‘Last Comic Standing’ runner-up Tommy Johnagin performed in the Yellowjacket Union Shippar Atrium in front of a crowd of about fifty people on Thursday night; despite a few distractions, Johnagin was able to focus on making the crowd laugh.

“There’s some people playing pool; we have that in Illinois too,” Johnigan joked in reference to a group of students playing pool nearby. He then asked them to give him and the audience an update on who was winning later on in the show.

This kind of adaptability is often seen among comedians. Johnigan, who dropped out of college at age 21 to pursue comedy full-time, said that he knew he wanted to be a comedian since he was young.

“It’s the only thing I’ve wanted to do,” he said. “When I was like, eight, I knew I wanted to be a comedian, and it was from watching David Letterman.”

Johnigan got his start in doing stand-up when he was in college by performing at open mic nights and going to comedy clubs. He continued doing this until he started earning money, and from there he dropped out of school to do his own tours.

“I’m always on tour…I’ve been touring on my own for seven years now,” Johnigan said. “But with the ‘Last Comic Standing’ we did that for 70 cities, so I took a break from my own thing.”

In 2007 Johnigan gained recognition from scouts who book comedians for the ‘Late Show with David Letterman’. The scouts were impressed with Johnigan’s routine and booked him to perform on the show in May 2008.

“As cheesy as it is, it was dream-come-true type stuff,” Johnigan remarked. “I was always working towards doing it…it was always my goal.”

In 2010 Johnagin appeared as a contestant on ‘Last Comic Standing’. At the end of the tour, he was awarded second place.

“It was great,” Johnigan said of the experience. “I loved the guys that were on the tour. We did some really cool venues and we did a lot of cities that don’t have comedy clubs. We did a bunch of really cool theatres in some great cities.”

When Johnigan goes to cities that don’t have comedy clubs or theatre venues he performs on college campuses.

“It’s always good to…come to a place like this that doesn’t have a comedy club and at least hope there’s a couple people to get a couple fans,” he said.

“The people putting [the show] on did a really great job,” he added, speaking of the Yellowjacket Activities Crew.

Following his performance at UW-Superior, Johnigan is performing at UW-Stevens Point and UW-Platteville. On April 15 he will also appear on the ‘Late Show with David Letterman’ for the fourth time in his career.