It’s not difficult to find funny T-shirts on the Internet. But it is difficult to find funny T-shirts on the Internet whose purchase goes toward a cause worthier than lining the coffers of a humor website or a cabal of smartass pop-culture geeks. (Or, better yet, a cabal of smartass pop-culture geeks employed by a humor website.) Enter Punchy Tee, a local, philanthropically geared website that gives comedy enthusiasts the chance to buy limited-edition T-shirts designed by some of their favorite stand-ups—all the while donating part of the proceeds to charities chosen by the comedians. The website’s initial offering came courtesy of twitchy storyteller/occasional Target pitchwoman Maria Bamford; currently, fans of Todd Glass can help promote Glass and support the Society For The Prevention Of Cruelty To Animals Los Angeles (spcaLA). The A.V. Club met up with Punchy Tee co-founder Joel Usher to discuss the business’ inspiration, dealing with the unexpected challenges of pitching T-shirts to comedians, and his dream roster of Punchy Tee collaborators.
The A.V. Club: What was the impetus for founding Punchy Tee?
Joel Usher: My family wanted to start a socially responsible business. I was talking to my parents about what kind of business would be good for that, and they suggested creating T-shirts and donating a portion of the proceeds to charity. And since I am involved in comedy in Austin I thought, “Wouldn’t it be awesome if we could get well-known comedians to design a T-shirt? And let them tailor the shirt to something that resonates with them, and also let them choose the charity they want to donate to?” It seemed like everyone’s interests come together with this sort of idea: It benefited the charity a great deal, we got to start a family business that met our goals, and a comedian got to donate to charity and promote themselves.
AVC: What was it about T-shirts specifically that set off the lightbulb?
JU: There’s sort of a blank slate. It’s a great product that everyone has a familiarity with and a relationship to. Graphic T-shirts, they’re very popular in indie-rock circuits, and that’s a big promotional and merchandise avenue. I didn’t see a lot of that on the comedy side. I couldn’t find T-shirts by comedians on websites that I searched. You can find funny shirts, but not something like, “Oh, I loved Maria Bamford’s last album. If I saw her at a show, I might want a T-shirt.”
AVC: How did you go about contacting comedians? So far, you’ve put out T-shirts with Maria Bamford and Todd Glass.
JU: We owe a lot of that to Maria. I approached her after a show at Capitol City Comedy Club and gave her a five-minute spiel on it—and it just clicked with her. Having her [involved] helped us start conversations with other comedians. People are naturally skeptical of untested businesses, and Maria’s enthusiasm gave us an “in” with other comedians.
AVC: And obviously she’s a good person to start with, given her visibility within and without comedy circles.
JU: Yeah. She’s been on Tim And Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!. Her face has been on TV a lot. I think the Target commercials helped a great deal. And she was so excited about doing this for charity. She chose the Austin Children’s Shelter, which I thought was really nice because the money is coming to a local charity—local to Punchy Tee.