Photo by Kelli S. Hewett.
Comedian Vince Fabra performs during an open mic at Faraway Theater near the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Vince Fabra had the kind of adult life that’s supposed to make risky career decisions disappear.
He was closing in on 38, married, raising two daughters with his wife, Lindsay, and working a comfortable corporate job from his Inverness home.
Then life shoved him in a different direction.
After getting laid off in 2024, the part-time comedian and speaker faced two options: update the resume or finally go all in on the thing he’d been chasing since 2008.
Comedy and public speaking won.
“The thought of going to find another cushy work-from-home day job really doesn’t excite me,” Fabra said. “What excites me is the calendar looks pretty full.”
That calendar now includes comedy clubs, theater shows, keynote speaking gigs and stand-up classes in Birmingham and around the South.
Last year, Fabra released a comedy special “Let’s All Agree” on YouTube, started touring more regularly and began opening for Nashville-based comedian Dusty Slay.
Watching Slay work helped tighten Fabra’s own material.
“If you have a five-minute joke, naturally one of those minutes is going to be the strongest,” Fabra said. “Eventually, you cut the other four.”
His comedy style is clean, loose and rooted heavily in family life.
Marriage, parenting and everyday chaos all make their way into the act, though Fabra said he’s careful about one thing.
“I just want my material to leave no doubt that I absolutely love being a dad and a husband,” he said.
A joke doesn’t land? Fabra is sharp on the uptake: “I have two daughters, and they think I’m hilarious — so I don’t need you,” Fabra deadpans.
The warmth carries offstage, too.
Every eight weeks, Fabra teaches a stand-up class at Faraway Theater near UAB for aspiring comics, many of whom have never held a microphone before.
The first night does not start with jokes. Instead, students sit in what Fabra calls “the hot seat,” answering questions about themselves while the rest of the room plays what he jokingly calls “the press corps.”
“Stand-up is hard, and it’s vulnerable,” Fabra said. “You want to feel like you trust the people you’re learning alongside.”
By the end of the class, he said strangers usually start feeling more like friends, and he may well be their biggest cheerleader.
“I love creating those environments for people,” Fabra said.
David Farrey, a Chelsea roofing contractor and one of Fabra’s current students, said watching Fabra pursue his dreams has been unexpectedly motivating.
“I’m 52 years old, so it gives me hope that you can start something a little later and it [can]work,” Farrey said. “There’s a richness about who he is that you see in little snippets on stage and in class — it just lets you know he’s an authentic, genuine person.”
Long before comedy clubs and theater crowds, Fabra said he was always the kid volunteering for pep rallies, church skits and student council speeches.
“I was always the microphone guy,” he said.
These days, he’s just hoping the microphone keeps paying the bills.
“I don’t need to be famous,” Fabra said. “I just want a solid career where everything’s kind of taken care of.”
For more on Vince Fabra’s comedy, visit veryfunnyvince.com or @veryfunnyvince on Instagram.
