Joe Sib left his dad in the dressing room before a show. When he came back, his father had disappeared.
Through the wall, Joe could hear him talking baseball with Jim Breuer, a sandwich in one hand and coffee in the other. Joe remembers the embarrassment of discovering where he had gone. Breuer remembered something else: a performer who had brought his dad along.
By the time another invitation to tour arrived, it came with a request to bring him again.
Joe joins Tab onstage at the Irvine Improv, taking Splitting Hairs on the road for the first time. Before the show, they get into the life that brought Joe there: teenage bands, Wax, skateboarding, and co-founding SideOneDummy Records with a friend. Putting out music became a business, and the business kept him close to the world he had wanted to be part of.
Eventually, he wanted to perform again. His storytelling show, California Calling, gave him a way back onto a stage. An invitation to try a short stand-up set opened another door. Joe made himself a commitment to get up at least once a week and kept returning to the work.
Comedy gave him something he loved about performing: an idea written that afternoon could meet an audience that night. He could feel the response, change something, and try again.
At home, his children were growing up. Joe talks about arranging his working life around the years he wanted to be there for, keeping weekends for sleepovers and pizza nights while running the label and finding other nights to perform. More travel could come later.
The stories behind the shows are full of those choices: what to build, when to go, and who to bring with you. Joe's father becoming friends with Breuer is one of the turns he could never have planned. The man Joe had asked to wait backstage became someone the tour wanted back.
