He arm-wrestled himself, and his right arm won by a hair.
Not many people would shave their entire left arm because of a hair-pinching watch and then make a joke about it.
Auburn alumnus Clayburn Cox would.
The high school teacher-turned-comedian was just one of the performers at Friday night's "Who Gnu It'd Be So Funny?" comedy show at the Gnu's Room bookstore and coffee house.
Cox describes himself in one phrase as "tall, dark, and funny."
But unlike many stand-up comedians, his sense of humor is entirely clean-cut.
He said this is largely because of his Christian upbringing.
"I liked his act better than the others," said undeclared freshman Hailey Kornman. "He focused on keeping his jokes clean, but I still laughed a lot."
So where does he get this clean-cut material?
"Most of it's based, at least in premise, somewhat on reality," Cox said. "And then I just start branching out on what could be funny from that."
This reality-turned-fiction can be seen in many of his jokes.
"He really did shave one arm," said his wife, Karen.
She is referring to the joke he told involving an arm hair-pinching watch that resulted in an entirely shaved arm.
"Yeah, that's true," Cox said, laughing. "But I didn't really arm-wrestle myself."
He said he keeps a notebook on him at all times to gather material.
"If somebody laughs, I'll take note," Cox said. "People don't just laugh out loud for anything."
Friday's event was the sixth installment of a "multicomedy show," according to the event coordinator and Tiger 93.9 radio DJ Anthony Dannar.
Cox was the last of four comedians to stand in front of the crowded shop and try to procure a few laughs.
His unique style--a persona which seems to inhabit an uncomfortable young man stammering his way through public speaking class--contributes to his success.
Cox said the awkward character is not completely made up.
"OK, here's the deal," Cox said. "It's a persona that is sort of a caricature of my personality. I'm obviously not a doofus like I act on stage. But I got picked on a lot as a boy, and even when I started teaching other teachers would pick on me just because that persona would come out."
He said people like his style because they can laugh at it more. He said the stammering and awkwardness comes out when he acts uncomfortable onstage.
Cox teaches graphic design at Auburn High School.
He's been doing stand-up for two and a half years and likes to test out new jokes on his students.
He said he thinks they like hearing his jokes more than his teaching.
"They're a good, honest crowd," Cox said. "If they don't think something's funny, they don't give me a sympathy laugh."
And Cox knows "funny." He said he has always been considered a funny storyteller.
"At parties, people would ask to hear the same stories over and over," he said.
With the combination of that and his students' responses to his "story of the day" in class, Cox said his desire to do stand-up just "sorta sparked."
Cox keeps his comedy mostly local, but has gone as far as Arizona and Ohio where he won runner-up in a clean comedy challenge.
He said he would love to be on the Tonight Show.
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