Jake Johannsen glides into success
By Larry Getlen • Bankrate.com

Jake Johannsen is not a household name. But he is a success.

Johannsen is the perfect example of a celebrity who has crept lightly into the public consciousness, not with a bang or a whimper, but with more of a glide. He began doing stand-up comedy in San Francisco in the early '80s, and within four years was winning local comedy competitions. Success came relatively quickly after that, with appearances on HBO and on "Late Night with David Letterman."

While the Letterman appearances didn't launch him to mega-stardom, it became a significant venue for exposing him to the public. He has appeared on Letterman's show 35 times over the years, in addition to 15 or so appearances on "The Tonight Show," and several of his own HBO specials.

Johannsen's success has remained in the stand-up comedy arena, as he consistently tours the country, although he has also dabbled in TV and film. He has written several pilots, including one with writers from "Seinfeld, " that have failed to hit, in some cases because of network politics, he says. He also has appeared briefly in several films, including "Breakfast of Champions" with Bruce Willis and "Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle."

But while Johannsen has never attained super-stardom, his name is revered as one of stand-up's sharpest talents. TV Guide, in its special issue dedicated to the "50 Funniest TV Moments of All Time," placed his 1991 HBO special "This'll Take About an Hour" at No. 36.

In some ways, Johannsen's career is a model of what one should shoot for if one wants to be successful without going insane. So many aspirants in the performing world seek super-stardom from the get-go, reeling off names of the famous and infamous whose careers they wish to emulate. But in reality, a career's like Johannsen is more attainable, and, in the sense of how he's stayed true to his instincts, more potentially satisfying.

He can walk down the street unrecognized. Yet he is, by any sense of the word, a success. A major headliner in comedy clubs, Johannsen has made a good living doing what he enjoys, and has straddled the line between being accessible enough to be mainstream and bizarre enough to be hip.

Bankrate spoke to Johannsen about the financial aspects of his career.

Bankrate: How much does someone at your level get to headline?

Jake Johannsen: I don't like to talk about exactly what I get. I would guess in your neighborhood comedy club, the range for some of the big names who pack the place on a Monday night, those guys might be making 10, 20 grand for their couple of night stands. That's the high end. On the low end, there's guys working a four-night weekend, Wednesday through Saturday, for $1,500. So even the low end is pretty good when you compare it to a regular job. Of course you've got all your travel expenses, and that stuff, too.

Bankrate: How much would having a sitcom change your financial picture?

Jake Johannsen: If I was a guy who comes over and dates one of the regular characters on a sitcom for a year, that would put me on the "don't have to worry too much about stuff" list. But I'm a pretty basic guy. I would pay off my house, and make some investments, and just put myself in a position where I was working for fun. But that's not easy-street jet-setting. If I had my own show and it was on for five years, that would completely change my life.

Bankrate: Are you an investor?

Jake Johannsen: I do the market. Everybody's gotten an adjustment recently with the bear market, so I'm kind of out licking my wounds right now, trying to decide if I should get back into the stock market, or if I should buy rental units in my neighborhood and become a toilet fixer.

Bankrate: Were you heavily invested in tech?

Jake Johannsen: No, I wasn't. Let's put it this way -- I rode the WorldCom elevator all the way to the bottom. My investment was down to $300, and I went, I can't sell now. I thought, maybe it's going to kick back up, and then it went to $1.38, so I did get hurt on a couple of individual things, but I was diversified.

Bankrate: What was it at its peak?

Jake Johannsen: My total investment in WorldCom was down to $300, down from $8,000.