Today we’d like to introduce you to Jeff Quintana.
Hi Jeff, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I started in 2003 with Impromedy which was an improv and sketch group founded by my brother Ozzie Quintana. Through his guidance and training in improv I was pulled out of a path of debauchery that was not going to end well. Improv and comedy saved me in many ways. I started doing stand up in 2006 at Coconuts Comedy Club in Gainesville and also continued my improv training with UF’s Theater Strike Force. TSF gave me my first opportunity to teach and that got me started on exploring the educational end of my career.
I eventually went on to study, teach and perform at and with some of the best comedy theaters in the country including Upright Citizens Brigade NYC, Magnet Theater NYC, Peoples Improv Theater NYC, The Groundlings, Second City CHI, Improv Olympic CHI, Annoyance Theater CHI, CIC Theater CHI, Theatre Momentum CHI, Playground Theater CHI, One Group Mind CHI, The Neo Futurists CHI and many more. At one point early on, I was even homeless for two weeks sleeping on a park bench to pursue my dream of being a comedic entertainer and instructor.
With all the extensive training and experience, I eventually came back to Miami and Co-Founded Villain Theater in 2015 which I left in 2017. Villain was named after an amazing group I performed within Chicago of the same name.
I started Nomadik Comedy as a way to bring small scale comedy shows and classes throughout the city in 2017. Eventually this lead to me opening a new theater on North Beach called Speak Easy Theater Co which pushed the envelope for comedy in Miami with a more open and theatrical twist on it. The pandemic came and unfortunately Speak Easy was just too new to weather the storm.
For a while, I worked bar backing and other odd jobs to stay afloat through the pandemic. It was during this time I was contacted by my friend and fellow comedian Rebecca Loveless to start a new underground comedy theater in Delray Beach called The Coop Comedy which has been a beautiful addition to the South Florida comedy scene with regular sold-out shows, classes, and the most supportive open mic community in town.
Through the Coop, I was able to push the idea of completely uncensored shows and free speech which is the main reason I do comedy to this day. With this safe space to try new work, I developed the character Antonio Robbinstinez Inspirational Life Coach which I perform all around Florida and soon beyond. The character enables me to do a full one man show with the order of the pieces chosen by the audience at random.
The Coop continues to play to great houses but I found being in one location wasn’t enough to me and I was missing that pop-up show feels that I built with Nomadik. I was sitting with three students and friends of mine talking about the local comedy scene and how we wanted more than just a regular comedy show would offer. That is when we started Nomadic X Comedy which has been bringing our thematic comedy experience across the city and the state with our Retro Comedy Show and Back From The Future show.
The Nomadic X Comedy group is made up of Miguel Ramos (Marketing Director), Jay Filsma (Comedian), Salty Sam (Comedian), and myself (Creative Director/Comedian). The group is dedicated to freedom of expression and of course bringing joy to the masses.
One of my greatest teachers Mick Napier told me in one of my last classes in Chicago ” Stop waiting for everyone else to catch up, you need to just go and let your partners catch up to you because you have the skill to do so.” With that note, I’ve taken to just going and letting those that can hang with me rise to the occasion. I have big goals and big dreams to continue to fulfill. I’m loving where this journey has brought me so far in every facet of my life. I continue to follow my fear and grow every day.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The struggle of art in South Florida in any art form is the lack of real community and dedication to growing as artists. We need to have both. Community here seems to be more akin to high school where if you are part of one group you are shunned by another or of you are in a group it’s not about talent to move up, it’s about social climbing.
I have also found along the way that South Florida has a lack of real opportunities for artists to be paid and this leads to a mentality that becomes more about the social-climbing aspect of community with no true growth of the artists or the work. Most shows I see are just producers booking other producers because they booked them previously. This cheapens the work as every show should be an opportunity for the individual producers to show their comedy taste and honor work that they feel needs to be seen.
Also, many of our spaces that would be great to produce shows out of just do not seem interested in making the spaces accessible to comedic artists at reasonable rates. This has been a huge issue in Miami especially for a long time. Many venue operators don’t see the benefit in having artists in their spaces and building up audiences that will be educated and continue to frequent their venue for years to come. We are way behind the ball in South Florida regarding a growth mentality concerning the Arts. If only the rich artists can book venues then it will be very hard for new artists to grow and even seasoned artists to afford putting up events of any kind.
It’s been an uphill battle to really make great art that is financially viable in an area that accepts lower quality than it should because they refuse to pay to see a show or will just pay very little. We artists work hard to make good work and most venues will not pay a cent for the entertainment we offer their venues.
I would love to see more grants from the Knight Foundation and other sources that would go to different artists and new projects each year as that would help a lot.
Finally a challenge of the lack of funding makes it so most of the artists become hobbyists in order to survive. I’ve seen wonderful performers that just stopped because South Florida just doesnt have the infrastructure needed to make real growth happen in the Arts. I have seen some strides during the pandemic especially and this gives me hope. I always have believed in South Florida to create an amazing and thriving artistic scene. I’m seeing little pockets of light shining threw but the only way we can get there is by noticing our flaws as a scene.
My last word on obstacles and challenges specifically for comedy is that good comedy should not pander to an audience. I always say the great artists decide what is good and then share that with the audience. The artist is the tastemaker and the audience follows that strong artistic voice. We decide what to make and yes the audience matters but they don’t know what they want until we give it to them. We are the creators.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am an improviser at heart and it has basically opened the doors for me to do so many things including writing scripts, stand up comedy, sketch comedy, poetry, writing a book, musical comedy, singing, live vocal looping, freestyle rapping, acting, teaching, coaching, and more. It’s been the gate way to a whole world that I just never would have thought possible for the pretty much mute shy kid I was growing up.
One of my favorite comedians growing up was Don Rickles. I loved how fast he was and how he was able to just quickly get the room laughing on the spot. It seemed like an impossible skill to learn until I finally started doing it myself with my character Antonio Robbinstinez over the last year. I never believed I could be fast and confident enough to do the interactive show I do now but here we are.
The Brothers Q is also a dream come true as I have always loved Abbot and Costello and the way my brother and I interact feels like a routine but we are writing it together on the spot. Doing an improv show with my brother and first teacher Ozzie Quintana brings me so much joy and I am so proud to do an improv show that is actually funny as most are just not. Not all improv is meant to be funny but I’ve always believed that if it is marketed as improv comedy, it needs to be funny. I don’t like the excuse of it having a pass because it’s improvised. With proper training, it will be funny and worthy of a high ticket price every time. My brother and I have had the opportunity to prove it possible over and over again to rave reviews from audiences all over the country.
I’m excited for what comes next with my interactive solo comedy shows and my improv groups. I’m doing more writing than ever and I am excited for the next evolution of my work.
So, before we go, how can our readers or others connect or collaborate with you? How can they support you?
The best way is to actually pay for shows even when they are free. Donate to the artists so we can all keep doing what we do. Fund new spaces for the work and make it easy for comedians to create shows of all kinds in the city you live. Come out to our shows and support me wherever and whenever you can. Great comedy starts with the artists but the torch is carried by the audience to spread like a wildfire that enriches all of our lives and our city.
Follow Me and All My events on social media:
Instagram:
@JeffQuintanaComedy
@AntonioRobbinstinez
@NomadicXComedy
@TheCoopComedy
@NakedAngelsMiami
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: www.nomadicxcomedy.com
- Instagram: JeffQuintanaComedy
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/JeffQuintanaComedy
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/JeffQComedy
