InkBlog

Comedian Dustin Nickerson spent the first 27 years of his life living in the Seattle area, where he took the bus to see the Mariners play inside of the Kingdome and later T-Mobile Park, while he also rooted and followed the Seattle Sonics.

The Athletic recently caught up with Nickerson to talk about his love of all things Seattle sports and his new YouTube special, “Runs in the Family” — which is closing in on 170,000 views.

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Nickerson lives in San Diego with his wife, Melissa, and their three children: Joel, 15, Gloria, 13, and Claire, 9. Dustin and Melissa host a podcast called, “Don’t Make Me Come Back There.”

Dustin, tell us a little about yourself and, specifically, your roots here in the Pacific Northwest?

I spent my first 27 years (he’s now 38) in Seattle, I grew up in Federal Way, went to UW (University of Washington), got married (Melissa). Then, almost 12 years ago, we moved down to San Diego. At the time, I was looking for a job, and as much as I liked Seattle, my least favorite part was the weather. And San Diego had the best weather. So we decided that would be a great place to raise our (three) kids. Now it feels like it would be child abuse if we moved back to Seattle.

Tell me about your love of the Mariners and when that started.

In 1999 (when Safeco Field opened), I would have been about 15. We didn’t go to a lot of games because we didn’t have a lot of money. I was raised by a single dad who worked for Alaska Airlines. We would take the bus from Federal Way. For a long time, the majority of games I went to were at a fairly empty Kingdome. Then after 1995, everything changed.

What was your level of Seattle sports fandom growing up? Who were you watching?

I try to explain this to people all the time who have no recollection of what Seattle was like in the 1990s. Everyone assumed (the most popular team in town) was the Seahawks. But they kept threatening to leave town when I was a kid. You didn’t know if you were going to have a Seahawks team from year to year. A lot of the games were blacked out. There were not a lot of fellow kids wearing Brian Blades’ jerseys. The Sonics were everything. We were the most consistently competitive team. Then it became a shared love for the Sonics and Mariners. My Huskies fandom sort of kicked in when I went to school there.

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I have to ask. Who was your favorite Sonic and why?

It was Detlef (Schrempf). Maybe it was the Seattle contrarian in me … where I tended not to like the most popular thing, like Shawn Kemp and Gary Payton were so obvious. I think Detlef was such an unsung hero. I watched an interview recently where someone was saying that Detlef was Luka (Dončić) before there was Luka. But if Detlef played in today’s era, he wouldn’t be Luka. But for me, he was a really, really fun player to watch.

This leads me to my next question: Favorite Mariner player?

You have that lasting image of Joey Cora crying in the dugout in 1995. So there’s a lot of heart there. But I would be lying if I said my favorite player wasn’t Jay Buhner. Buhner was just the epitome of cool to me as a kid growing up and then having him and Griffey play next to each other. I mean, everyone’s favorite player was Griffey, so what you’re saying is who was your second-favorite player growing up. I feel the same way right now if you’re a Mariners fan. It’s like today if you’re a Mariners’ fan, you’re going to say it’s Julio (Rodríguez) because it’s a given. He’s so likable.

Do you have a single Mariners game that you went to that really stands out?

I went to a game, and all I can remember was that Vince Coleman had a walk-off grand slam. And sometimes I wonder if that actually happened. (Note: It didn’t, but Dustin was close. On Sept. 22, 1995, Coleman hit two home runs against the Rangers, one a grand slam in the fourth inning.) And I also remember being at the game where they did the opposite of those throwback uniforms (Turn Ahead the Clock Night in 1997). (Note: Here’s a look at that night from a story I wrote in 2018). They looked so good on the players, like Griffey. But Lou Piniella looked so ridiculous in his. I mean, one of the silliest things about baseball is they make the manager wear the uniform. But that futuristic uniform just didn’t work for Lou.

If you haven’t watched my special, please do! If you have, please like, leave a comment, send to a friend, share on your socials, all of the above! It’s the Lord’s day after all… https://t.co/VwSLe3119U

— Dustin Nickerson (@DustinNickerson) April 23, 2023

I don’t know if there’s a tried-and-true way to become a comedian, but I know that your path to doing this was unconventional. Can you tell me a bit about it?

Unconventional might be the nicest way to put it, or maybe the most modest. I showed up at an open-mic night in San Diego when I was 27. I had been married for nine years and I had two kids. That was the first time I did stand-up comedy. It was not only a late-age start … but an incredibly late-life start. To be that old and as established as an adult and then to start something as ridiculous as stand-up. I had meandered in a lot of different careers when I was in college. The first couple of years I thought I wanted to be a sports writer. Then I was a youth pastor for a couple of years, I was in communications, doing a comedy blog for a while. All I knew is that I had something to say. When we moved to San Diego, I was working at a rec center. I had always thought about stand-up. I grew up in love with stand-up comedy. It was almost like a bucket list — hey, if I don’t do this, I’m always going to regret not doing it. I showed up at Madhouse (in San Diego), did a three-minute set, I told one story, I got two laughs. And not to sound corny or cliché, but it was, “I finally found the thing.” I spent the next two hours asking other comedians how it all works.

As you progressed from there, was there a moment of validation where it was like, “OK, I’m going to really do this?” The time when everything sort of clicked and you believed this would work?

One of the nice things about comedy is there are unconventional paths. But ultimately, the only way to get good at comedy is to do comedy. I’m not talking about getting popular or selling tickets or having TikTok followers — all things that are important in this game. But to truly get good at stand-up comedy is to do it over and over again. You do get little wins along the way. You get your first paid gig, someone takes you on the road, that you headline for the first time. I would say the biggest one for me was the first time I went on TV. Kevin Hart had a show on Comedy Central called “Kevin Hart Presents: Heart of the City” (in 2019), which featured up-and-coming comics. I did a showcase for it but didn’t think I was going to get it. I kind of washed it out of my memory. Then I got a call from the producer telling me, “Hey, you got it.” That was overwhelming and very validating. When someone puts you on TV, it makes it feel like it’s a little less like a hobby or some empty pipe dream.

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What’s your creative process like when it comes to writing new material?

It’s different for every comic. I’ve never found anyone who is remotely similar or exactly the same. Someone like Marc Maron works out his stuff on stage … he maybe has an idea and then he finds it on stage. Then a guy like Tom Papa, where he’s writing jokes in a notebook. I knew people who write scripts. I’m usually somewhere in between. For me, everything starts with the genesis of something funny. Do I find something funny about that topic, about that idea, about that experience? Then I start talking it through. I start saying it out loud. I’ll talk to my wife about it. I’ll talk to other comics about it. I don’t physically write it down very often, but I sometimes make a little note so I don’t forget the idea. Then I’ll go over it and over it in my head.

"There's so much pain because we have been so close."@Mariners lifelong fan @DustinNickerson had to get back on #MLBNOffBase to share his POV now that the ballclub has broke their 21-year Postseason drought.@Keith_McPherson | @LGRed | @Xavier_Scruggs | @Anthony_Recker pic.twitter.com/8vInQe2uUg

— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) October 4, 2022

You come across — not just in conversation — but during your stand-up as very genuine. There feels like there’s something so relatable about you that seems to resonate with people. Would you agree with that and if so, why do you think that works well with audiences?

That’s why I like to pretend I’m relatable and likable. I’m not in real life. I’m unapproachable and off-putting (laughs). I’m kidding. It would be a fun reveal if I was an absolute prick. You can be a lot of different personas in comedy and it only matters if it’s authentic. As long as you’re being your personality. The reason that Seinfeld works is because he’s not pretending to be someone he isn’t. I do think there are elements where people like my stuff because they relate to it. They have gone through the struggles of your kids getting older and staying up too late and trying to keep a sparkle in your bedroom. There were some political jokes that I did in the special that were intentionally pointing to the struggles that we all felt regardless of your political affiliation. You’re not trying to make everyone like you, you are trying to have the people who relate to you and really like you, find you. And I do feel that is starting to happen. That’s encouraging because we’ve got to sell tickets out here!

Last question, Dustin. The first time I saw you was in Portland and you were opening for Nate Bargatze. I know he’s a big sports fan as well, specifically golf, where I understand he’s a very good player. Have you ever played golf with Nate?

I have a very funny golf story about Nate. Nate isn’t just a comic to me. Nate is, I don’t want to use the word hero because maybe that’s too grand. But certainly a guy I’ve looked up to and admired. Him and I met on the road in Nashville and he invited me to do a couple of dates with him. The first one was at the Spokane Comedy Club. This is right around the time when his Netflix special was starting to pop and he was filling clubs. He was like, “Hey, we’ll golf.” I’m a vacation golfer, so maybe I go once or twice a year. So I actually took a couple of lessons and went to the driving range because I don’t want to ruin this for him. I don’t want this to be such a bad golf experience for him that I never work the road with him again.

We play this place in Idaho called Circling Raven, which to this day is one of the most incredible courses I’ve played. I’m nervous because Nate is spending a lot of money to have me out there. We went to the driving range first and I kid you not, it looks like I’ve never played golf before in my life, that I’ve never tried anything athletically before. I’m shanking the ball, I’m missing the ball. One time, I missed the ball three times! It was like when you bring a little kid out golfing and you’re going eight feet at a time. I think Nate is seeing all of this. It was so, so bad. And so the first hole, we get up there and I hit it 210 yards in the middle of the fairway. The next shot is about 110, 115 yards and it gets about five feet of the pin. I birdied the first hole. It sort of has a reverse effect on Nate: “Why did you play so bad, are you trying to hustle me?” I played just fine. I shot in the lower 90s, which for that course is very good. Out of nowhere, I’d like to think that like Angels in the Outfield, they straightened my swing on that first hole that allowed me to relax the rest of the game. And now I can still work with Nate. Thank God.

(Photo courtesy of Dustin Nickerson)

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