Seeing a JR De Guzman ’12 show is a lot like attending a concert. The comedian walks onstage with his acoustic guitar over his shoulder and starts in on a mix of stories and songs — but all were written for big laughs.
De Guzman ’12 has been bringing his unique blend of music and comedy to audiences around the world on almost constant tour since 2021. For this year’s “Working It Out” tour, he wrote an original song for every city he visited.
Last month, he launched an independently produced one-hour stand-up special, “I’m Your Son, Papa,” via YouTube. Filmed in Las Vegas, the show features more of De Guzman’s stories of his Filipino-American upbringing and commentary on culture.
It’s all a lead-in to another tour in 2025 he’s calling “Boyfriend Material.” Sacramento audiences can catch him at Laughs Unlimited Dec. 6-7.
“Growing up, I would watch Conan O’Brien and all these Comedy Central specials and think, ‘These guys are magicians. It's so amazing what they're doing,’” De Guzman said. “But I was, like, ‘I don't know how you even do that.’”
That changed at UC Davis.
Learning the art of comedy
De Guzman was born in the Philippines and moved with his family to Sacramento at a very young age. He said he was a particularly shy child who always enjoyed music, learning to play the guitar in high school.
For college, he attended UC Davis and majored in psychology.
“I think stand-up actually gave me a lot of confidence. In college, that's where things maybe flipped a little bit more... something about stand-up was like a drug.”
“I had no idea what I was going to do,” De Guzman said of choosing a career path. “I still don't understand how at 18, somebody says, ‘This is what I'm gonna do for the rest of my life.’”
In addition to his psychology classes, he participated in Studio 301, a student-run theater organization, and was in the now-defunct club Dead Arts Society. He also enrolled in a variety of music and theater classes.
He first took a comedy class from Brett Duggan, M.F.A. ’10, learning the fundamentals. And then he took DRA 122C, “What Is Comedy?” from Mindy Cooper Grenke, now professor emerita.
Cooper Grenke said she envisioned the class to show the power of creating and performing comedy in a theatrical setting.
De Guzman said he remembered studying different styles including vaudeville, sketch comedy and musical theater, with writing assignments in each area.
It made an impact.
“That class probably had the most effect on me,” he said. “[I learned] comedy is a craft. I can get better at this. Whereas before, [it seemed] like, ‘You really got it or not, kid.’”
He even returned to campus to speak with that class after he graduated.
“… It was an honor to bring him to campus and have him talk to, and inspire, the undergraduate students who followed him in that class,” Cooper Grenke said. “He shared his writing and creative techniques, as well as the diligent work ethic he harnessed to achieve his comedy goals. I believe he inspired and built the confidence of the next wave of students, a true ‘passing it forward’ gesture!”
Pursuing a career in comedy
De Guzman was a music teacher after college, but comedy continued to pull at him.
“I think stand-up actually gave me a lot of confidence,” he said. “In college, that's where things maybe flipped a little bit more as far as performing because I'd always done music and stuff. But something about stand-up was like a drug.”
He moved to Los Angeles and set out to be a full-time comedian.
His debut comedy album, “Dual Citizen,” came out in 2017. He was a featured comic on the Netflix series “The Comedy Lineup” in 2018.
When the pandemic hit, he decided to head back to Sacramento. Though he already had an established audience, he said he found more online. On YouTube he has more than 400,000 followers.
“It's nice that there is no gatekeeper,” he said. “If you can find your audience, you can then go tour or keep making content. No one can stop you.”
He reached a new level of touring in 2021, which he credited to a large base of Filipino fans who revere him for paying homage to his heritage through his stories and songs. (He wears a barong in “I’m Your Son, Papa.”)
“It was like old Filipino families in the beginning,” he said with a laugh. “And then it diversified as the tour went on, as if more people were finding out.”
De Guzman opened for Jo Koy, who also talks about Filipino traditions onstage, at Madison Square Garden in 2022. It’s a career highlight, he said. That same year, Variety named him a comedian to watch in 2022.
Going forward, he said he’s hoping to film another stand-up special. In fact, he has a list of three career goals: comedy specials, music recordings, and acting roles. To accomplish the latter, he recently started working with an acting coach.
He’s learning meditation exercises and doing scene work from a variety of genres.
“We do a little bit of everything,” he said. “The next one is a random western.”