He booed Bo Jackson and has been Alabama’s funniest fan ever since
By Chris Wright
Published:
Jermaine Johnson is a professional comedian. As if he had another option.
No, from the time he could talk, Johnson was destined to become exactly what he has: the most entertaining Alabama fan on Earth.
Johnson grew up in Opelika, Ala., in enemy territory, in a family divided. The ladies in his life were Auburn Tigers, through and blue. Several went to school there. The men? Roll Tide. The Hate Week chatter was slightly more civil than the Iron Bowl’s battle at the line of scrimmage, and Johnson grew up loving every word of it.
It didn’t take him long, either, to pick a side.
When Johnson was in kindergarten, his school brought in a special guest, an Auburn football player.
You might have heard of him.
“They introduced Bo Jackson, and the first words out of my mouth are, ‘Boooooo!'” Johnson said. “And I felt this hand, of a teacher, grabbing my little shirt, and I was put out before Bo Jackson. So I’ve been a Bama fan for quite awhile.”
Six … and sassy. That’s how they do it in Alabama. Pick early, stay strong. Roll Tide.
Johnson’s star is rising. A stand-up comedian for 11 years, he’s carved out a niche on social media (follow him @FunnyMaine), creating videos about how Alabama fans watch SEC football. They’re hysterical. After years of watching the Iron Bowl on TV — separate houses, mind you, from the ladies — he’ll be back inside Bryant-Denny on Saturday, this time on the sidelines.
“Yeah, things are a little different this time,” he said. “Because of the videos, I guess I have a little clout now, they provided me with some sideline passes. This will be a new experience for me. Waited 36 years, but it’s well worth it.”
Before heading to Tuscaloosa, he took some time to talk to Saturday Down South about his lifelong devotion to Alabama football and his entertaining way of expressing it.
SDS: You grew up just a few miles from Jordan-Hare. How did you not become an Auburn fan and what’s Iron Bowl week like at your house?
Johnson: All the men in in my family are Bama fans. All the ladies went to Auburn. Step-mom, sisters. They’re all Auburn.
Iron Bowl week (he laughs, a lot) …
Our family, we grew up watching the games on TV. We didn’t have a lot of extra money for tickets to get everybody in. You talking about a lot of kids. I’m used to watching it on TV with a large group of people, and that’s still how I like to do it.
It’s very snarky. It’s loving but very snarky. We’re gonna throw shots and comments at each other, but it doesn’t last too long. We really do love each other. We’ll take our little jabs and we’ll move on.
SDS: Do you huddle up as one big happily divided family and watch the game together or in separate rooms?
Johnson: We watch in totally separate houses. We cannot watch the game together. That we’ve never done.
SDS: What was your phone situation like immediately after Kick Six?
Johnson: Oh, man. I think it was actually worse in 2010. That one blew the phone up, the Cam Newton game. After Kick Six, Facebook was horrible. I really considered going ahead and deleting that account.
I got over it after Auburn lost to Florida State. After that, it mattered nothing to me. All credit to Florida State. So Tomahawk chop to them. They helped me get over that game.
SDS: I speak for many of us when I say I look forward to watching your “How Bama fans watch SEC games” video every Sunday morning. How did this come about?
Johnson: Thank you. I appreciate that. I started doing them in 2014 when we lost to Ole Miss. It was therapeutic. It was just a 15-second therapeutic video that went pretty well. Then we lost again to Ohio State in the Playoffs. And that did pretty well, so that next season I just started doing Alabama skits.
This season, I actually ended up on the couch by mistake. I was out of town, in Nashville, in a hotel, so I didn’t have all of my camera equipment and all that good stuff. So I took out my iPhone said, man, I really want to do something for this first game. I had to use what I had in the room. So I had a couch, and I had me, and that was it.
And that was that.
SDS: You do a lot of things in addition to the video. You work at 95.7 Jamz in Birmingham, but the common thread is you’re a comedian. How long have you been doing stand-up, and how have the videos helped your career?
Johnson: This is my 11th year. It’s hard for me to gauge because I’m on the inside looking out, but now when I step out, go to Walmart, I get noticed quite a bit because of the videos.
SDS: Somebody obviously noticed, you’re going to the Iron Bowl this year.
Johnson: Yeah, things are a little different this time. Because of the videos, I guess I have a little clout now, they provided me with some sideline passes. This will be a new experience for me. Waited 36 years, but it’s well worth it.
SDS: Do you remember the first Alabama game you attended?
Johnson: We had some that I’ve went to as a vendor. First one I remember going in, bought a ticket, besides A-Day was a game we lost, 2007, Louisiana Monroe.
Yeah. That was not a good day.
SDS: You used to work at Bryant-Denny?
Johnson: Yeah, you could sell different stuff, work for these vendors, sell some sodas, whatnot, so we had a little hook up with that. But there’s so much running around you don’t get to really stop and watch the game, so I couldn’t really count that.
SDS: Who is your favorite all-time Alabama player?
Johnson: David Palmer. David ‘The Deuce’ Palmer. He graduated from the same high school I did, of course he was a few years before me. But he was just such a dynamic player. So hard to tackle. We were like the same height, but he was just as athletic as they come. I’ve never seen a player just move and play like he did. He, in my mind, will always be the standard of a great football player, receiver, running back, punt returner, all of it.
SDS: But Auburn had Bo … I get family ties and no offense to David Palmer, but I still don’t understand how you lived in Opelika and didn’t become an Auburn and Bo Jackson fan.
Johnson: Everybody here in Alabama respects Bo. No matter what colors you root for, everybody respects Bo. But this is a true story, and you can print this.
Either kindergarten or first grade in Opelika, Bo Jackson comes to speak to our school. They introduced … ‘Bo Jackson.’ And the first words out of my mouth are ‘Boooooo!’ And I felt this hand, of a teacher, grabbing my little shirt, and I was put out before Bo Jackson.
I’ve been a Bama fan for quite awhile.
Chris Wright is Executive Editor at SaturdayDownSouth.com. Email him at cwright@saturdaydownsouth.com and follow him on Twitter @FilmRoomEditor.
Managing Editor
A 30-time APSE award-winning editor with previous stints at the Miami Herald, The Indianapolis Star and News & Observer, Executive Editor Chris Wright oversees editorial operations for Saturday Down South.
