Joey Dardano Used To Be So Smart… What Happened To Him?
By Dave Stolz
Before he was a New York City based comedian and podcast host, Joey Dardano, was a math whiz-kid. So much so, his parents would gather their friends and family in their South Florida living room and watch with awe, as Joey answered multiplication and division equations in rapid time. Joey has since dropped the math routine and now uses his time in front of audiences to tell jokes — often leaving his fans of his original work saying, “you used to be so smart, what happened to you?”
What happened to Joey? Well, the answer is simple: he found comedy to be a lot more fun than math. And, now, the only complicated problems he solves are his friends’ and listener’s real life problems, through his podcast, Help From a Hypocrite with Joey Dardano.
Each episode features a different guest sharing stories where, “they should have walked away having learned something, they definitely are aware that there’s a lesson to be learned, but they just haven’t truly applied it to their life.“ Each episode also ends with a segment where Joey and his guest answer audience questions and calls for advice.
Unlike other advice based podcasts, Help From a Hypocrite with Joey Dardano, heavily features the host’s own experiences as a way to provide background for their advice. “A lot of podcasts I’ve listened to have an aspect where they take calls for advice or help from the host of that show. Having heard this format used over and over, I’ve realized that most of the time, I never really hear how that person came to learn that lesson. Whether it be an example of a steep learning curve or assurance that they too still struggle with implementing the advice they’re giving.” After recognizing this trend, Joey thought it was incredibly important to, “be the first person to tell you how I fucked up.” And, through sharing his own experiences, he found his advice to be more impactful.
An example of this is when Joey explained why you should not text while driving, “I was once texting while driving, when I swerved across the entirety of the Miami turnpike, all 8 lanes, several times.” To celebrate himself surviving this horrific experience, Joey, “hopped onto Spotify to play ‘I Will Survive,’ and then I checked my email.”
In addition to sharing his own experiences, according to Joey what makes his show truly unique is that, “listeners get the best of both worlds: the polar opposites of loony goofiness like when Petey DeAbreau and I spent a chunk of our episode just freestyling nonsensical songs, to turning right back around and having a conversation about being true to yourself”
Joey has enjoyed his experience working on Help From a Hypocrite, since it has provided himself a venue to produce content, “that doesn’t have to be as meticulously crafted as material or something scripted. I can have fun, be myself, and put it out in the world. The need to perfect everything else really stresses me out, and this allows me to make something honest and then let it be!”
He has also found the podcast as an effective way to, “develop some closer relationships with some friends, having a one-on-one where we’re really giving each other 100%, and we’re not only making each other laugh, but learning from each other.”
Joey’s podcast has received glowing reviews via the Apple Podcasts app and it currently sits at five stars. One reviewer noted, Help From a Hypocrite is “such a fun take on the advice genre. Joey is a gem and so far I can’t get enough!”
In addition to being a podcast host, Joey is also a stand-up comedian and actor. While in quarantine, he has been hosting his own Instagram Live Late-Night show, Before Bedtime, and performs on Remy Kassimr’s “Remyscomedyclub” page on Wednesday nights.
Joey’s proudest moment of his stand-up career was when he was booked by David Cross, a man he looked up to since his childhood, to open up for him at Union Hall after having met and spoke with him twice after his other shows at the venue. “I showed up to Union Hall, my first time as a performer, with a suit on. I was still trying that out as my ‘thing’… which I honestly hope to bring back, but I’ll look more comfortable this time… And when David Cross introduced me, my lack of credits caused him to introduce me in a way that imbued a lack of confidence from the audience you give a newcomer with no ‘name.’ instead of giving me the benefit of the doubt, the room’s energy fell to a “Make me laugh funny boy, I’m here for Cross”. With that energy, I went up on stage…. and ate shit. I was robotic and performed my five minutes exactly how I wrote it. My biggest laughs came at the last minute when I tried out new material I wrote just hours before so I could avoid ending my set to complete silence.”
After he walked off stage, Joey approached the show’s booker, Marianne Ways, asking for feedback. “She politely told me she hated doing that, which i understood. And on top of that, i was aware that she didn’t book me on the show she herself produced, David did himself, and here I was having almost completely ruined the flow of said show.” While acknowledging this as a potentially embarrassing situation, Joey saw it as his proudest moment because, “it proved to me how committed I am to this thing, and its provided me with a clear gauge of growth. It also showed me that my dream isn’t really that far as long as i keep working hard at it and aren’t scared to fail. (Advice I would be a hypocrite to give anyone else as I, of course, still struggle with this) While I haven’t had a chance to speak with David Cross again, I know that next time I do, it will be better. In the years sense, I’ve gotten to interact with people who previously felt untouchable in their success, and I now call them friends. And I don’t care that some of them have seen me completely bomb, because there’s that shared mutual respect amongst peers.”
A hunger for growth is a constant theme when talking to Joey. For his podcast, he’s already planning on ways to bring it in front of a live audience. “I’m still figuring out exactly how that would work out so that it maintains the vulnerability of the in-studio episodes, as well as the light heartedness. While a laugh-fest isn’t a terrible thing, I would love for a live-show to maintain that intimate feeling the studio episodes have achieved. I would also love to eventually think of other, even more creative ways to play with the advice genre to keep it exciting.”
And, five years from now? Joey can see himself as a series regular for a sitcom or as a cast member for Saturday Night Live. He has also been working on music (both comedic and genuine) and hopes to have a couple of albums completed by then.
When I asked Joey for some advice, he shared some incredible wisdom. “Never forget to wash your ass! This is the one thing I could never be called a hypocrite about. It’s the MOST important part of the shower. Nobody should smell like 7pm ass at 9am!”
Now that’s the type of math I can follow.
You can follow Joey Dardano on Instagram, Twitter, and Tik Tok.
Help From A Hypocrite with Joey Dardano can be found on Instagram and Twitter.
(Or, if you need any advice or have any questions, email helpfromahypocrite@gmail.com, and they’ll be answered on future episodes!)
Also, If you like the podcast and would like to donate (Dardano has invested a lot of his own money to make it happen), you can do so via Venmo (@Joseph-Dardano) and you will be thanked in the “ads” section of a future episode.
