RJ Rice on his time playing Utah FB, Morgan Scalley era beginning, Pursuing stand up comedy, Playing Wise Guys in April + more

March 26, 2026·28 min·2 clips

Former Utah football player RJ Rice explains why the first years of stand-up comedy are 'terrible' and involve putting yourself out there to bomb.

Big Willie's sets the table. The episode opens with sports-bar chatter, Sweet 16 energy, drink and food specials, and the tease that RJ Rice is coming on. Rice shows up with two easy labels: former Utah football player, current stand-up trying to earn better rooms with Wise Guys dates on the calendar. The football comparison keeps landing because the work sounds familiar. Open mics mean reps. Weekend shows mean pressure. Real opportunities have to be earned, and Rice does not dress that up. He talks about unpaid rooms, awkward nights, and the long first stretch where stage time feels more like development than a breakthrough. Bombing comes with it. The worst misses, he says, can happen on weekends, when he knows he should be sharper. That is where the sports lens fits best. Open mics are for testing pieces. Weekend sets are closer to game reps, with less room to ramble. Wise Guys Ogden gets a real mention, including Rice opening for Jenna Kim Jones and trying a joke or two without getting too lost in the woods. The conversation stays loose, local, and process-heavy. The host gives him long setups, and Rice answers like someone more interested in the work than in sounding finished. Utah football is always nearby. Coach Scali, Robert, Stevenson Sylvester, and the Boone Brothers come up as people who were around a recent comedy night. That gives the episode its feel: part interview, part reunion point for listeners who already know the Utah names. By the end, Rice gets the open invite to come back when he has shows, and the Wise Guys Salt Lake April 3 plug lands like an easy handoff.

As heard by us

A former Utes player turns a sports interview into an honest, easygoing look at comedy's grind.

RJ Rice gives this Sean O'Connell conversation a nice local-sports-meets-comedy feel, and the Utah football background helps the whole thing move with a familiar, lived-in pace.

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Why you'd press play

Hear a former Utah football player turned comedian talk local gigs, open mics, and the grind between them.

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