Dolph Ziggler Says Stand-Up Comedy Made Him More Nervous Than Performing For WWE

WWE Raw superstar Dolph Ziggler has become very comfortable on the microphone over the years. He’s done it all, from speaking in front of tens of thousands of fans to winning over crowds with his stand-up comedy routines. Now, Dolph is opening up about how he developed this comfort level.

Ziggler appeared on the Ken Carmen Show and spoke about his thoughts on mic work. He says that repetition is the key to success. The more you do it, the more comfortable you become with talking.

“It takes everybody a while. I had some experience of, whether it was after a wrestling practice and telling a joke or something, I always wanted to be in that position so if you get a chance to be on the microphone. I was asked at a couple of funerals even, as a high school and college kid, relatives of my family saying, ‘Hey, can you go speak.’ It’s something where you wanted to have everyone looking at you so you were comfortable, but it’s different because you don’t just get to go up there and riff and do what you want.

With our business, sometimes you’re like, ‘I don’t like what I’m saying and how I have to say it, but it’s part of the show and I have to do it,’ and you still get the reps in. It’s just like comedy, wrestling, and acting. After a couple of hundred reps, you’re comfortable no matter what, whether you’re good or bad at it, you’re comfortable and can do some improv and make things better.

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One of my favorite things is, I had a WrestleMania tag match with 75,000 people watching and two weeks later, I was in the backroom of a coffee shop and there was 15 people sitting there and 10 of them were on their phones going over their set on this open mic. I was walking up to the microphone and shaking going, ‘take the mic out of the stand and don’t drop the mic.’ It was so funny that I was so nervous. I had like a four-minute set and I ran through it in like 90 seconds. You’re sitting there, waiting for it, and no one cares.

It’s one thing to show up in a room and people are like, ‘Dolph Ziggler is here to sign autographs!’ and they are all applauding for you to ‘coming to the stage is Nick’ and everyone is like, ‘Make me laugh, idiot.’ It’s very different. Once you know that and you get the reps in and you’re more comfortable being on the mic in the arena where everyone loves you or opening for a pro comic and not one person knows you.”

Dolph Ziggler is currently in a tag team with partner Robert Roode, known as the Dirty Dawgz. Ziggler picked up the pinfall in a victorious 8-man tag effort on last night’s Raw. He recently balked at fans who were insisting that he jump ship to All Elite Wrestling.

What do you think of Dolph Ziggler’s take on public speaking? Let us know in the comments!

Thanks to Fightful for the quotes!