Marcus Monroe is on track to become the next great thing in comedy because his jokes require more train of thought than a typical stand-up routine.
Thousands of NYC straphangers may have sat through some of Monroe’s impromptu skits in person on the trains, on Instagram, or both. Since October 2023, the 39-year-old funny man has been randomly popping up on the MTA’s massive subway system as a comic, trying to bring some joy to gloomy underground commutes — always while dressed as unusual characters like a ballot box, chef, or something really weird (as if slipping through subway doors wearing a 4-foot-wide patriotically colored box isn’t weird enough).
Why does he do it? Well, for more than just instant laughs. The Wisconsin native has always had a penchant for performing and brightening up people’s lives in the best way he knows how: with comedy.
“I would say making an audience smile and laugh whether it’s on the train or in a club or a theater, that’s the best feeling in the world,” the Upper East Sider said. “It’s the drug I’m the most addicted to. When I write a new joke and take it on stage with me and I get a laugh with it, the best feeling ever. When I’m on the train, and I say a joke that I wrote, and I get one guy just nodding his head, that’s just as good. I’ll take it.”
The lighting is ‘so good’ on the Q train
With 472 subway stations in NYC, Monroe admits that when he goes into character, he does not have a favorite choo-choo. But he does have a soft spot for the Q train.
“I live right by it, and it was voted the most relaxing train line in the city,” said Monroe, who has lived in NYC for 20 years. “I also like the seat formation of it. The lighting is also so good in there that people sometimes think I use a greenscreen.”
Greenscreens, which essentially provide an artificial background in videos, are not part of Monroe’s repertoire. He’s truly on that crowded N train with 9-to-5ers, school kids, shoppers, and other locals and tourists commuting to their destinations.
And, unlike subway buskers, he never asks for money or donations. Some of his costumes and makeup can be very expensive, but when it comes to cash, he feels “there are people who need it more than I do.”
Monroe’s videos make people laugh because sometimes the jokes seem to purposely fall flat; you can’t help but laugh.
Think, dad jokes. Here’s how one skit started when he was dressed as a boxer on a train recently:
“I asked the train conductor if I can do some comedy about boxing. He said knock yourself out.”
As subway-goers ignored him, he brought out the big gun:
“Looks like some of you are just waiting for a good punchline.”
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Monroe has eye-catching charisma, with help from some elaborate costumes, but the jokes are sometimes more about the passengers’ reactions. Some chuckle. Some break out in big laughs. But it’s the people who don’t react at all that audiences — including nearly 170,000 Instagram followers — who really add to the laugh factor.
As a full-time stand-up comic who performs in clubs, the train-skit routine sets Monroe apart from other comedians, who traditionally post clips of their standup shows. He aims to be different.
“It was a little saturated online,” he said. “I was trying to find a new thing that I could do on Instagram or Tik-Tok that wouldn’t just be me doing crowd work clips.”
Monroe packs clubs around NYC but is also touring the country. In late December, he will be in Buffalo for four shows, and come March, audiences in Illinois, Maryland, and Arizona will enjoy his side-splitting humor.
In the meantime, comedy fans in NYC and beyond can check out his list of upcoming tour dates or see his clips online at marcusmonroe.com.
Or maybe just catch his show on their next NYC subway ride.
