AL.com recently talked with comedian Jermaine “Funnymaine” Johnson about his upcoming pre-Iron Bowl shows, Iron Bowl predictions, his growing audience on social media, politics, and his love for Birmingham.

AL.com: You said your show this Friday is going to be good, clean comedy. So does that mean you’re not really cussing in your shows any more?

Funnymaine: I haven’t used profanity or innuendos in my shows in well over 15 years. You might have called me out one night, but it wasn’t like a paid show. It wasn’t like a show with somebody to see me. Maybe just trying out new stuff, have a bunch of comedians and kind of let loose. I just decided to take it out cause, you know, to appeal to more people. I perform at a lot of churches and fundraisers, so I never just really went Richard Pryor.

Life Outside of YouTube

AL.com: What is your day-to-day look like?

FunnyMaine: Checking out a whole bunch of e-mails, trying to exercise. On the computer. A lot of time on the computer. Then Wednesdays and Thursdays, I get out in the schools to mentor. We have a group that mentors at Oliver Elementary school on the eastside. And then I’ll get called to some other different school with different programs during the week. So my morning is pretty flexible. So I’m always doing something in the community. Chores for my wife *chuckles*. It’s a simple life, but I understand what comes with it. Come out the house, go to Publix and stuff. People want to stop and talk about football.

AL.com: So you can’t really go out much and people not stop you?

FunnyMaine: It’s rare that they don’t, but I don’t mind at all. People know what I’m about.

AL.com: What about when you’re out on a date night with your wife? Does that, affect your date night? Does she mind?

Funnymaine: I think she’s used to it. It just depends on how aggressive people get. What we used to hate was people walk up and don’t acknowledge her and just start talking to me. I had to check that many times, and say, “Hey, this is my wife.” I would be surprised how many people just do that. But now I think she’s used to it now.

AL.com: Does that mean you’re at home more?

Funymaine: I’m at home all the time! I got everything I need at the house. I’ve got a nice little patio, fire pit in the back, my own weight room, build my own theater office, which is also my creative studio. I don’t have a lot of reason to leave, but sometimes I just want to be out. Just, you know, get out in the city, See people.

AL.com: How many hours a week do you dedicate to creating online content?

Funnymaine: It is literally all day. Like, even when I’m not physically working on something or working with the online store, I’m thinking. So that might just be an entrepreneur thing. Like you never really clock out. Yeah. So I’m always thinking, I’m always thinking about next year. What could we improve on? So, yeah, I never clock out.

AL.com: You recently were on the SEC Network and did a show. What other ambitions do you have around your content creation?

Funnymaine: Yeah, we definitely want to get more TV time in the future. And to be honest, I just want to get on TV to get people back to my socials, and that’s where the fun is. Like, that’s why I get to let my personality shine. Being on TV with other sports personalities is kind of like a like an endorsement. You know what I’m saying of me and me endorsing them, what they do. And it’s just good collaboration and being all on TV. And to be honest, they all could use a little pick-me-up as far as their content. I’m a fan. I talk from the fan perspective and how we view the game so that’s that would be my dream job. Let me on to talk about the fans point of view. Make it funny and make it interesting.

AL.com: Obviously you want Alabama to win in the Iron Bowl this weekend. Auburn has struggled a lot over the last decade or so with not having stable coaching leadership and being able to have a successful season. What do you think is going to happen at the Iron Bowl? And what do you think Auburn needs to do in order to be, more competitive?

Funnymaine: We know every time we go down to Auburn, it’s going to be tough. It doesn’t matter what their record is, who the coach is, they’re going to play tough. Last time we went down there, we’re down there with the Heisman Trophy winner and some great receivers and they took us to four overtimes to beat them. So they’re just going to play tough at home. But what they need to do to be consistent, I think they need to really get fully behind their coach. I feel like they got loyal fans. But their boosters seem to be kind of hands-on. And that’s always a problem because they don’t always let the coach just totally do what he wants and needs to do. It looks like they got their guy in Hugh Freeze. But you know, if they can’t get to 10 wins soon that’s when they like start panicking. But I think if they just get behind their coach, give him everything he needs, give him support, let him be a coach. I think they’ll be okay.

AL.com: Do you have a score prediction?

Funnymaine: Let’s say Bama 35. Auburn 20.

AL.com: Have you ever thought about leaving Birmingham? Do you or do you always want to be here? Is this always going to be home for you?

Funnymaine: It would depend on the opportunity. Like if there was just a can’t-miss opportunity somewhere. Me and my wife talked about it. We definitely go. I love being in Birmingham. It’s home base. There’s a lot of pros, a few cons, but I would just say as long as I’m here, I’ll always make the most of it and I’ll always contribute while I’m here. But you know, if ever my time is up and it’s time to go somewhere else. And we’ll shift. But Birmingham will always be home.

AL.com: What keeps you here?

Funnymaine: People. Relationships. Familiarity. Cost of living. Clean water. It’s a lot of good. I’ve been fortunate enough to travel coast to coast and, we got it like we got it better than a lot of people think. In comparison to a lot of other cities, it’s not perfect, but we got it pretty good.

AL.com: Do you have any favorite restaurants in the city?

Funnymaine: Yo’ Mama’s, Eagles, and EastWest.

AL.com: What’s going to be in the show that you haven’t talked about before?

Funnymaine: I got to get people caught up on a lot of stuff, and we got to recap this year we’ve had in Birmingham. It was a quite eventful summer. The Montgomery brawl. Politics. The Minor High School Band Director incident, the Carlee Russell saga. That was all within (a) two- to three-month span.

AL.com: What happened in politics that stuck out to you?

Funnymaine: There were a few elections here. We had some people that got caught up. The whole thing with Rogers and Plump, elections, there’s always a lot going on in Alabama politics. So we got to talk about all that.