Franklin D. Roosevelt wrote in “Looking Forward” that “it is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.”

Alumnus Adam Minnick ’00 left Holy Cross College with an associate degree and spent the next several years looking for ways to use his interests to create a life-long profession.

“I received a Liberal Arts degree from Holy Cross, transferred to Xavier University in Cincinnati, worked at a suit store, went on to the banking industry, moved to Chicago and got fired as a banker, moved back to Cincinnati and earned my education degree,” notes Minnick. “I eventually left teaching to pursue comedy full-time. Through all of this, I would travel for comedy on evenings and weekends, spending countless hours writing jokes.”

Although his journey had many twists and turns, he found a path that gave him professional fulfillment like no other opportunity he had tried before.

“While I was at Xavier, I auditioned, with about 50 other students, for an improvisational comedy group. I was 1 of only 2 people chosen for the group. I realized that I could at least do improv comedy and decided to try stand-up comedy. My first time on stage was in 2002 at an open mic, I bombed horribly. The next day I realized that I absolutely loved it, even though I bombed, and had to get good at this,” recalls Minnick. “My first goal was to write one joke that worked, then write 2, then 3, and so on. What pushed me to get on stage was the fact that I was going through depression, if I could make someone laugh, I would feel better about myself. Comedy became my drug, and I was addicted to it.”

Holy Cross College impact

“My grades were pretty bad in high school, my options for college were pretty limited, and I knew I had to leave home and become independent. Holy Cross gave me that opportunity and also made me feel that there was more for me after high school. It was my first time away from home, I was excited to be on my own, in fact, I left 2 weeks after high school graduation to take summer classes,” said Minnick.

Memorable moment

“The writing classes helped give me a strong foundation for creative writing, I use those skills to this day when I write jokes on a daily basis,” notes Minnick.

Next journey

“Keep touring and hopefully get to perform on one of the late-night shows one day,” said Minnick.

Photo provided by Adam Minnick.

Get connected at:

Website: www.adamminnick.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/adam.minnick/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aminnick/