Focus on Drew Morgan

Drew Morgan

Class Year: 2006
Major at MC:  Political Science
Senior Thesis Topic: I don’t remember the title. It was on political poetry, which is barely a thing. Tom Conte was my advisor, and he was awesome because he let me do it.”
Current Town/City of Residence: New York, NY/Knoxville, TN
Occupation: Stand-Up Comedian and Author
Family:  Andi Morrow ’09, spouse

Too much. I’ve been to about 35 states, and I don’t know how many cities in the last year. I love it, and love seeing different places. But I do wish I had more time in each place and wasn’t away from home ALL THE TIME.

My career path has been meandering at best. I was a bum in Australia for 6 months after college, then I was a bum at Boston College Law School. Then I became a public defender – which is the professional accomplishment I’m most proud of – but I got burnt out and realized I probably wasn’t cut out to be an attorney. Luckily for me, I’d already been pursuing comedy. Even luckier for me, I had gotten good at it. I moved to New York City and pursued it while doing what is called “document review” (basically temp legal work) to pay the bills for nearly three years. Then, things kinda came together.

I’d always wanted to try comedy, but I never made time. I got started when Andi signed me up for a stand-up competition in 2010.

I think some of my classmates would be very shocked, but a few of them probably saw this coming. I remember getting drunk in Beeson Village on the weekends and following beloved MC security guard Dean around with my guitar. I made up goofy songs about him and what he was doing while he was trying to wrangle underage kids. I don’t think he appreciated me making fun of his awesome mustache, but the great thing about comedy is if you can make people laugh, you can get away with a lot. He never gave me too much grief.

We met doing comedy in Knoxville and Chattanooga.

I think the most excited I’ve been so far was when we got to work and hang out with the Drive By Truckers, a band I idolize. The most excited my momma has been was probably when we went on “The View.” The coolest gig for me was selling out Gotham Comedy Club in NYC. About five of my comedian friends I met when I first moved there came, and it was so cool to think about the empty shows and bad open mics we’d done together, and now I was at one of the best clubs in the world, and it was packed.

MC teaches a very “figure it out as you go” approach to life. I don’t know if that is true of all liberal arts schools, but MC worked for me because of it.

I get to tell jokes for a living, and that is a lot of fun. I also like being outdoors when I can – hiking, paddle boarding, canoeing – I like all of those things.

My work as a public defender, and volunteering.

Professionally – To make a comedy special and get our TV show made. To play Bonnaroo. To have a celebrity “beef.”

Personally – Eat scallops on every continent (I really want to travel).

…seems to focus on service and volunteering.

that I got very fat for a few years. Actually that probably isn’t surprising.

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Focus on Alumni, is a Q&A-style profile of an alumnus or alumna of Maryville College. If you have recommendations for alumni on whom we should “focus,” please email those names to Carol Clark in Alumni Affairs. Alumni Profile Archive