Hi, I'm Joe Keery, and this is how I got here with Esquire.
Let's get into it.
First job I ever had, I was a paper delivery boy.
I took over a neighbor's paper route.
I was probably like maybe 10.
And then my first real job, yeah, I was working in a restaurant called The Grog.
I was a busboy, I was a host, and then I was a waiter eventually.
I wasn't the best.
What I lacked in organizational side of things, I kind of made up for being real with people.
First job I ever quit, I was a pizza delivery guy for a summer.
Wasn't the greatest pizza delivery guy, I guess.
And so I had to quit that.
I went back to school in Chicago.
I haven't quit a lot of jobs though.
I feel like generally it's a slow fade out.
There's not like a kind of a dramatic end to any of these jobs.
Listen up, Neutrogena.
You know you can't go around looking like that.
The rules are clear.
And another thing, you can't hack the NPC avatar.
Any jobs I was really terrible at, I'm relatively competent.
I feel like I can at least get by.
And I am a little bit of a people pleaser.
So I'm like, you know, making sure I'm doing an OK job.
I've tanked so many auditions.
I think about it all the time.
It was Fargo, I kind of like exited the audition.
I was reading for the part and we did it like it was in a hotel room on a.
It was like a Zoom situation.
Just doing all these scenes and we did it once.
Okay, you do it once.
Great, okay, let's make some adjustments.
Did it again.
Okay, let's just change it this way.
Let's do this.
And I also had to kind of be doing this like accent.
That I was sort of like you know you're winging it.
You're kind of tossing it together.
I think we did the tape like 15 or 16 times.
It was like a lot.
You know, up to a certain point, you're like, okay, this is cool.
Like we're working on it.
And then you're like, you want to be able to do what the person is asking you to do.
But I guess I booked a job.
So, you know, I guess I did something right.
You want the last word?
Here it is.
I'll see you soon, asshole.
What I think sealed the deal for my Stranger Things audition.
It was right place, right time, kind of had a good understanding of, just a basic understanding of who the character is and also kind of knew the tropes that they were pulling from.
So I was like, oh, I kind of feel like I get this.
It was just one of many characters in the show's huge, big ensemble show.
And the first season, it wasn't even really a core character, to be honest, to the whole thing.
They were nice enough to add me along and write some great stuff for me.
I just wanted to be on set as much as possible and loved the brothers and the cast.
I really was quite invested in it, so I was like, I'll do whatever.
I just am interested to be here.
You got the job!
I got the job!
One of the things that I really dislike is when someone's like, oh, you play guitar?
Oh, play something.
Hey, just play something.
Like, that's horrible.
And so I was working on a different job, and someone was like, Oh, cool, you play music?
Play me something.
Play for the whole group.
And that is terrible.
In terms of, like, bad or small shows, definitely done a few of those.
We did a show.
It was like a bar, and it was just our girlfriends, which was really sweet of them to come.
They're all like, you know, hey, good job.
It's just us.
We're like, happens.
Big mishaps.
Oh man, recently we were opening for Gracie Abrams and we were playing in Toronto and my guitar just didn't work for the back half of the song or back half of the set, I mean.
And so you're kind of, you know, do I mime this?
Do I just put it down?
Like you have to focus and like still do stuff.
But like that stuff happens.
I think it's much more about like how you recover and just not, you know, sweating the small stuff.
Do four puffs of the Farrah Fawcett spray.
Farrah Fawcett spray.
Yeah.
Farrah Fawcett.
You tell anyone I just told you that, and your ass is grass.
You're dead, Henderson.
You understand?
I do feel like acting has helped my music career.
They kind of feed off each other.
You get sick of one, you can kind of go to the other.
You get sick of that, you can kind of go back.
And it's just like having two different outlets is really good.
I really like being creative and making something.
There have definitely been times where you feel sort of like quitting.
You get discouraged all the time, I think.
But I've also been very, very lucky.
How did I get here?
I took the A train.
Thanks so much for watching.
Watch Stranger Things on Netflix. you
