Matt Peiken: Tell me about your upbringing and start in performance.
Joe Carroll: So I grew up in Lillington, North Carolina, which is like a little beef cattle farm. And then I moved to the coast Swansboro when I was like 14. And then moved around for a while and went to Appalachian State. I didn't really do a lot of like Conventional theater growing up but I was a clown. I was a class clown for sure, I liked to disrupt things. Yeah, I liked to get attention, I guess.
Matt Peiken: I'm surprised to hear you were the class clown in some ways, because you seem to have an inherent shyness, that on stage, you come to life, but in general like, I don't see you as a very look at me, outgoing I'm gonna bring attention to myself sort of person. Am I reading that wrong?
Joe Carroll: No, I think you're reading it right. I wouldn't say that I was like the Hop up whoopee cushion kind of guy, that kind of energy. But I was always like looking for ways to shake things up a little bit.
Matt Peiken: So did you put that into any sort of formal outlets?
Did you then once in high school? Did you then become part of the theater department? How did that manifest from being class clown to something on stage?
Joe Carroll: You know when I was like a teenager like me and my friends You know I was really I was a bit I was a rebellious kid and what was fun for me was to like find a ridiculous costume and go out in public And like we would dress up as Elderly people and go to Walmart and like right around the little the carts, that that kind of energy. Yeah. But I didn't really get into performing until I was in college at app state ended up studying for playwriting and got really into theater performance and got into improv and doing experimental theater.
And so all that just happened.
Matt Peiken: Yeah. It sounds like from the beginning you took an unconventional route. You were not doing things that were necessarily scripted or if they were very, it was very esoteric avant garde stuff. What were you, why were you drawn to that kind of art? What about that art form drew you?
Joe Carroll: I remember there was like a key point when I was in college where there was you know There's the main stage theater and there are a couple other stages that you could use As a student and then there was a black box theater and the rules of the black box theater were pretty loose and it was just basically about You can do whatever you want there.
You have full reign as long as you get permission from the faculty to use it. So that idea I've always been really into reclaiming spaces creating immersive theater and that kind of thing, interacting with the crowd in different ways. So that was the biggest draw for me was oh, I can make this space whatever I want it to be.
Matt Peiken: When you say interacting with crowds in different ways, give me some examples and how did you even learn you could do these things? Were there influences that you had about that?
Joe Carroll: Yeah, so I was fortunate enough to meet some really interesting people, like even, as young back as 17 or 18. Our group of friends would make giant inflatable shapes out of plastic and then, have parties in them where that's the poetry pyramid, you go over there and you read whatever poetry you have in your journal, and so I think I just got really interested into ways to pull things out of people and creating interesting environments
Matt Peiken: Were there role models you had for this or did you really just follow your own impulses without sense. Oh charlie chaplin I can do that, because I do see a little elements in your movements going all the way back to somebody like charlie chaplin And there are other comics like robin williams. I'm wondering. Do you did you have any that you felt particularly drawn to, that you think have shaped where you've wanted to take your comedy.
Joe Carroll: Yeah, I remember being a kid and we had this one of these like old wooden TVs with a glass screen. And I vividly remember watching Robin Williams like a 70s, like late 70s stand up thing that he did, and I was just absolutely blown away by it. It was just him just hopping from one thing to the next and just following his stream of consciousness and not taking himself too seriously, interacting with the audience in interesting ways.
I think even in this special, he at one point climbs up on the balcony, like Climbs up a curtain and then becomes a character in the balcony and then comes back down. So yeah, I was blown away by that kind of I felt like non traditional Take on comedy and performance.
Matt Peiken: Was your family, were they artistic or were you really an outlier in your family in that way?
Joe Carroll: I was an outlier in my family in that way. Yeah my Dad was a beef cattle farmer and used car dealer and My mother worked at a fire station and helped at the auto body shop In fact, they wanted me to take over the business, but it didn't work out that way.
Matt Peiken: Did you try taking over the business? Did you try to make them happy for a little bit or right from the beginning was like this is never gonna be?
Joe Carroll: I think it became pretty clear to them that I was torn, but I certainly Tried.
Matt Peiken: You did? I can't see you as a beef farmer at all. I have a hard time seeing that.
Did you actually when you were young, did you help your dad on the beef cattle farm?
Joe Carroll: I did, yeah. I probably started like working on the farm when I was like 8 or 9 years old. I feel, yeah, like a lot of who I am came from that time period where I had more dogs than friends and I barely wore shoes and I would just run around and talk to cows.
Matt Peiken: Very rural North Carolina existence. How do you think that plays into your personas in comedy?
Joe Carroll: I don't know. I think that it's just the kind of exploratory nature of it. I think I'm more interested in just I don't know, following and discovering the next thing versus having some kind of idea of where it's going or some kind of structure around it.
Matt Peiken: Has that been hard for you given that you come from that vantage point. It's not stand up comedy. You haven't done Traditional scripted theater that I have seen. I'm wondering how you have found A way to, for yourself as a performer, when there isn't an, like a set category that you fall into.
Joe Carroll: I Think that was something that I struggled with for a bit, where I was like, What am I doing? Does this make sense kind of thing? And then I, at a certain point, just realized that like it makes sense for me. And and I think when I realized that I should just lean into that side instead of trying to make it more palpable for conventional audiences.
Matt Peiken: How do you think your view or your vantage of what you want for yourself as a performer? How has that evolved over the years? I've known you now for six plus years. How do you think you've evolved as a performer since your arrival in Asheville?
Joe Carroll: When I first started improvising and performing, because I had done a lot of stage shows, scripted shows but it was very much like coming from a place of being the best at this thing and making the audience happy and making them laugh because that's how I get successful. It was this kind of like narrative of I'm climbing a ladder to success through performance.
Matt Peiken: You said you have done scripted shows. I haven't seen them locally so much. Are these things you've written, are these original shows or are these pre written scripts that you've been part of?
Joe Carroll: I've probably done maybe 20 to 30 scripted theater shows, maybe 40 experimental theater scripted shows.
Matt Peiken: Is that something you thought, okay, that's going to be my route? Or have you always felt like that's just something I'm doing on the side and I want to still find my own path?
Joe Carroll: I think it was always something that I was throwing darts to see what I connected with the most. I enjoyed the character play and there's a lot to learn from doing those kinds of productions and how to play with other people. So I think there's a lot of takeaways from that, but it was also finding out what is it that I'm actually interested in.
Matt Peiken: That's interesting that you phrased it and framed it as throwing darts. Do you feel like you've hit your bullseye yet that or have or come close to finding this is my path?
Joe Carroll: I feel closer to it now than I would say ever before. I think especially now identifying myself as a solo performer and just like exercising that muscle versus coming out with the intention of performing for other people has allowed me to like access and trust my first instinct more.
So yeah, and in that every time that I perform, I feel like I find a little bit more of my own, myself, and a little bit more of my my interests.
Matt Peiken: You talked about embracing being a solo performer. Was it last year that you did a Fringe show, or was it two years ago. What was the one at the Tyger Tyger Gallery that I saw you in?
Joe Carroll: Yeah, that was a Buffon clown piece called Sweet Lumps with my friend Peter Lundblad.
Matt Peiken: Was that sort of a stepping stone? Explain that show, explain the concept and what you were doing there. And then, how was that a stepping stone toward what you want to be doing?
Joe Carroll: Yeah, so he and I have been good friends going on 20 years almost. And we both have interest in improv and clowning in experimental theater.
And so we were like, hey, let's give bouffant clowning a shot. Which is a certain form of clowning which has a kind of a political satire to it. And it's more about Creating what you consider to be, exuding the ugliness that you see around you, embodying the ugliness in a way. So Sweet Lumps was a way to have fun, be silly, and also have something to say at the same time.
Matt Peiken: Is that what you want to be doing in your solo show? And in the show that's coming up is have fun, be silly, but have something serious to say at the same time?
Joe Carroll: Yeah, I would say so, yeah. I think that even if the message itself isn't intentionally serious, I think that In just the place space, when things come up and you honor those things, that you do go there, you can either choose to stay in that funny place or, oftentimes when those ideas arise or those thoughts, surface, you can Challenge yourself to go deeper in those.
Matt Peiken: So tell me about the new show? This is the first like fully produced solo show that you're doing right, right? Yeah So how how was this even born? From what I understand, I don't think it was even you wasn't your idea originally. Was it? It was the two producers on this show who asked you to do this show. Am I right on that?
Joe Carroll: That's right yeah they had seen me performing jolo a few times and doing my solo improv and yeah, and very honored To be given more time to kind of access the other places that can go to so
Matt Peiken: I would think that would be Both flattering and like a wow What am I gonna do with this opportunity because it's not from you originally. Jolo is and it's fully improvised and you don't have to produce anything.
You don't have to script anything You don't have to plan anything that it's the antithesis of that. This you have to. Tell me about the challenge of saying yes to the invitation to be front and center with your own show. And how did you make it your own?
Joe Carroll: It was interesting because actually, I've been working on this show for many years.
Like I have always wanted to do a solo show. At the time it wasn't necessarily going to have any kind of improv elements to it. But I've done a lot of devised pieces and I've done a lot of sketch writing and yeah, the core idea is not something that's new, it was Oh, okay, I finally have a place to put these things.
Matt Peiken: You already had the ingredients, and now they're coming together through this invitation to do that. So for audiences, devised theater is theater that is scripted, but it has born from improvisations, correct?
Joe Carroll: Yeah and I would even say that it's almost taking the script and kind of giving it to the Collective mind to revise in their own way.
Matt Peiken: Now when you're doing a solo show, what is the collective mind here?
Joe Carroll: Yeah, good question. I think it, for me the I like to not hold on to the ideas too preciously and let them go where they need to go. Does that make sense?
Matt Peiken: What does that mean? Like in the moment of performance or as you're planning your show to just Is it improvisational and recording these improvisations saying, I want to keep that?
Joe Carroll: Yeah, so there are some elements that are pretty much just completely written and choreographed and blocked and all those things. And then there are invitations throughout the show for play and audience participation.
Matt Peiken: So how do you take these disparate ideas and then turn them into a cohesive whole? Or do you even worry about them being cohesive?
Joe Carroll: I think I found the theme first, and then it felt pretty easy to tether these things together. So the name of the show is Quality Service, and it's all around the idea of being a pathological people pleaser.
Matt Peiken: Okay. You can go in a lot of directions with that and it can come from a lot of directions. It could be a societal observation, a political observation. Where did that theme stem from for you?
Joe Carroll: Both political and yeah, and just personal
Matt Peiken: Does that describe you? Is that something that you look at yourself and say, I've tried to be a people pleaser and it has or hasn't worked, or is there any element of that?
Joe Carroll: Absolutely. I think that when I take a hard look at the choices that I've made, even as a kid and growing up, like a lot of it came from affecting others in a positive way.
It's almost like that kind of survival instinct that we have to win over the hearts of others in order to be worthy and also to survive.
Matt Peiken: Are you taking a critical eye to that in this show or is it celebrating that or both?
Joe Carroll: I am Definitely criticizing it in myself and also the observations that I see in others, And there is also a little bit of celebration too. It's just an acceptance, I'd say, rather than celebration.
Matt Peiken: Even though you had these ideas, how do you feel you're pushing yourself or challenging yourself in ways you haven't done before as a performer or writer?
Joe Carroll: I would say that there's a pendulum in my performative career Of doing what I feel is what the audience wants versus what I personally feel. So this is an attempt at authenticity and to be vulnerable on stage.
Matt Peiken: That's interesting you say it that way because from my limited vantage of you as performer, at least your improv and your solo shows, I don't see you catering or trying to do things that will be audience pleasing. I see it as you doing what you feel impulsively drawn to do and that the audience just happens to like it. Do you think that's not accurate? Do you think there's more going on in your head? I want to be an audience pleaser. Do you think that's been more what's going on in your head?
Joe Carroll: I think that voice still exists. And, through my kind of growth as a solo performer, that voice has gotten a little bit, quieter each time. But it's certainly there and it's certainly what drove me into doing performance art in the first place. So I think that I had a pretty good balance on finding that sweet spot of not just completely honoring my own intentions and not considering the audience, not considering what other people think and feel. Because I am a pretty empathic person, like I feed off of that. But it's also to remember that I'm here for me and that I'm enough.
Matt Peiken: There have been times you've sought education outside of here. You have attended improv intensives in Chicago, elsewhere.
I've personally encouraged you is that, hey, you've got to get out of this town. You're a comic talent. Why are you staying in Asheville? And yet you're still here. Not that you shouldn't be. There's amazing talent in Asheville across artistic disciplines. But I'm wondering, especially in the kind of comedy you do and the kind of theater you do, why are you still here doing it and not in a bigger city where there might be more professional opportunities for that?
Joe Carroll: That's a good question. And one that I ask myself sometimes. I think that I go back and forth. One of the reasons that I absolutely love it here is the community and, teaching improv has accessed a big piece of joy in myself, and it's also helped me put down those kind of destructive tendencies of trying to be competitive and trying to be the best at this thing.
Not to sound corny, but watching people accessing themselves through improv and creative processes is really rewarding, and it also Opens it up to like, why am I doing this in the first place? Is it for my own self interest of one day making it or is it about, building a community that I feel honored to be a part of.
Matt Peiken: Yeah, it doesn't necessarily have to be an either or, right? You would want hopefully to be honored professionally and paid, you know, well, or at least respectably to do what you do and you're out building community. Do you feel like in Asheville, being here, you're making the choice, that you're just saying, Okay, it's more important for me to have community and I'll make a living in other ways.
Joe Carroll: It would certainly be wonderful if those two things could happen at the same time. I often wonder what my priorities are and if it is to be a part of something that is genuine and productive for myself and for others, or is it to climb the invisible stairs to success?
Matt Peiken: I do think we're in an era now where people can live anywhere and potentially make it, through social media, TikTok videos, that kind of thing. Are you prepared or wanting to engage in that kind of staging of your work?
Joe Carroll: It is interesting and definitely appealing to me. I think that a part of my hesitation is just keeping the quality of what I consider my product to be intact. If there's a way to show that and demonstrate it and make it accessible for other people, I'm absolutely into it.
Matt Peiken: The last thing I want to ask you is how do your parents and how does your family feel about you taking the route you've chosen now. What kind of feedback and response have you received from your cattle farming family?
Joe Carroll: They are lovely and supportive over the choices that I have made, whether they agree with them or not.
Matt Peiken: Are they coming to the show?
Joe Carroll: They are not.
Matt Peiken: Why not?
Joe Carroll: So my parents live in South Carolina and basically just health issues.
Matt Peiken: Oh, okay. Sorry to hear that. Yeah. So is to you, is that important? Is family acceptance and them witnessing you, is that because they're not able to be here? Is that a void for you?
Joe Carroll: I would say. I'd be lying if I said no. It's certainly it's certainly a part of it for me, sure.
Matt Peiken: What's next for you after this performance, after this run? Where do you think this is opening up for you? Where do you want to take yourself?
Joe Carroll: I hope to get some really good material from this that I'd like to submit to festivals and I'd love to take maybe this solo show to the Edinburgh Fringe. As far as the show is concerned, I want to encourage people to come out without any expectation.
There's going to be a lot of different things and I think that the main focus of it more than anything else is just to provide a place for play and connection for people.