Biography

Appearances on the Jimmy Kimmel Show, and a finalist on NBC's Last Comic Standing.

J. Chris Newberg’s refreshingly smart and edgy humor, delivered with a streetwise sense of philosophic cool, has propelled the guitarist/songwriter-cum-comedian to the forefront of the Michigan comedy scene. Just five months after Newberg’s September 2000 debut, a Detroit Free Press story on metro Detroit comedy cited him as one of five local comics most likely to break out into the national spotlight. While critics have been singing his praises in the press, audience members are offering true testimonial to Newberg’s talent, roaring with laughter and clamoring for more of this hip and authentic new personality. A guitarist and songwriter for veteran Detroit rock band, the Vudu Hippies, Newberg’s standup comedy cleverly combines his hilarious and off-beat observations on life with original, acoustic guitar melodies. Picture Bob Dylan and his six-string with Dennis Miller’s incisive, cerebral wit, and you begin to glimpse the unique, side-splitting talent that is J. Chris Newberg. As founder, main songwriter and lyricist for the Vudu Hippies, Newberg has spent much of the last 12 years on the music stage. With four CDs and two EP's to their credit, the Vudu Hippies have toured most of the Midwest and the West Coast, including two sold-out shows opening for the Counting Crows and Oasis at Detroit’s State Theater; opening for Grand Funk Railroad at Pine Knob, and sharing a bill with Fuel at L.A.’s famed Viper Room. It was during years on the road, playing in bars and theaters across the country, that Newberg unknowingly began honing his comedy. Whenever a delay – a band member’s broken guitar string, for instance, or a sound system problem – interrupted a Vudu Hippies show, Newberg would crack up the audience with funny, acoustical songs, which he would make up on the spot. His improvisational, acoustic interludes led him to enroll at the nationally renowned Second City Comedy Troupe, where he studied improv humor for two years. He also began flexing his comedic chops with a metro Detroit improv troupe, Motor City Improv. One of the most original talents to burst upon the Midwest comedy scene in years, J. Chris Newberg is a talent destined for national exposure. Take the opportunity now to catch a standup star in the making!