Joe Fernandez
chicago : comedyJoe Fernandez is a half-Cuban half-Irish (or Cubish) comedian and actor.
Joe went to Marquette University where he received the Chris Farley Scholarship given out to only one student in the college of Communication for their humor and creativity. While at Marquette Joe performed in numerous plays such as Waiting For Godot, The Odd Couple, Shakespeare's Women and Quid Pro Quo, a play which went on to be performed at the Kennedy Center as part of the American College Theatre Festival.
Since graduating Joe has become a staple of the Chicago comedy scene having improvised with groups at iO and the Playground. He is also a regular sketch performer at the Green Mill Lounge's hit Saturday show The Paper Machete as well as Laugh Factory's fictional roast show Character Assassination. His primary focus over the past 12 years has been stand-up comedy where he's a regular at such institutions as Zanies, Lincoln Lodge and Laugh Factory where he just taped his second special soon to be released on YouTube.
His humor is described as dark, cerebral, sardonic, and flat out bizarre. Joe combines low brow, off- color humor with high brow references to satirize serious subjects. His smile and playful personality belie the seedy underbelly that is his morbid sense of humor, getting audiences to laugh before being mad at themselves for laughing but then continuing to laugh cause what Joe’s saying is very very funny.
Joe has been featured on NBC, TBS Just For Laughs, Boston Comedy Fest, Chicago Sketchfest and was a finalist for the Andy Kaufman Award. His debut comedy album “Ugly” premiered number one on iTunes and is available for streaming on all major platforms. His special of the same name is for free viewing on YouTube and Tubi.
Has he also beaten Hannibal Burress in NBA Jam and improvised yelling at “Lake Placid” star Oliver Platt during an episode of Chicago Med? Yes he has.