Interview: Brian Moote of BORED TEACHERS' COMEDY TOUR: IS IT FRIDAY YET? at Southern Theatre

Brian Moote developed a passion for teaching out of necessity and discovered his ability to make people laugh almost by accident. Uncovering those two talents has led to a hectic schedule.

Circled on Moote’s schedule is a stop in Columbus at 3 p.m. on Sept. 27 at the Southern Theatre as part of the Bored Teachers’ IS IT FRIDAY YET? comedy tour. Moote will be performing with Devin Siebold, Jonathan Williams and KC Mack in Columbus, but there are a rotating bill of former and current teachers at different venues.
“These performers are incredible,” Moote said. “They've learned how to be interesting. Some of them are on the road doing comedy but are also incredible teachers (who are still active in the classroom).

“Sometimes teachers have to get up there and kill time. You learn how to talk with kids, be entertaining and keep them off their phones, tablets or whatever they're using this week.”

You might think teachers talking about their field would have a limited appeal. Students aren’t the only ones who are being entertained. Over the last 10 years, the troupe has amassed over a billion views of their bits on YouTube and garnered over a million followers.

Since Bored Teachers began touring in 2022, the group has performed on three continents, in five countries, and in 49 of the 50 states.
The key to reaching that widespread audience is finding stories everyone can relate to, according to Moote.

 “Every teacher has had an experience where some kid is just doing something that's driving you shit crazy, saying something or in the 6-7 era,” he said. “Sometimes you're not 100% sure if the things you experienced are universal. The challenge becomes how do I translate this?”

Finding the humor in situations was a staple around Moote’s household when he was growing up in Whidbey Island, Wash.

“My family was all pretty funny. We grew up on a farm, so we were always telling stories and goofing around,” Moote said.

However, the comedian didn’t discover his unique comedic voice until his junior year at the University of LaVerne in California. While playing basketball for the Leopards, Moote tore an Achilles tendon.

“I wasn't able to suit up, so I'd sit at the end of the bench and make fun of everything,” he said. “I didn’t really know comedy was something you could do (for a living).”

After he graduated from LaVerne with a psychology degree, he returned to Washington. His aunt, a speech therapist in a Seattle school district, told him schools were hurting for men working in education, particularly in the field of special education.

“Teaching special ed was basically the only job I could find,” he said, adding with a laugh. “I needed a job and I had a strong level of patience for chaos. That's a great combination for special education.

“I remember the first time I walked into a classroom, I thought, ‘There’s no way they realize they just gave me 30 kids to watch over. I’m not even a fully formed adult yet.’ This has to be some sort of a clerical error.”

To add to his tension, Moote took a second job supervising parental visits in the foster care system. He worked from 7:15 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the school and then ran supervised visits beginning at 4 p.m. “I kept thinking I need to do something creative that has nothing to do with my job,” he said.

Moote started doing standup as a way of relieving that tension. He started writing these outlines of funny experiences he had doing his jobs and then shared them at open mic nights two or three times a week. He shared stories about being told he had a sweaty face by one of his students and then being paranoid about it for the rest of the day. He wrote how students would bring in their parents’ “adult toys” for show-and-over-tell.

However, the best-received material just dealt with his own insecurities about being unprepared to change a student’s diapers or about the time a student outed him for having a one-night stand with an innocent “Hey Mr. Moote, aren’t those the same clothes you were wearing yesterday?”

What Moote learned was this: having funny conversations with friends and getting up on stage to share the same stories were two completely different things.

“I always felt I could write jokes that would get laughs but I didn’t feel funny,” he said. “One of the biggest things I’ve had to overcome is self-doubt. Even if you have confidence, there's always this level of imposter syndrome.

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