Rory Campbell

Born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts, Rory Campbell was reared in the brutal, no-holds-barred comedy scene of Boston proper. A self-proclaimed degenerate, he moved out to the Bay Area, where he went to school for video and musical production in 1998 after he got his girlfriend pregnant. Arguably a young comedian with a few years in the game, Campbell’s career was accelerated after he started producing local legend Dirtbag Dan’s podcast and he convinced his new crew of friends to get into standup comedy. Comprised mostly of battles, Campbell’s first year of comedy was brutal but saw him earn a spot in the finals of the San Jose Improv Comedy Competition. Since then, he’s been honing his craft in bars and other local watering holes, while simultaneously holding down a production position for NBC, a position that has earned Campbell five commercial production Emmy Awards over the years. As for the future, Campbell hopes to continue cultivating his comedic voice, as well as producing music for his eldest daughter, local musician and singer Zoe Campbell.

“We have a nice little comedy scene here. I think the only problem is we are all a little too edgy. In San Jose, we’re used to doing our comedy in badly lit bars like the Caravan for an audience of bikers and pirates. So now I just go up and be unreasonably aggressive to the audience, because, what can you tell me about your life that makes me feel bad about mine? But that’s how comedy should be. If you want to see pithy, well-crafted, little political statements, go up to San Francisco. If you want to see real comedians doing their thing, San Jose is the place to be.”