Comedians donât tend to be as level-headed as Jeremiah Coughlan. The 35-year-old Portlander is so pragmatic and humble about his place in the stand-up scene that, as we talked about his career over breakfast recently, I kept bracing myself for a streak of frustration or disgust to color his outlook, maybe while discussing his upcoming show at a casino in his former hometown of Richland, Washington. It never arrived.
âYou hear people on podcasts tell these terrible stories about casino gigs,â says Coughlan. âTheyâre not awful, though. Itâs what you make of it. I think itâs awesome. I like hotel rooms. Obviously some are better than others. The last three hotels I stayed in had ants in them. Thatâs life on the road.â
Itâs an impressively mature attitude, which shouldnât be terribly surprising considering his age and the fact that he came to comedy later than most (he was 30 when he started doing local open mics). But underneath it all is the heart of a permanently puerile goofball. Thatâs the side of him thatâs most apparent on his recently released stand-up album Seamus McGravy: the kind of guy who tries to convince his girlfriend that The Eaglesâ âTake It Easyâ was about butt sex and relishes the anecdote of listening to an ex-roommate try to have a quiet orgy.
The dark side Coughlan does have is one heâs been studiously trying to tame over the past four years. It was back in 2013 when his abuse of alcohol reached its terrifying nadir. As he says on his album, rock bottom came when he woke up from a multi-day bender on the lawn of his apartment building.
As in the best recovery stories, Coughlan isnât the same person anymore. The energy he poured into getting fucked up is now directed toward getting healthy and becoming a better comic. And itâs helped him find some much needed patience with regard to the slow arc of his still young career.
âYou canât cheat the timeline,â he says. âThereâs no way around it. It might take years but when itâs supposed to happen itâs going to happen. Everything that has brought me this far has been like that. When I think I have the answer, it doesnât take long for the universe to go, âNo, you donât know. Youâre a big dummy,â and push me to do the next thing that comes up.â