Around the Horn | Laughter is best medicine for Sammamish comedian

Jeremy Horn is well known for providing nutritional products and advice in Issaquah and Sammamish.

It’s what the 34-year-old owner of Good Health does after hours that surprises most people.

For the last four-plus years, the Sammamish resident has performed hundreds of stand-up comedy acts around the country — something he said very few of the clients at his Pine Lake Village store are aware of.

“This is something that I do after-hours, kind of a like Batman, just a whole different world people don’t know exists,” Horn said.

In the world of stand-up, Horn has worked his way quickly up the ladder, opening for popular acts like Louie Anderson and Andy Kindler.

He was recently named the host of the “Huge Comedy Show,” May 3 at the Kirkland Performance Center. The event is part of a promotional tour for the television show, “The 206,” and will feature headliners John Keister and Brooks McBeth of “Almost Live” fame.

“You never know when you’re going to get your opportunity,” Horn said. “Everybody thinks life is like a PG-13 movie or American Idol where some agent hears about you from this or that.”

Horn got his start in comedy a little later than some, but said it was always something near and dear to his heart. In high school, he and his father, Kevin, spent countless hours watching Comedy Central and HBO specials.

“My dad was very cautious about violence on TV and movies and things like that, but had no problem with watching (George) Carlin and (Richard) Pryor,” Horn said. “In his mind, it was saying honest things that reflected on society and not gratuitous violence.”

After his father died of cancer in 2003, Horn, who took over the family business, was inspired to take a chance.

“For the first time I thought, nobody’s guaranteed tomorrow,” he said.

Motivated to honor the bond he and his father shared through comedy, Horn started going to open-mic shows at Giggles in Seattle. He observed acts for months before finally taking the stage himself.

“I basically went in fully expecting to fail,” he said. I fully expected to try it a couple of times and it wouldn’t work out, but on my death bed I would be able to tell my grandkids, ‘I tried it, it was horrifying.’”

The result was the exact opposite. Not only did Horn keep getting invited back to clubs, but established comedians wanted to bounce ideas off him.

“That’s when I said, ‘well I guess I’ll invest in it and see how far I can go,’” he said.

Horn said he has since lived out a life-long dream of performing at The Comedy Store, the world famous club in Hollywood.

“I just remember thinking, this is exactly what we worked for, this is the mission my dad trained me for,” he said.

Along with rubbing shoulders of big-name acts, Horn also has written several jokes for some of the headliners he’s performed with.

He admits he isn’t sure where comedy will eventually lead him. It could be a career in stand-up or one as a writer. For now, Horn said he’s just glad to spread joy through comedy — something that he knows from experience can heal the soul.

“That’s the No. 1 most rewarding thing … when somebody comes to me and says you have no idea how much I needed that,” he said. “Nothing gets you out of the darkness more than a laugh.”