No One Tells You to Be a Comedian with Josh Johnson
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Higher Ground
4.3 • 13.6K Ratings
🗓️ 18 February 2026
⏱️ 76 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Comedian and writer Josh Johnson joins Michelle and Craig to talk about how he got his start in comedy, the funny people who helped raise him, and his incredibly popular Flowers Tour. Josh gives a masterclass on creating live comedy that demands our full attention in a world of dwindling focus, and shares how he’s using his stardom to support systems that help American communities thrive.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The thing that ends up happening with comedy is that almost no one asked you to start, you know? |
| 0:05.6 | So it's like you do. |
| 0:06.6 | It wasn't your family around the table? |
| 0:08.6 | They weren't. |
| 0:09.0 | They didn't sit me down and they were like, this is the only hope. |
| 0:12.1 | You know what I mean? |
| 0:12.7 | Like, it's not like playing basketball. |
| 0:14.3 | Like basketball is something where it's like your family might sit you down and be like, listen, listen. |
| 0:19.7 | You're tall. |
| 0:22.7 | All right. you're coordinated, |
| 0:28.0 | and we are in a bad situation, all right? I can't pay the car note. You're going to have to start dunking, all right? And you've got to take it seriously, okay? Pass your classes if it means you get to |
| 0:33.6 | dunk for the scouts, all right? Because we need this money, right? And it's like, |
| 0:38.0 | with comedy, it's not like that at all. |
| 0:45.3 | This episode is brought to you by Theraflu. |
| 0:50.6 | Hey, Mr. Blazer. Hey, how are you? You like this blazer? |
| 0:54.5 | Yeah, yeah. |
| 0:55.4 | Now is that new your blazer? |
| 0:58.1 | This blazer has not been worn until today. |
| 1:02.0 | So does that mean you've had it and you're just now wearing it? |
| 1:06.5 | I've had it. |
| 1:07.2 | Or is it a new brand new purchase? |
| 1:10.1 | It's brand new, but it was, it's not like I bought it last week. |
... |
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