McKinney's N.H., Maine roots help inspire comedic genius

Juston McKinney gestures as he tells a story while doing his morning radio show for Edge Radio of Seacoast Media Group in Portsmouth. (Lebanon Voice photo)

NEWMARKET, N.H. - Twenty years ago Juston McKinney was patrolling the rural Maine roads of Lebanon and Acton as a sheriff's deputy for the York County Sheriff's Office.

Today he patrols comedy venues at New England playhouses, on national TV shows and on the big screen as a heralded comedic force whose star continues to rise.

This Saturday McKinney will bring his effusive comedic genius to the Rochester Opera House for an 8 p.m. show that is sure to recall some of his earlier times spent in southwest Maine and Seacoast New Hampshire, the cultural roots of his humor.

McKinney grew up in Portsmouth, moved to Kittery and graduated from Traip Academy before going on to study law enforcement at Southern Maine Community College.

"Growing up I always wanted to be a cop or a comedian," he said on Friday. "I didn't know how to become a comedian so I became a cop."

McKinney said his first job was working at the York County Jail, but it wasn't long before he was out on the road as a sheriff's deputy patrolling the mean streets of Lebanon and Acton.

"I enjoyed cruising Acton and Lebanon," he said. "I was very community oriented. I liked talking to people and felt I was a good ambassador for cops. I wanted everyone to like us."

It was during his time working as a sheriff's deputy that he toyed with the idea of going down to a Boston comedy club for an open mic night. "Basically, I'd always wanted to try it, so we went down to Stitches (a club on Commonwealth Avenue), and it went really well my first time on stage. I said to myself, 'I'd like to do this more.'"

He remembered part of his routine: "Yeah, I talked about this Tide commercial in which a person had written to Tide and said how thrilled she was it could get her clothes clean. I'm like, 'Really? This person has way too much time, they have to write a letter to let 'em know their product actually works?'"

As great as it was at his open mic debut, it went totally south his second time around.

"Next time I went was six months later ... I have all brand new material," he remembered. "I told all my friends and 25 of us go down and I bombed. I was sweating. It was bad.

"Then I watch a guy go on and he's doing the same stuff he did six months before and they're loving it."

McKinney said he learned to hone his material rather than build a whole new routine for each show and slowly but surely gained a foothold on the Boston comedic stage.

In 1997 he left the York County Sheriff's Office for good and headed to New York to make it in the bigtime.

In the Big Apple he worked all the big comedy clubs including Stand-up New York, Dangerfield's and Gotham.

He later moved to Los Angeles as his career took off, appearing in a half-dozen Comedy Central shows and on the Tonight Show with hosts Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien.

He also got some roles on TV series The King of Queens and in films such as The Zookeeper and Here Comes the Boom, both movies that starred Kevin James.

New York and LA were great, but in 2006 he decided to return to New Hampshire to raise his family. Today he lives in Newmarket with his wife, two sons and a couple of dogs.

As he spoke to The Lebanon Voice on Friday, he was multitasking, scraping dog poop off the yard while babysitting his kids who were out of school for the day.

"Moving back to New England is not the greatest career move," he said between scoops, "but I came back anyway, to raise my family"

Away from the bright light and big cities, McKinney still keeps busy. After his stop in Rochester, the summer is filled with appearances throughout New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine, not to mention the many corporate events he works.

He also does a radio show for Edge Radio, a podcast available on seacoastonline.com titled "Juston McKinney: Small Town Famous Radio Show" that airs live Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to noon.

"I stay very busy," he said.

Besides playing the busy roles as husband and dad, McKinney is forever mining new material for his routine.

"I am very observational," he said. "When something happens I can see the funny in it."

Some of the topics visitors to the Rochester Opera House can expect on Friday are marriage, kids, dogs and just life, he said.

"I might do a little political stuff, but not much. I mean I don't want to have half the audience hate me," he quipped. "Plus with Father's Day coming up I'll probably do some 'dad' stuff."

Personally, we like the Acton deer story. We won't tell you what it's about, because that might ruin it if he does it Friday.

Here's hoping.

For more on Juston McKinney click here.

For tickets click here.