Behind the Scenes with Jimmy Cash and Comedy Nights at the BrickBox
Lisa Condit, vice president of communications for The Hanover Theatre and Conservatory, spoke with comedian Jimmy Cash, who will be performing in Comedy Night at the BrickBox on Sunday, February 14, Valentine’s Day. Read on for highlights from the interview, or listen to the full interview below. Then tune in to WCRN 830AM Fridays at 9 AM and Saturdays at 1 PM for more behind-the-scenes interviews.
Lisa: If you haven’t seen Jimmy Cash’s Janitor Parade video yet, you might want to go and give that a watch. Basically, it’s a three-minute clip where it becomes abundantly clear how much you, Jimmy Cash, care about your students, even when you’re kind of poking fun at what the situation is. You want to go in on how you found your inspiration or boy did it just come so naturally as you’re surrounded by the joys of your everyday life?
Jimmy: Yeah, the Janitor Parade was actually, you nailed it, it was a little poking fun but a little sincerity too. I saw that teachers were doing the parades during the lockdown, the beginning of it, going around in cars and waving to their students outside and I’m like, “Why can’t I do that?”
Imagine, it started off with I was going to just walk down my street, the middle of the street, with the mop bucket and just kind of wave to a few kids I knew. Then, after more thought, I said we could go a little bigger with this. Maybe I could get on the back of my truck and throw out some rolls of toilet paper too.
Lisa: Instead of the Santa Parade throwing candy, it’s you throwing toilet paper.
Keeping the Comedy Muscle Strong
Lisa: So how are you staying funny and motivated and excited to be sharing all of this during this time? Tell us tell us a little bit more about what we can expect on Valentine’s Day.
Jimmy: Well, I’ve been staying motivated and excited about it because I had the opportunity to work opening up for comedian Bob Marley over the spring and summer and fall. That kind of kept the muscle going for me, the comedy muscle, just kept it alive just enough because there wasn’t a lot of shows locally. I mean, we did have the WooHaHa that John Tobin ran downtown, which was phenomenal, but besides that there wasn’t a lot in Massachusetts for shows.
On Valentine’s Day show you could expect me just getting up there and sharing some of my stories and adventures through being a school janitor and stepfather and sober, got a lot of different layers to delve into.
Advice from a Pro
Lisa: The Hanover Theatre also has a conservatory as part of our organization where we have an improv class, and we have all different levels. People take classes at The Hanover Theatre Conservatory all the way from the time they can appreciate music as babies up to very mature adults, and Adult Improv is a very popular class. What pieces of advice do you have for our aspiring comics out there?
Jimmy: To not listen to yourself, to you to your fears, and to just push through and be kind to yourself and don’t be afraid to bomb. You’re going to bomb, we all bomb, but you just learn from it keep going.
Lisa: That’s right, it’s not how many times we get knocked down but it’s getting up every time. Right, Jimmy?
Jimmy: That’s right!
Janitor with Stamina
Lisa: Jimmy is such a nice person to talk to, and I think he wanted me to talk more about the fact that he was from Worcester because part of his shtick is that he’s a Janitor with Stamina. So, for every everybody who’s listening who has gotten into TikTok, he’s pretty funny and he does have a lot of activity on all the social media channels. So, you should definitely check it out. He has a whole thing about ordering his coffee at Dunkin’ Donuts and Janitor with Stamina, and that’s really how he is. His father was also a janitor for the Worcester Public Schools, and so he took over the family legacy, as he puts it, and he’s been doing it for 20 years. He’s just so humble, so hard working and so funny all at the same time.
So, yes, he is one of four awesome comedians that we’re going to be having on Valentine’s Day, February 14, with Kathe Farris, Sam Ike and Tony V.