“If you don’t laugh, you cry,” says Devin Siebold, a former teacher who is one of the performers on the Bored Teachers: The Struggle is Real!! Comedy Tour.
Bored Teachers is an online community platform that gained popularity during the pandemic with its relatable content showcasing the struggles of teachers and educators through the use of sarcasm and other forms of comedy. With millions of followers across multiple social media platforms and popular podcasts such as “Teachers Off Duty” and “Hot Mess Teacher Express,” Bored Teachers content has frequently gone viral.
The Struggle Is Real!!, Bored Teachers’ second tour, has visited more than 100 venues in The United States and Canada, with more shows in both The United States and The United Kingdom scheduled for 2025. The tour’s final 2024 show will be at The Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank, Dec. 8 at 3 p.m. For tickets, visit ticketmaster.com.
The tour features a rotating set of 16 teachers-turned-comedians, with the lineup varying by show. Participants include Siebold, K.C. Mack, Jess Merrill (known as Miss Smith), Andrea Caspari, Jared Waters, Mike Rivera, Leslie Rob, Liz Blanc, Briana Richardson (known as HonestTeacherVibes), Jay Yoder, Mark Schumacher, Chinedu Unaka, Tom Filline, Mr. Williams, and Mike Vecchione.
In Red Bank, Mack will host and co-headline with Siebold.
“I refer to my hosting as Tylenol: It works for everybody,” says Mack, a former English teacher who taught for 20 years in Texas and has been a standup comedian for 10 years. “Keeping the energy up throughout the show is the key. I turn it into a party.”
Although each performer has a background in teaching and education, these are still professional comedians with years of experience.
“It’s a team of pros; that’s the thing that people don’t get,” says Siebold, who was a teacher in Florida for 13 years and transitioned to standup comedy 10 years ago, after finding success posting comedy sketches from his classroom online. “They think we’re just like former teachers, but we were all standup comics with credits and multiple tours (before joining Bored Teachers).
“It’s not a softball pitch with cheesy jokes; it’s pros.”
Many skills used by teachers — such as adaptability in front of a crowd, and being able to keep your audience attentive — are valuable for comedians, too. Schumacher says the transition from being a teacher to being a comedian is usually smooth because “if you’re not entertaining (as a teacher), you’re not getting through.”
He also says that “if you can make people laugh, they’ll stay engaged — whether it’s students in a classroom or an audience at a comedy show.”
Some of the topics in the comedians’ sets include teaching during the pandemic, funny stories of student interactions, transitioning from teaching different grades, and starting at a new school. The show has a lighthearted approach to the genuine struggles teachers and other educators face, such as low pay, high turnover, and burnout.
“It’s kind of a weird profession in the sense that if you talk about it, just complaining about it, people don’t really listen,” says Siebold. “We don’t really have an outlet.”
“Comedy is tragedy and tragedy is comedy,” Mack says. “Unfortunately, there are a lot of tragic situations that can take place in this field. But laughter is medicine, and therapy comes with being able to laugh at ourselves.”
For more information on Bored Teachers, visit boredteachers.com.
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