Images courtesy of PokerStars
For many years, Joe Stapleton has captivated audiences who have grown in their appreciation of the world’s biggest poker events.
As part of the award-winning duo of ‘Stapes’ and Hartigan, Joe has presented PokerStars’ coverage of European Poker Tour and North American Poker Tour events, as well as other shows like Shark Tank and The Big Game.
He’s also been an outspoken advocate for political debate, co-written and produced the comic book Trapped!, and performed stand-up comedy not only across the United States but around the world.
We caught up with the man behind catchphrases such as ‘Smell ya later!’, ‘All right, ma babies!’ and our personal favorite, ‘Congratudolences,’ to find out where the next step in his career will take him.
Back in Barcelona
When we speak to Joe, he’s not far out from Barcelona, where he presented the European Poker Tour coverage. The Catalan city always provides the biggest field of the year for ‘Stars and this year was no different, except for the fact that the on-screen duo was split up by circumstances.
We had to do a split production this year because the Spin N Go Championships were on at the same time, Joe says. I was doing the EPT Barcelona Main Event while James was doing the Spin N Go Championships.
A couple of years ago, James was really ill, and I had to do the final table as the lead. A year ago, I was ill, and James had to do the same, so we’ve had some practice, but it was hard.
The EPT Barcelona Main Event is famous for being packed with players who demonstrate a lot of personality and passion. This year was no different, but, as we found out recently, not every American is so accustomed to traveling to one of Europe’s most popular poker destinations. Phil Hellmuth recently admitted that he has never visited the country.
No country is too hard to avoid for an American, cracks Joe. Not to say that Phil isn’t well-traveled, but compared to the average European, he doesn’t get out of the country much.
The old adage that travel broadens the mind is one that Joe wholeheartedly agrees with.
I wouldn’t want to paint anyone with the brush of if you haven’t left the country, you don’t know anything… But the people who don’t know anything typically haven’t left the country.
Joe encounters all sorts in his globe-trotting lifestyle, including ‘narrow-minded folks who think America is the greatest country in the world because they haven’t been anywhere else.’ That’s not to say Joe isn’t a proudly patriotic American.
America has a lot of things going for it, and I do love my country, but the perspective that traveling has given me is so eye-opening. I’m so lucky that I’ve been able to experience so many different countries and cultures, the different ways of doing things.
I really do think it should be required for people to travel and see the world. Just because the buildings are a little older and the air con isn’t so cold, it doesn’t mean they don’t know what the f*ck they’re doing.
Bringing the Muscle
If there is another person in poker more positive than Stapes, we’ve yet to meet them. Just like in person, talking to Joe while he burns up the road in a 2008 Dodge Challenger is a lesson in comedy in itself. He loves the ‘muscle car,’ the purchase of which harks back to a different era of poker.
My girlfriend at the time was a professional poker player; she was kinda my sugar mom. She was also a big believer in the law of attraction. She said, ‘You need to believe you’ll own that car. You have to do whatever you can to get that car.’
I called the dealership, and they said, ‘I need a $10,000 deposit right now, and in a year, when the car comes out, I’ll give you first crack at it.’
Joe borrowed the $10,000 from his dad, paying him back over the year, but when the car came out, he didn’t have enough money. Unable to afford it, desperate times called for desperate measures.
I went to meet my buddy for lunch and commiserate about it, and he said, ‘Hey man, can I borrow five bucks?’. He was gonna buy us a lottery ticket. I said, here’s ten, let’s buy double, and if we win, we’ll split it.
Joe and his buddy didn’t win the lottery that day, but they were only one number away from the $100 million jackpot.
We won just enough – about $12,000 – and it was what I needed to buy the car. I went back to the dealership and got the car.
The Divisive Nature of Politics
Over recent years, Joe’s obvious dislike of the current US President has come through on his socials. At times divisive, followers on both sides of the argument come with Joe or attack him in large numbers. Contrary to some people’s opinions, this isn’t intentional.
I don’t like dividing people, but I also don’t mind upsetting people, Joe admits. I’ve tried to be kind, and I’m a pretty nice person in general. My humor appeals to most people, but if my saying that I think gay people are normal people and that trans rights are human rights and that upsets you, I don’t mind being divisive.
Joe says he wishes it weren’t the case that his opinions were so divisive. As a natural comic, however, he can’t help finding it funny that if he puts his head above the parapet, the trolls come out to play.
If someone is nasty to me, almost 100% of the time, they have Trump as their avatar and have retweeted a bunch of right-wing accounts. Not only am I not a fan of Trump, I can’t imagine what it would take for me to have a politician as my avatar online – it’s so bizarre!
Who could argue with that? Rarely have politicians been heroes to the public in hundreds of years of governance, no matter the positive or negative influence over their citizens.
I saw someone ask the other day, ‘What if Bill Clinton’s in the Epstein files?’. The person replied. ‘Well, I guess I’ll have to burn my Bill Clinton bumper stickers, my Bill Clinton flag, and get rid of my Bill Clinton hat and t-shirts.’
Why would you worship someone in this way, let alone someone who is so disgusting and nasty? I don’t love dividing people, but I take a certain amount of pride in standing up for what I believe is right, not being intimidated.
Joe says his own belief system wasn’t formed until his mid-twenties, and so he understands how those on the fence could be influenced by people whose work they appreciate.
If there are people looking up to me and they see me say trans rights are human rights, maybe that’s something they’ll take with them. I don’t think I’m going to change the mind of the guy who has ‘Hang Hilary Clinton’ as his background photo.
While Joe sits on one side of the binary political landscape in the States, he finds it easy to accept that the leaders of the party he supports are flawed.
The team that I’m forced to be on, I’m not a huge fan of either! he laughs. I can see Kamala Harris was a pretty flawed individual. She and Hilary Clinton were accomplished, qualified people, but also, people had valid complaints about them.
Anyone who is a decent person probably isn’t going into politics. Who would ever want to give up their life for that on a sanity level? You remember what happened to the mayor in The Wire? Am I the sort of person who could be unifying? Sure, but I’d rather be a stand-up comedian.
The Power of the Stage
In recent years, Stapes the comedian has become a stronger and stronger brand. Performing around the world, he still finds the most joy being under the spotlight on stage as the caricature version of himself, making people laugh with their bellies.
The 15 or 30 minutes I’m on stage is pure joy. When it’s 4:30 in the afternoon and I haven’t had a chance to think about the show and I have a pit in my stomach, that’s when I think, ‘Why do I do this to myself?’ But when I’m on stage getting laughs? That’s about as close to pure bliss for me as it gets.
Just like advocating an argument in politics, Joe accepts that performing comedy and holding the audience in the palm of your hand share similarities.
It’s power,” Joe says. You can understand why people like power. You’re making people feel something and bending them to your will; that’s really the definition of power. The fact that I’ve headlined in five countries on three continents is pretty cool.
I’ve done the US, the UK, the Netherlands, Japan, and Spain. It was a pretty big highlight to headline in Europe and Asia in the same week, and that’s because of poker.
Joe’s featured gigs that have formed part of PokerStars festivals have clearly meant a huge deal to him.
If it wasn’t for poker, I might be a successful worldwide touring comedian, but because of poker, I am in various countries and get to headline there.
Another comedian of my level doesn’t have the same opportunity to pop over to Tokyo, but I was in Tokyo, the UK, and Spain – I get to piggyback comedy onto poker. Everything good that has ever happened to me in my professional life has been because of poker.
Double-Edged Swordplay
As we continue talking, I push Joe on that dichotomy that he lives with; that his stand-up comedy career is both helped and hindered by his work in poker.
It’s Catch 22 or a double-edged sword situation. Poker gets in the way of stand-up… but it means I can afford to do it. It’s a Sliding Doors situation; I really don’t know where I would be without it.
Back in the day, Joe worked with some of the talent on the television show Mad TV. For a while, he was envious of the actors on the show.
I thought, ‘I would give anything to be those guys’. But in the last 20 years, I’ve worked way more than a lot of actors, due to striking. I would probably keep the hand I was dealt when it comes down to it.
Where poker has taken him around the world, Joe is thankful to those behind him for giving him the opportunity to shine again and again.
Another thing I’ll credit PokerStars with is that over the last few years, they understand that the bigger I am, the better I am for them, so they’ve been giving me stand-up gigs [on the tour]. They realize there’s value in it for the players, and they want to see me succeed and elevate me too.
Joe admits that if he had the choice between poker and hosting The Tonight Show or playing arenas as a comic, it would be a difficult choice. But if poker didn’t exist tomorrow, if he were solely a stand-up comedian tomorrow, he would be ‘a starving artist.’
I will make $1,000 this month doing stand-up comedy, says Joe. That is not enough for me to live on at this stage of my life. Granted, if I had more time, I would make more money, but on a good weekend doing stand-up, I’ll make $500-$600.
The Masochism of Comedy
Comedy is masochism, and Joe embraces that. Part of the craft of excelling at comedy is working from failure. If you cultivate a joke and make it funny, you often have to establish where it falls down. The cadence, the rhythm, the parts that work – only suffering on stage finds them. Joe says he finds it hard to get that space to fail at times.
There are no gigs where I can just try out stuff and bomb if I need to. People know me at every show I do. They come out to see me, so I don’t get many chances to develop new material. I actually ate sh*t over in L.A. here last week. It didn’t feel good in the moment, but I need more opportunities like that.
Of course, I have to ask what the joke was.
It was horrible! Joe laughs. I did this joke about AI where I said, ‘Hey, do you think when machines take over, that scene from Office Space will be problematic?’ I looked around, and the audience was on average 23 years old.
I referenced a movie older than everyone in the room! But part of it was the joke wasn’t worded great, and it’s much better to learn that at an open mic rather than at EPT Barcelona in front of my bosses.
Joe has legions of supporters who’ll come out and see his shows five or six times a year. He says he feels guilty repeating anything for them, because part of the fun of it is writing new material.
Comedy is a puzzle. It is somewhat daunting thinking, ‘Oh, Jodie saw me three times this year.’ I’ll go back to my notebook and try and figure out what she hasn’t heard yet. My old material has been developed and worked on, so it’s often my best work.
Of course, those fans don’t mind at all. Like going to see a band, they want to see the hits too. They’ll get them. Joe Stapleton is a workaholic and has been playing a lot of hits for a long time.
It’s why the audience keep coming back for more.
