Free laughs at IPA

By Reader Staff

After years of gigging as a musician, Grant Winkels finally convinced himself that he was funny.

The Minneapolis-based stand-up comic will try to convince Sandpoint of the same at a free live comedy show at 7 p.m. on Thursday, June 26 at Idaho Pour Authority (203 Cedar St., in downtown Sandpoint).

Winkels was selected as a “Comic to Watch” by Racket Magazine, and has performed at the New York City Comedy Festival, West End Comedy Fest and Fountain City Comedy Festival among others. He’s a producer for the acclaimed 10,000 Laughs Comedy Festival, a paid regular at Acme Comedy Comedy and hosts the popular Sisyphus Brewing Open Mic.

Grant Winkels. Courtesy photo

“I used to be in a rock ’n’ roll band for about six years or so,” Winkels told the Reader. “Performing on stage has always been there for me. At a certain point, I got the bug enough and wanted to try comedy, so I transitioned out of playing music and got more into comedy.”

Winkels acknowledged that starting out as a comic is just as brutal as everyone says it is. 

“It took me a couple of years to figure it out, to get my feet under me, where I wasn’t fighting for my life every time I was on stage,” he said. “It’s kind of like golf — you suck for so long, but even when you suck, you’ll have that one shot, or that one set you do well enough even with one joke that lands, and that’s enough to keep me coming back.”

Winkels’ comedy is based on his observations and anecdotes from life, a never-ending well that keeps on giving. He tours the Midwest and the rest of the country, opening for comics such as Kelsey Cook, Geoffrey Asmus, Mike Recine and Mary Mack. His videos have accumulated millions of views on social media.

Warming up the crowd — or perhaps sending them running for the hills — will be Ben Olson, who also owns this newspaper and plays in a local band. Olson will play a handful of old songs he wrote when he was still amused by life instead of scared of it.