Meet Bill Stone | Stand-up comedian & designer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Bill Stone and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Bill, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
I was getting ready to turn 40 and when I was in my late teens early twenties I was a singer and a band and I enjoyed entertaining people.
After visiting a local comedy club and watching one of the local headliners I decided I want to try my hand at it because I missed entertaining people.
A year later I was starting to perform at that same local Club and I noticed that the owner of the club did not have anybody to do promotional work in the form of flyers and digital media. Having a background and a degree in design I started making flyers and promotional material for the club. Now 5 years later I have a thriving thanks digital design company that does promotional material for entertainers for coast to coast as well as venues and small businesses all thanks to the owner of that small local comedy club.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
When it comes to kind of stand-up comedy, being on stage in front of people has never been an issue for me but I will say writing material can be hard and challenging, but I’ve lived a life that gives me a lot of source material to pull from and that’s why most of my comedy is life experience and self-deprecating. As for my design company I have always been big in art and one of the reasons my company thrives so much is because all of my work is in the digital realm and I don’t have to waste time with printing materials. I’m able to complete projects within hours and send them all over the country to all the different entertainers I work with. Have to go into college for graphic design I never ended up working in my field, I actually started out of college working in the medical field as a paramedic and as a nurse’s aide, but because of stand-up comedy I was able to dig in to my true passion for art start this and now people see my design work all over the internet and in print.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
One of my favorite places to eat is out of Kent Ohio at a place called “Mike’s Place” the building of that restaurant is Part Castle, part Barn, Part bus, Part boat, with a catapult on top and a life size X-Wing fighter out front!
If you visit there and sit in the Irish room you can see a picture of me on the wall. Then I’ll probably take you out to Berlin Ohio to go to Heini’s cheese Chalet, and then to a small magic shop with a secret theater showroom with old magic memorabilia called Catalpa Trading Company, if you’re up for two and a half hour drive I can take you hiking and Hocking hills Ohio to see amazing caves and waterfalls.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
First and foremost would be my wife Krista Stone, without her support and encouragement I would not be wearing them today.
And neck and neck with her is the late owner of the Funny stop comedy club in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio Pete Barkat along with his brother Chef Tony, and his wife Nidal! Without their encouragement and stand-up comedy and all the connections given to me by them to other comedians traveling all over the country I wouldn’t be a nationally touring comedian now or be running a thriving design company doing promotional materials for entertainers like Marc “Skippy” Price from the show Family Ties or I’m getting to perform with people like TJ Miller from Deadpool another great movie. And last but not least there are a lot of great local comedians who have been mentors to me but one of the closest is my good friend Chris Harvey, an absolute powerhouse and stand-up comedy in the current rising Star.

Website: https://comicbillstone.com

Instagram: @comicbillstone

Twitter: @comicbillstone

Facebook: @comicbillstone

Youtube: @comicbillstone

Image Credits
Elaine Manusakis
Levester Johnson Jr