There’s no denying that comedian Phil Johnson is one of the more entertaining performers working Bay Area stages for over two decades. The singer/songwriter/comic is unmistakably iconic in his satin shirt (red, now blue), long brown hair and guitar. Johnson’s youthful spirit will be on display at Woodhouse Blending & Brewing on Thursday, June 25.
In the world of stand-up comedy, comics with guitars are not only rare, but often frowned upon. It’s a tougher road. Perhaps it comes from a snobbish viewpoint of what stand-up comedy is. “I’ve had a lot of people come up to me after shows and go, ‘I hate musical comedy, but yours was really good.’ And I think it’s because I really come at it as a songwriter first. I have to make sure that it’s a good song with hooks and riffs and something that you would listen to. The funny lyrics are just the gravy on top of it,” Johnson says from his home in Milpitas.
In 2004, Johnson began transitioning from being a regular musician to a musical comedy artist. “I had written a couple of funny songs that I was playing in my coffee shop gigs amongst all the serious songs,” says Johnson.
“And those were the ones that really started to click with people. And they were like, ‘I like that ‘Whale Blubber’ song.’ I had gone to an indie music conference and I played the songs, as a goof, and everybody really liked them,” says Johnson.
Johnson began to “lean in” to writing more funny songs. And his first performance as Phil Johnson the Comic (with a guitar) happened at The Hyena Theatre in SF. “Theater is a very grand word for a room in an office building with some folding chairs,” Johnson laughs.
Johnson began playing guitar with some musical comedy sketch groups, but it was as a solo act that he braved the stage at comedy open mics. “It was at Ron’s Farmhouse in Mountain View, that I got onstage with my two little goofy comedy song. And then it opened up a bunch of new places to play. I thought, okay, if I’m going to live in this world, I should actually learn the skills too. And that’s when I started working on my standup as well,” Johnson recalls.
Johnson came from a background of being in bands for a decade and understanding that flying and email lists are crucial to getting gigs and having people attend. You might call it old school, but the DIY marketing plan works. And until recently, when you saw that red shirt, you knew Johnson was up. Was it a uniform, a prank, or a simple trick to capture people’s attention?
The red shirt? Well, in the 90’s, when I was playing with my band, we were trying to find a way to stand out from all the plaid shirts, hoodies, and cargo shorts. We were like, all right, how do we stand out from the rest of these idiots? And so we all started wearing these like satin shirts on stage and just like dressing up a little more to stick out. And so I kind of just took that into comedy.
“And I had I had a purple one and a blue one and a red one. And I had a white one that was absolutely blinding. But every time I would wear the red one, somebody would come up to me after the show and go, I love your red shirt. I have to buy a CD. And I’d be like, all right, well, I just invest that merch money in a couple more red shirts then.
“And so the red shirt always caught people’s attention more. And so I just ran with that. And now I don’t even wear it anymore. I wear blue now because some people in this country ruin the color red for the rest of us,” Johnson admits.
Phil Johnson has played and performed around the globe and built a loyal fanbase.
Phil Johnson will appear on Thursday, June 25th at 7:30pm at Woodhouse Brewing and Blending, 119 Madrone Street, Santa Cruz. Admission is free.
