The Do-It-Yourself Entertainer

The Do-It-Yourself scene is most often associated with music – booking your own shows at unusual or unused spaces, making and hanging posters, etc. However, local stand-up comedian, Jake Kornely, has taken the D-I-Y approach to comedy, and he’s got stage time and shows across the city to show for it.

Coming from the music scene, this approach was nothing new to Kornely, a current member of the Milwaukee-based four-piece band, Static Eyes.

Kornelly appeared at his first open mic in August 2011 after a friend told him of his experience. At the time Kornely was writing comic material, but more as a personal hobby. “The fact that he was able to get up there and do it, using his own jokes, was an inspiration,” Kornely says. “It was like, ‘Oh, maybe I should try this, too.’”

And when he finally did, getting on stage to perform his own jokes, it went pretty well. “The first open mic is never as bad as people assume it’s going to be.”

Still, Kornely only performed sporadically, because, it truth, it wasn’t quite that easy. “When I started, I had stage fright so bad. I would only do open mics when I felt like it. I wasn’t really taking it seriously.”

Also a member of two local bands at the time, Kornely wasn’t sure about pursuing another venture – especially one that required as much time and dedication as stand-up.

“I kind of realized if I don’t start doing this more often and put more effort towards it, it’s not even going to be a fun hobby. It’s just pointless,” Kornely says.

As he decided to focus more on comedy than music, Kornely knew he had to work it harder. “If you don’t put effort into it, you aren’t going to get anything out of it.”

So Kornely started doing open mics consistently, and putting more time into writing and rewriting jokes and creating material. “It took me a long time before I even felt I had five minutes. I was constantly scratching whatever I wrote and starting over.” Because he tosses so many jokes, “even now I don’t feel like I have that much material,” Kornely says.

Kornely admits he is still developing as a performer and writer. “I’m not even three years in, so I feel like I’m just starting.”

A perfectionist of sorts, Kornely relies on self-analysis in addition to audience feedback. “If a joke only half works, I’d rather throw it away and write one that works all the time.”

While still a constant contributor and performer at open mics throughout the city, Kornely has meanwhile used the skills he learned while promoting music shows, and began to create and promote his own shows.

“I wanted more stage time for myself,” Kornely says. “I saw the people around me who were getting better had shows themselves that they were hosting.”

While Kornely admits his first shows didn’t go perfectly, analyzing and making simple changes such as which day the show was staged, adding more lights, or other adjustments, helped increase the quality and up the attendance of his shows.

“Promoting and putting together comedy shows – and performing comedy – I sort of view the same way. The more you do it, the better you get at it.

And as his shows got better they got bigger. Kornely also began another project with fellow Milwaukee comic, Tyler Menz. With a total of five current writers and performers, Menz and Kornely became the faces of the Goodnight Milwaukee Show.

The Goodnight Milwaukee Show is rooted in the traditional talk show format, the wrinkle being that Kornely and Menz both act as co-hosts. “I like the show because of the talk show format, but there are stand-up elements, and we do sketches – improvising some of it, too,” Kornely says “I never know how well it’s going to go until we actually do the show.”

The Goodnight Milwaukee Show, which takes place at the Arcade Theatre, has quickly attracted a diverse audience. “Everyone is familiar with the talk-show style. It’s such a part of American culture and TV culture, so people identify with it.”

Kornely also runs the “Comedy Show Comedy Show Open Mic” every Monday at Bremen Café, located at 901 E. Clarke St. Yes, the title is deliberately repetitious.

And Kornely has added more feature shows to his already busy calendar. He will open for the wildly successful Kyle Kinane when the comic visits Shank Hall on Tuesday, May 6.

And besides the open mic series, Kornely also runs the just plain “Comedy Show Comedy Show” with Jake Kornely and Friends at Landmark Lanes, 2220 N. Farwell Ave, on Saturday, May 24 and  Friday, June 13, as well as at Riverwest’s Circle A Cafe at 932 E Chambers St. on Friday, May 2. All of which suggests that Kornely has gotten over that initial stage fright.