Comedian behind viral Biden staffer roast touts industry comeback: 'Comedy is critical'

A Chicago-based stand-up comedian spoke out about the industry's "comeback" after going viral for a video of him roasting a Biden administration staffer.

"I think comedy is critical for a society. I think everyone needs it. If we just focus on the dark things, we're going to go to a dark place. So it's cool to have it, and I think it's definitely making a comeback," Josh Ocean Thomas told Fox News Digital.

During a show earlier this month, Thomas, who does a lot of crowd work in his sets, asked an audience member named Nick what he does for a living. Nick revealed he worked for the Biden administration.

"You work for the Biden administration? Is your job to wake him up?" Thomas joked.

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"What a s---show of a job you have! I can't believe you admitted that in front of all these people," he continued. "You have the freedom to lie. You could have said you're a hooker and I would have been prouder of you."

"Are you ready to be unemployed or what's your vibe," Thomas asked after further joking with the staffer about his job within the administration. 

Thomas told Fox News Digital he met the staffer after the show, and he was a "good sport" about the joke.

"The second the guy told me he worked for the Biden administration, it was over for him. I felt bad already because my brain went into comedic autopilot. It's funny, and that's all I'm trying to do. I'm not trying to make any points... it's funny. And we were all thinking it the second he said [it]," Thomas said.

"No one doesn't make fun of Joe Biden. There's not anyone in the world that doesn't. Okay, everyone makes fun of Joe. Everyone makes fun of Trump. Everyone makes fun of everything. It's the world we're in right now and this is what we need. We just need to do more of that."

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Thomas emphasized he is not a "political comedian;" rather, he pulls from real-world experiences and his own story to craft his jokes. 

"I joke about life. All of my jokes are about my life or life experience. Some of them are made up life experiences, but there's stuff that like I would do. And like thing that like I would say. My standup is about me. It's not about the government. It's not about the right. It's not about the left. It's not about the green or whatever those other parties are," he said. 

The Chicago-based comedian has had a passion for comedy since he was around 13 years old, where he would perform at his "first comedy club" in his father's living room for family, friends and neighbors. 

"If they think that comedian got out of bed that morning and said, 'I'm going to go on stage tonight and I'm going to hurt people's feelings and I'm going to go to hurt people,' that is crazy." - Josh Ocean Thomas

A decade later, the 23-year-old broke out into the stand-up scene, starting his career during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, he hosts regular shows at the Laugh Factory comedy club in Chicago.

From the beginning of his career to now, Thomas has observed an industry "comeback" as comedy clubs reopen and more people yearn for a laugh. 

"I started comedy, there wasn't a comedy club open, which was the worst time because obviously they couldn't be open if they wanted to. There was a virus going around... but it's when we needed them the most," he said.

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Comedian Karith Foster added on "Fox & Friends" last week that, despite cancel culture giving comedy a run for its money, most people can "go anywhere and say anything right now."

"I feel like comedy's making a comeback, finally, because it is so apparent, people are so disappointed," Foster told co-host Brian Kilmeade. "And the fact that we are living like Groundhog Day over and over again, the same people, same choices for a major election. People are done, they're tired."

Both Foster and Thomas emphasized that despite what cancel culture tries to imply, comedians don't make jokes with "malicious intent" or hate. 

"If anyone sees a standup comedian go on stage...and if they said something that might hurt someone's feelings, if they think that comedian got out of bed that morning and said, 'I'm going to go on stage tonight and I'm going to hurt people's feelings and I'm going to go to hurt people,' that is crazy," Thomas said. "Every comedian I know is literally looking for the same thing… We're all looking for a laugh, and there's not a single comedian that's out there with malicious intent."

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"There's a difference between coming at something with hate and coming at something with love, and true comedians come at it with love and it's love of humankind. And that's why we have the ability to mock and to tease. If it was really nasty, it wouldn't be funny," Foster said.

Thomas, who is a rising stand-up star, was optimistic about not only the future of comedy, but also the future of society.

"There's always things we can work on as a society. I don't think we'll ever be perfect. I don't think we ever were. But I will say, I think we're on the right track. And I think people are understanding that comedy is critical and it makes people happy. And we need that. And I am honored to be on the delivering side of that."