Why Do Marines Treat Dark Humor Like Therapy? Michael D’Angelo USMC 0331

About this story

Every Marine says dark humor is therapy. Michael D'Angelo built a career on the bet that they're right. Marine Corps machine gunner (0331) turned stand-up comic, he's spent nine years doing free shows for Marines on base through his 501(c)(3), Rapid Fire Comedy Tour. The Marine Corps has paid him three times.

In this episode of the Vegas Veteran Voices Podcast, Ronnie Long sits down with Michael D'Angelo, born and raised in Las Vegas, running the east side until a straight razor and his father's warning put him in a Marine Corps recruiting office at 17. His recruiter promised a $10,000 bonus and active duty. He got the reserves at Nellis, missed his unit's Iraq deployment, and wrote his U.S. Senator as a PFC to fight it. Four bulging discs at 23 ended his time in uniform. A Detroit Lions bar open mic on Decatur started the next one.

From there: four years living in a Prius in LA. Rooms that didn't want his material. 400 letters to Marine Corps units. The first show at Camp Pendleton, 45 minutes for 250 Marines who treated him like Dave Chappelle. VET TV and Donny O'Malley. And the Bridgeport show where a Lieutenant Colonel shut it down mid-set, and every Marine in the theater shook his hand on the way out.

Michael and Ronnie get into why Veterans reach for dark humor, the three things vets fill the silence with after they get out (the gym, God, or the bottle), and what comedy gave him that the Corps took away.

SUPPORT RAPID FIRE COMEDY TOUR
Free live stand-up for service members on base, funded by donors and sponsors, not the DoD.
Donate or book a show: https://rapidfirecomedytour.org
Michael D'Angelo: https://www.instagram.com/michaeltheangelo

GLOSSARY
0331, Marine infantry machine gunner (MOS = military job specialty)
Reserves, one weekend a month, two weeks a year. Michael's unit: Fox Co, 2/23, at Nellis AFB
CAC, Common Access Card, the military ID
MWR / Single Marine Program, the on-base offices that book entertainment
Bridgeport, Mountain Warfare Training Center, Sierra Nevada
Lieutenant Colonel, the officer who typically commands a battalion
Smoke pit, designated smoking area; the unofficial social hub of any unit

VEGAS VETERAN VOICES

Host: Ronnie Long, USMC
Directed and produced by Brenton Mann, USN

FUELED BY BULKHEAD ENERGY
Service-disabled Veteran-owned energy, built by people who've stood a watch.
Try it: http://www.bulkheadenergy.com | Code WELCOME at checkout

Chapters

1. 0:00 Cold open
2. 1:02 Leathernecks, the tour, and flyering Pendleton
3. 3:05 Born and raised in Vegas: Lone Mountain to budget suites
4. 4:41 Running the east side
5. 6:27 July 4, 2007: the straight razor, and dad's "prison or dead" talk
6. 8:30 GED at CSN, the Navy says no, the Marines say yes (and a 78 on the ASVAB, asleep)
7. 10:31 Machine gunners and the 240
8. 12:48 Fox Co 2/23 at Nellis: what the recruiter promised

Show all 40 chaptersShow fewer chapters

9. 15:08 "You're not going to Iraq, dog"
10. 15:54 A PFC writes his U.S. Senator, and the unit gets even
11. 18:00 Belize, Okinawa, and the fleet Marines who backed him
12. 20:20 Four bulging discs at 23
13. 22:05 Getting out, and not being able to dress himself
14. 22:51 First open mic at Meatheads: the adrenaline dump
15. 24:56 Theo, Hinchcliffe, and four years in the back seat of a Prius
16. 27:14 Dad's reaction, and the Christmas leave night Metro let him go
17. 30:03 "Did boot camp make you different?"
18. 32:24 "It sucks to not be a Marine anymore"
19. 33:24 Gym, God, or booze
20. 34:26 Solar door-knocking in NorCal, then door guy at the Hollywood Improv
21. 36:14 Break
22. 36:29 Comedy Chow: church Wednesdays above a Hooters
23. 38:16 "Who am I supposed to be performing for?"
24. 39:16 400 letters to Marine Corps units
25. 40:02 Camp Pendleton: 45 minutes for 250 Marines
26. 41:21 Becoming a 501(c)(3), paid three times in nine years
27. 42:23 VET TV, Donny O'Malley, and the MWR paperwork
28. 44:44 Sponsors: yes or no, nothing in between
29. 47:02 Ronnie: it's who you know
30. 49:37 Why Michael won't do a weekly podcast
31. 51:25 Ronnie's Darkhorse pitch
32. 52:42 Writing for soft rooms on purpose
33. 55:00 Bridgeport: 500 Marines, ice rain, a shipping container
34. 56:19 The Lieutenant Colonel shuts it down; every Marine shakes his hand
35. 59:22 Heckler stories: Christmas Eve at the Improv
36. 1:02:39 The Raiders bar on Boulder Highway, and Tino Sanchez's Spartan kick
37. 1:05:15 Lana, "Are You a Bully?", and Kimmel's open mic
38. 1:07:16 "Don't do it for work. Be a hobbyist."
39. 1:08:18 "We thought this was gonna suck": what the tour became
40. 1:10:08 Ronnie's close: call your guys