more harm than good.
Youracthasbecomemoreunconventional in recent years but has anyone ever accused you of being a mainstream comic?
No,mysenseofhumorhasalways been a little different. I traveled that small bubble of the Midwest as an open miker and tried to find something relatable tomakequoteunquote normal people laugh, like blue collar andwhite collar people of all different types. At the foundation of this, there are these very basic human stories and they’re just playing out with different window dressing for me in the paranormal world. If I can make the strange, paranormal, woo topics relatable to people andmake them laugh through the stuff I’m interested in, to me that’s really where the juice is. Ten or 15 years ago, I thought it was weird to talk about this stuff on stage, but embracing it has really freedmeto be the comedian I am now.
Have thepodcasts changed your audience in the clubs?
I do have some peoplewho find mycomedyfrommypodcasts. Like, they didn’t even know I did comedy, which is weird for me. Then therearepeoplewhoonlyknowmy comedy fromthe past and theydiscover my podcasts and they see a different side of me. The two have become pretty close so if someone sawmy stand-up comedy nowand then listened tomy podcast, they’d be like, ‘Oh, yeah, this is definitely whathe’sinto.’ Thereareotherpeople in the audience who are there for that so they’re interestedwhen I start talking about Bigfoot, reincarnation or Dr. Masaru Emoto’s experiments with talking to water and transforming water with love or hatred. If I had 250 people in a room that all believed in Bigfoot, I’m not going to say that wouldn’t be the best audience I’ve ever had, but it just might be the best audience I could ever have. The people interested in different worlds, the paranormal, the esoteric, the occult, themystical, the supernatural, the spiritual andthewoo, when they show up, they’re locked in, which is nice.
What’s it been like podcasting during the pandemic?
TheInternet is an amazing thing. I do two episodes aweek of “Me & Paranormal You.” One of them is usuallyasoloepisodesothat’sreally easytododuringthis. Theotherepisode is an interview with someone that’shadparanormal experiences. We’ve been doing them through Zoom or through video and audio recording over the Internet so it’s been really easy. It almost makes youfeellikeyouneverhavetodoan in-person interviewagain, although you do lose a little magic you get with live interviews. I do look forward to being able to do them in person again and travel, perform live, meet some of the people in the clubs and, maybe, go look for ghosts and stuff after the shows. My co-host for the other podcast, “This Is Where the Magick Happens,” is in Florida taking care of hermomwhile she’s inchemotherapy. It’s been really easy to record every week using Zoom. That has been a seamless transition for the most part.
Are you able to monetize the podcasts?
I amable tomonetize them. That has been a tremendous help for me, even at the level I’m at. But there’s a big difference between what I’m doing and what somebody like Joe Rogan is doing as far as money goes. I’ve been really luckywhen it comes to transitioning to the pandemicworld because part of me was already planning on spending less time on the road this year. I had already set myself up for being home more during this period.
Artist info: www.ryansingercomedy.