Josh Blue

Blue was born in Cameroon where his father, Walter Blue, was a professor of Romance languages at Hamline University teaching during a mission. Blue grew up in Saint Paul, Minnesota, and graduated from Como Park Senior High School in 1997. He began his career as a comedian while seeking a creative writing degree at The Evergreen State College.

During college, he went back to Africa to volunteer as an intern at Parc de Hahn, a zoo in Senegal.{{cite web|url=http://www.miusa.org/ncde/stories/blue |title=Reality Education: Comedian Josh Blue on Interning in Senegal — Mobility International USA – MIUSA |access-date=January 28, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140201203753/http://www.miusa.org/ncde/stories/blue |archive-date=February 1, 2014 }} At one point for a joke on a busy weekend, Josh locked himself in an empty animal exhibit for eight hours. A bewildered crowd threw him bananas and peanuts anyway, to which Josh quips, "that was the best day I ate in Senegal!"{{cite web|url=http://www.takemehomepodcast.com/44-josh-blue/|title=44 – Josh Blue – Take Me Home Podcast|work=Take Me Home Podcast|access-date=September 3, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150613004713/http://www.takemehomepodcast.com/44-josh-blue/|archive-date=June 13, 2015|url-status=dead}}

Blue got his start in comedy doing open mic sets while attending The Evergreen State College. Audiences reacted enthusiastically to his self-deprecating humor, and Blue started making a name for himself on the comedy circuit. In 2002, he won the prestigious Comedy Works New Faces contest. He has appeared several times on Comedy Central's Mind of Mencia. Blue won $10,000 for finishing in first place at 2004 Las Vegas Comedy Festival's 2004 Royal Flush Comedy Competition.

After winning the 2006 season of NBC's reality show Last Comic Standing, he was the first comedian to do stand-up on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. His other television credits include Live with Regis and Kelly, Comics Unleashed, plus numerous appearances on Fox, CBS, ABC, and MSNBC.

He appeared in the 2009 low-budget horror film Feast III: The Happy Finish.{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2333144/|title=Josh Blue|work=IMDb|access-date=September 3, 2015}}

Josh was voted the 13th best comedian by viewers in Comedy Central's Stand-up Comedy Showdown 2010

Blue appeared in Boulder band Rose Hill Drive's music video "The Psychoanalyst".{{cite AV media|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66oqIUnvP_E&feature=grec_index |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/66oqIUnvP_E |archive-date=December 21, 2021 |url-status=live|title=Rose Hill Drive – Psychoanalyst featuring Josh Blue|date=July 7, 2011|work=YouTube|access-date=September 3, 2015}}{{cbignore}}

File:Josh Blue.jpg-sponsored holiday concert, 2006]]

Blue was voted the 11th best comedian by viewers in Comedy Central's Stand-up Comedy Showdown 2011.

He appeared in Ron White's Las Vegas Salute to the Troops 2013 as part of the opening act.{{cite web | url=http://www.cmt.com/show/ron_whites_2013_comedy_salute_to_the_troops/series.jhtml | archive-url=https://archive.today/20140606170223/http://www.cmt.com/show/ron_whites_2013_comedy_salute_to_the_troops/series.jhtml | url-status=dead | archive-date=June 6, 2014 | title=Ron White's Vegas Salute to the Troops 2013 | publisher=CMT.com | access-date=June 6, 2014}}

Blue also appeared in the sports based comedy 108 Stitches in 2014.{{cite web | url=http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/blog/cultural_attache/2013/10/meet-denvers-josh-blue-movie-star.html?page=all | title=Meet Denver's Josh Blue, movie star | work=Denver Business Journal | date=October 9, 2013 | access-date=June 6, 2014 | author=Hicks, L. Wayne}}

In 2021, Blue auditioned for season sixteen of America's Got Talent, where he got four yeses from the judges and was able to advance through the live rounds.{{Cite magazine|last=Blue|first=Josh|date=June 23, 2021|title=Josh Blue AGT Audition Last Comic Standing|magazine=Entertainment Weekly|url=https://ew.com/tv/watch-josh-blue-agt-audition-last-comic-standing/}} Blue placed third in the season, behind aerialist Aidan Bryant and magician Dustin Tavella.{{cite web|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/tv/2021/09/15/americas-got-talent-dustin-tavella-wins-star-studded-finale/8355427002/|title=America's Got Talent finale: Magician Dustin Tavella wins Season 16 in star-studded finale|work=USA Today|author=Cydney Henderson|date=September 16, 2021|access-date=September 16, 2021}}

In 2023, Blue appeared on America's Got Talent: All-Stars. In his round of the preliminaries, he placed third behind former winners Brandon Leake and Kodi Lee.

Blue currently resides in Denver, Colorado, with his two children: a son, Simon, and a daughter, Saika.

He also creates and sells sculptures and paintings.{{Cite web |date=January 17, 2019 |title=Josh Blue's Art Showing |url=https://www.joshblue.com/2019/01/17/josh-blues-art-gallery-showing/ |access-date=March 8, 2022 |website=Josh Blue |language=en}}

Like his father and siblings, Josh Blue is multilingual. Blue's father Walter Blue speaks 13 languages and Josh and his siblings all speak at least 3 languages. In addition to English, Blue speaks French and Wolof fluently.https://www.brainandlife.org/articles/comedian-josh-blue-gets-serious-well-sort-of-about-his

Blue has cerebral palsy, specifically classified as spastic hemiplegic cerebral palsy, and many of his jokes center on living with his disability, how he deals with it, and how other people view him.{{cite web|url=http://www.nbc.com/Last_Comic_Standing/comics/josh_blue.shtml|title=Last Comic Standing biography|publisher=NBC|access-date=March 26, 2009}} Blue appeared on Last Comic Standing to "make people aware of the fact that people with disabilities can make an impact." He coined the term "palsy punch" during his final set of the final round of the show, when he said that the palsy punch is effective in a fight because "first of all, they don't know where the punch is coming from, and second of all, neither do I." One of Blue's competitors said he has "an unreasonable amount of likability" while another of his competitors said "he is just a good guy".{{cite web|url=http://www.nashville.zanies.com/news.php?NewsSection=Josh+Blue|title=Season 4 WINNER of NBC's "LAST COMIC STANDING"|publisher=Zanies Comedy Night Club|access-date=March 26, 2009|archive-date=July 18, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718151056/http://www.nashville.zanies.com/news.php?NewsSection=Josh+Blue|url-status=dead}} Blue also joked that signing an autograph takes 45 minutes and that to write down his phone number he has to find a "big ol' stack of paper."

Blue has competed in Paralympic seven-a-side soccer; he was a part of the United States national team roster during the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens, Greece.{{Cite web|date=April 17, 2012|title=Life of laughter for Paralympian Josh Blue|url=https://www.espn.com/blog/playbook/fandom/post/_/id/16/life-of-laughter-for-paralympian-josh-blue|access-date=August 20, 2021|website=ESPN.com|language=en}}

{{Clear}}

• Steady Eddy – (born Christopher Widdows 1968), Australian comedian with cerebral palsy
• Lee Ridley – (born 1980), British comedian with cerebral palsy
• Geri Jewell – (born 1956), American stand-up comedian and actress

{{Reflist}}

{{Commons category}}

• [http://www.joshblue.com/ Official website]
• {{IMDb name|2333144}}
• [http://www.usaparalympic.org/86_356.htm USA Paralympic bio] (Accessed June 21, 2006)
• Hicks, L. Wayne. "Just Joshin'". Denver Business Journal, September 30 – October 5, 2005, issue. [https://web.archive.org/web/20070928040058/http://joshblue.com/press_f7.htm] (Accessed June 21, 2006)

{{Last Comic Standing}}

{{America's Got Talent}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blue, Josh}}

Category:1978 births

Category:Living people

Category:7-a-side footballers at the 2004 Summer Paralympics

Category:American people with disabilities

Category:American stand-up comedians

Category:Last Comic Standing winners

Category:America's Got Talent contestants

Category:Paralympic 7-a-side soccer players for the United States

Category:Comedians from Denver

Category:Comedians from Saint Paul, Minnesota

Category:People with cerebral palsy

Category:Evergreen State College alumni

Category:21st-century American comedians