Show puts business of comedy on radio

“All right, here we go,” says the disembodied voice of producer KC Allen in our headphones. The laughter and conversation around the table don’t die down, but the focus shifts rapidly.

This is Sunday at the iHeart Media offices in Maitland, the time when the cast of nighttime comedy show “Real Laughs” records the coming week’s shows, which air from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m., MondaysThursdays on Real Radio 104.1.

Devin Siebold gets things going, giving the introduction to his fellow comedians around the table. Regular co-hosts James Yon and Miguel Colon Jr. are joined by guests Vinny Barber, owner of Jimmy Bear’s BBQ, and Ken Miller, whom Siebold calls the “godfather of Orlando comedy.”

Barber is also a comedian, but it doesn’t hurt that he sponsored this week by bringing in some barbecue.

A government and economics teacher from Winter Haven, Siebold won 2015 Comedian of the Year from Real Radio’s “Monsters in the Morning.” He started out doing guest spots on the morning program. He put together “Real Laughs” with 2016’s winner Colon.

“This is exceedingly hard,” says Siebold, 32. “We don’t have any immediate feedback from people sitting in front of you.

“Not only that, but we’re now doing jokes in front of other comics,” he says. “I invited James and Miguel because I knew ... I knew that they would laugh and make it a little more fun than a hostile competition between comics.”

The show has segments, such as the Theme Park Update and a roast session of celebrities. (They send up MMA’s Conor McGregor while I’m there. “McGregor looked more out of place at that fight than Mayweather in a spelling bee,” says Colon.) But the show is about the lives of comics. They interview New York comedian Lynne Koplitz on the phone and the conversation runs immediately to shared experiences and shows. They talk about how all comics have an hourlong TV special planned in their heads.

On and off the air, the topics are shows, open mics and other comedians. Coworkers in the common industry of making people laugh just opening up about all that entails. “We’ve had feedback from people who said they learned a lot about comedy from the show,” says Siebold.

Koplitz says a dirty word and Siebold shoots Allen an apologetic look. “We do have to keep it radiofriendly, which can be difficult,” Siebold tells me.