Second Chance Comedy Is " Show About Addiction Delivered With Humor"

Joe Huisman’s battle with addiction started in his teens, pulling him into a vortex of substance abuse that seemed inescapable. He began smoking marijuana at sixteen and was introduced to cocaine at seventeen.

"My biggest problem was that I would get nervous at parties, but drinking did not really work for me, because I would be doing this awkward thing with my hands. But when I discovered cocaine, I suddenly had a tolerance for alcohol and was able to enjoy parties more," Huisman says. "Well, as time went on, my desire to do cocaine was stronger than my desire to be in social situations. In my early twenties, I began smoking crack, which started a downward spiral."

His addiction spiraled to the point that Huisman believed there was no escape other than death or incarceration. But a court-mandated treatment program at age thirty, following his third DWI, became the catalyst for a miraculous change. As part of his probation, Huisman was drug-tested; he failed a test, forcing him to go to jail for 72 hours.
"The night before, I was attempting to get high one more time when I realized what a loser I had become," he says. "I was a lowlife who had just hit the absolute bottom. I was literally screaming for God or whoever to take me off this planet; I wanted to die. I went to jail the next day, and something happened in my brain. It was like a switch, and when I came out of jail, I never touched drugs again. I don’t have any other explanation other than divine intervention or something."

Determined to rebuild his life, Huisman began working on an associate degree in computer networking while still in treatment. This educational pursuit led to a position with a startup tech company in Minnesota, where he was born and raised, and he worked his way up the corporate ladder. Eventually, an acquisition led to his relocation to Colorado in 2011, where he advanced his career by managing teams and taking on leadership roles in the tech industry. Despite his professional success, Huisman felt a lingering sense of unaddressed issues from his addiction years.

"I didn't realize until three or four years ago that addiction was still present in my life; it just came out in different ways and other lifestyles," he says. "Even though it wasn’t substance abuse, it was an ongoing thing. It was manifesting in my relationships and work. All of the things that I never dealt with in my younger days, which led me down the path of addiction, remained and caused additional challenges in my life." In August 2023, Huisman decided to confront these issues in a new way — through comedy. "People had always told me I should do standup, but I always brushed it off," he says. He enrolled in a standup class at RISE Comedy taught by Christie Buchele, and the experience transformed his life. "The class and subsequent open mics, even the ones where I bombed, ignited a passion for comedy and a new purpose," Huisman shares. "I started incorporating jokes about my past addiction, and to my surprise, these stories resonated deeply with audiences."

In March 2024, after being laid off, Huisman faced a pivotal moment. While Huisman had long planned to start his own consulting firm, other local comics, including Moms Unhinged founder Andrea Vahl, encouraged him to launch Second Chance Comedy, a standup comedy show dedicated to shedding light on the true nature of addiction recovery.

"It was the right time to do something different," he reflects. Second Chance Comedy made its debut to a large crowd at the Louisville Underground on Mother's Day and then sold out its second show at the Bug Theatre on June 23, demonstrating the need for such a platform.
"The mission of the show is to get people to think differently about addiction," Huisman says. "There are an estimated 48 million people in this country suffering from substance abuse, and half of them never get help. The two most common reasons people never get help are shame and money, so we are addressing those two issues by sharing our own stories so that people know they are not alone in their struggles, as well as raising funds for Sobriety House."

Huisman says the structure of the show is "pretty standard." Second Chance Comedy includes a couple of comedians performing ten-minute sets, followed by a slightly longer feature act and a headliner. Of course, the concept of a comedy show about addiction might make some people uncomfortable, and Huisman heard these concerns directly from a former boss after he shared a clip of his set on social media.

"He was upset because he had lost people to addiction," Huisman says. "He told me, 'This isn't a funny topic; you shouldn't be joking about that,’ and I was like, ‘What?’ The premise of the joke I was telling was that no one chooses addiction, but there was a disconnect for him between the joke's content and substance; there are just certain topics that make some people uncomfortable and trigger them. That gave me pause, but what I am discovering is that people who have been in the grip of addiction enjoy the show."
The event has had a profound impact on both audience members and performers, who derive comfort from the shared laughter and stories about addiction. "At the Bug Theatre, we had a woman who’d lost three family members to alcohol addiction and a daughter caught up in addiction come up to me after the show," Huisman recounts. "She said we gave families a voice and space to heal. When people are in this dark place, they can appreciate humor and find that joking about addiction brings them some relief."

Huisman notes that the show couldn't have happened without the help of his co-collaborators. "Tara Check and Von Sprecken have been true partners on this journey, and it wouldn't be where it is today without them," he says. As the show grows, its organizers plan to include a broader range of addictions beyond drugs to recognize the dependencies that exist around alcohol, eating, gambling, sex, tobacco and other activities.

Second Chance Comedy had its third show on July 12 at the Dickens Opera House in Longmont, and Huisman intends to expand the company's reach with upcoming shows throughout the Denver metro area. Upcoming sober performances will take place at the John Hand Theater on Thursday, July 17; the People's Building on August 2, the John Hand Theater on August 9, the Louisville Underground on August 18, the Lincoln Center Magnolia Theatre on August 30, the Bug Theatre on October 6 and the Rialto Theatre on November 1.
He’s also exploring partnerships with recovery facilities. Huisman hopes that by bringing comedy to these venues, he can provide a therapeutic experience for those in recovery, as he has seen at Second Chance Comedy's public performances.

"Some people are going to see it as laughing at addiction, but what we're trying to do is foster a community that learns how to laugh through addiction," Huisman says. "It's not a comedy show that makes jokes about addiction; it's a show about addiction delivered through comedy. We have comics who have had addiction experiences, so this is a fantastic opportunity to hear from those who have an emotional connection to the subject and to open the world up to being more accepting of people who are struggling so that more people can get the help they need."

Learn more about Second Chance Comedy and its upcoming shows at secondchancecomedy.com.