Jim Ruel
Los Angeles, California, United States
Music
Press
"On behalf of our Section staff and co-workers, I wanted to tell you how much we enjoyed your performance at Friday's holiday party. Many attendees said your performance was the 'cherry on top' of the Section party. We really appreciated the fact that Jim is a fellow nerd, and we love laughing at ourselves. I was told by numerous employees that they were disappointed your act wasn't longer. Thank you for entertaining us!"
Lisa Seymour
Section 343 Business Administration Staff Caltech-Jet Propulsion Laboratory - Jet Propulsion Lab
“Jim Ruel was a pleasure. He did exceed our expectations. His Sarcasm and subtle humor killed.
Thanks for the experience.”
- South Dakota State University
"The show at the Barona Casino was incredible, Jim and JR did such a great job, everyone loved them!" - United Tribes
"That's the best opening line I've ever heard"
-Caroline Rhea, Host of Caroline Rhea Show
"He's the Indian version of Chris Rock"
-Chris Barnes, Comedian - Various
Discography
Previous appearances:
Jet Propulsion Labs holiday party
American Indian Science & Engineering Society National Convention
Native American Financial Officers Association
Dartmouth College
Stanford University
Cal State Long Beach
University of Wisconsin
Albuquerque Hard Rock
Flappers Comedy Club
Hollywood Improv
Las Vegas Hilton
Rock the 9 Music Festival - Emcee
Another Indian Uprising - touring Native American festivals/events
Photos
Bio
Jim Ruel is a half Native American nerd who grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He performs standup comedy.
Childhood
He partook in the usual young nerdling activities: Dungeons & Dragons, reading Lord of the Rings, computer games, Renaissance Faires, piano recitals, juggling, and reading science books for fun. He also developed a compulsive enthusiasm for comedy, collecting standup albums and watching Mel Brooks films until his eyes bled. In an effort to maintain his high standing with his academic instructors (pet), he limited his comedic mutterings to his closest friends. His teachers were oblivious to his subdued class clown undertakings.
The high school years
In high school, he overindulged his nerdly passions, joining both the Latin and Math clubs. Seeking balance in his life, he founded his school's improvisational comedy troupe and memorized a boatload of jokes that he would unleash on unsuspecting strangers in the guise of small talk. And yet he found that invitations to parties were decidely lacking.
College
Undeterred, Jim continued his academic pursuits at Stanford University, majoring in electrical engineering and minoring in free love. Encouraged by one of his professors and spurred on by a chance meeting with a comedian on a plane ride back from a science fair, Jim decided to give standup a try at a local open mic. His career ambitions took a turn.
Standup career
And the rest is, well, academic. He returned to Milwaukee to be closer to his family. Within a year he was hosting shows at over a dozen comedy clubs in the Midwest. In 2004, he was flown out to Los Angeles for the NBC Diversity Talent Showcase. He moved out to Los Angeles a few months later in hopes of expanding his career into acting and writing for film and television. Since then, he has had several television appearances on Showtime, the BBC, Comedy Central, and PBS.
Today
Jim currently lives in Los Angeles with his girlfriend and daughter. In addition to entertaining, Jim works for SCIC Intertribal Entertainment, a non-profit organization dedicated to training Native Americans for jobs in entertainment. He will be starring in a science fiction-sitcom pilot in the spring of 2012. You can catch his weekly nerdly musings on his Youtube show, "Jim Ruel's Nerdtastic Vlog." He tours with the Another Indian Uprising, an indigenous comedy tour.
Links
