Martin Montana had it all working out for him. The fancy job, the San Diego condo, and the coveted health insurance. But after years of making coworkers keel over laughing, he took the advice of his fellow funny friends and left it all to pursue his passion of comedy.

In just 5 short years he’s become a national headliner across the country while residing in the comedy capital – NYC. Growing up with a Columbian mom, just becoming an uncle, past office hijinks, and spot on impressions of DMX & football’s Shanon Sharpe, Martin has a little something for everyone. He performs a few times a year at both the Comedy Connection and Catch a Rising Star here in RI. He will be embarking on a 4 school college tour over the next 7 days.

 Our Comedy Contributor Ben Hague caught up with Martin and learned about how he got started, his influences, and more.

Ben Hague: How did you get into comedy?

Martin Montana: I wanted to do comedy my whole life. I remember when Comedy Central first came out and it was just stand up… I would watch for hours. For me it was just timing, I had an office job that I was doing really well at and just had to up and quit one day and go after it.

BH: Who are your influences?

MM: Bill Burr, Nick Swardson, Pablo Francisco, Dave Chappelle..

BH: What was your first OMG I’m a real comic experience?

MM: I was on the road working as a feature and the headliner told both me and the club manager that I did a great job and that he never wanted to have to follow me again.
 

BH: Tell us a funny story from the road.

MM: As a brand new comic you always think you have way more time than you actually do. I was brought along on a road gig, and had to open the show with 20 min. The show was at a hotel bar and they handed me the mic, shut off all the tvs that the 7 unsuspecting audience members were watching and said “Go”. I remember being out of jokes and looking down at my watch to see 12 min had passed. I absolutely bombed the next 8, probably blacked out, couldn’t even tell you what I talked about.

For all of Martin’s show dates visit martinmontana.com.

Find Martin on Facebook & Twitter.