Mike Yard: Bio, Comedy Style, and Where to Watch

Who is Mike Yard?

Mike Yard was born in St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands and moved with his family to East New York, Brooklyn in 1986. He started his comedy career in 1993 at the Uptown Comedy Club in Harlem — not because he had been building toward it, but because he had been watching comics at open mics for long enough that the itch to get on stage himself finally won. His stated goal that first night was simply not to get booed off. He wasn’t.

He has since become one of New York City’s most respected working comedians. He was a contributor to The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore on Comedy Central, and previously won Comedy Central’s Get Up, Stand Up comedy competition. He has appeared on Inside Amy Schumer and The Break with Michelle Wolf. He was invited twice by Reverend Jesse Jackson to perform at the Rainbow Coalition/Operation PUSH national conventions in New York and Chicago. He has performed at major venues across the country, from Caroline’s and The Improv to The Comedy Store in Los Angeles. He hosts the podcast Yard Talk with Mike Yard and has been a regular presence in the New York club scene for over thirty years.

Mike Yard’s Comedy Style

Yard is a social comedian — his material engages with politics, race, culture, and the specific experience of being a Black man who moved from the Caribbean to Brooklyn and watched America from that vantage point for decades. He was named one of comedy’s most thought-provoking comedians by The Black Comedy Awards, which is accurate: his comedy makes you think while it makes you laugh, and it doesn’t apologize for doing both simultaneously.

What thirty years in New York clubs gives you is the ability to read any room instantly and adjust without losing your voice. That skill is visible in his Cellar sets — he knows exactly where to push and where to ease off, and the result feels effortless in the way that only very practiced things do.

Where to Find Mike Yard

Mike Yard tours regularly. Follow him on Instagram @mikeyardcomedy for tour dates. His podcast Yard Talk with Mike Yard is available on all major platforms.

Mike Yard has performed at the Comedy Cellar in New York City’s Greenwich Village. Check the current lineup and upcoming shows at comedycellar.com.

Catch Comedy Cellar shows live from New York on Mint Comedy at watch.mintcomedy.com.