There was a time when Chattanooga comedian Donnie Marsh thought he had it all figured out. He was happily married and working his dream job as a youth minister in Florida.
“I hadn’t questioned my faith yet because things had always turned out well for me,” he explained. “When bad things happen to other people, that’s God’s plan. When bad things happen to me, that’s another story.”
Flash forward a couple years. Donnie was divorced from his wife, distanced from his church, and starting life over in his new home of Chattanooga. He was finishing his finance degree at UTC when a chance encounter with an executive from the Royal Bank of Canada sent him down the path of stand up comedy.
“In his spare time he was a stand up comic and got to open for Richard Lewis,” Donnie recalled. “I didn’t know you could do that. I thought you had to be borderline homeless for 20 years and still not make it. I didn’t know you could do comedy as a hobby and get better at it.”
Youth ministry and stand up comedy seem like very different gigs, but Donnie was quick to notice parallels. “As a youth minister you have to be funnier than the funniest kid in the room. And they’re way more motivated than you are.”
In 2017 he began performing around town and was encouraged to find a vibrant, supportive community. “Chattanooga really punches above its weight when it comes to comedy,” he said. “I had to be consistent, but also do enough new material to keep locals interested.”
During the pandemic Donnie made the controversial decision to incorporate music into his comedy routine. This was considered controversial because within the ranks of stand up purists, musical comedians are looked down upon. Like ventriloquism or prop comedy, musical comedy is considered a gimmick.
Donnie Marsh never understood this reasoning. “Most comedians who say they don’t like musical comedy are just jealous they can’t play instruments,” he laughed. “It’s either sour grapes or they’ve been exposed to bad musical comedy.”
He points to Bo Burnham and Steve Martin as examples of great comedians who incorporate music. “Nobody thinks of them as musical comedians because their music is so good.”
Over the last few years Donnie’s music has become the highlight of his set. The song Love is Like a Hot Dog is a hilarious examination of his parents’ enduring marriage. It’s also the only song I can think of that rhymes ‘species' and ‘feces.’
Now after winning over skeptics in the stand up scene, Donnie’s beginning to move even more in the direction of music – which means moving away from stand up comedy. A typical stand up set is only ten minutes, which only allows for a couple of songs at most.
But concertgoers are accustomed to longer sets. “I did a 25 minute set at JJ’s for Thanksgiving,” he said. “I just played my songs instead of using them as a crutch in case the comedy didn't go well.”
If you’d like to hear all the ways in which love is like a hot dog, Donne Marsh will perform a full set of his original songs this Thursday, April 4th at the Woodshop Listening Room in St. Elmo. He will be joined by Joshua Cruces and Alex the Band. Doors open at 7, and music starts at 8. There is no cover charge.