It’s no secret that Doug Polk likes to set himself a challenge, whether it’s building a poker bankroll from scratch or shedding 50% of his body fat. But his latest venture might be his toughest yet: delivering one minute of live stand-up comedy in front of millions.
The Lodge Card Club co-owner is set to appear as one of the stand-ups on an upcoming episode of Kill Tony, where amateur comedians perform one-minute sets and then receive instant feedback from the host Tony Hinchliffe and a rotating panel of guest comedians. With 2.25 million subscribers on YouTube, Kill Tony attracts millions of views per episode, with its most popular broadcast reaching as many as 25 million.
Typically, Hinchcliffe chooses comedians at random from the “Bucket of Destiny.” However, Polk’s path to the show, which is recorded at Joe Rogan’s Comedy Mothership in Austin, Texas, was far from the norm.
In the latest episode of Kill Tony, poker player Phil Smith took the stage to try to impress the audience and panel. Smith, from Rochester, New York, managed to get a few laughs during his sixty seconds in the spotlight before revealing that he’s been paying his bills with his poker winnings, primarily earned at The Lodge.
When Texas-based card room was mentioned, Hinchcliffe—who also enjoys playing Texas Hold’em—shared a story about meeting Polk for the first time.
Unfamiliar with the three-time WSOP bracelet winner’s talents and a few drinks in, Hinchcliffe challenged Polk to a heads-up poker match.
“I’m good at poker, I’ll play you [Polk] heads-up,” Hinchcliffe recalled. They bet that if Polk won, he’d earn a minute to perform on the show as he had expressed interest in getting in front of the mic. But if Hinchcliffe won, Polk would owe him $20,000.
“There we were, at Mitzi’s [comedy club] after an episode, playing heads-up poker,” said Hinchcliffe. “Me versus the best in the world. Twenty minutes later, guess who won $20,000.”
Yet Polk’s comedy dreams weren’t over as Hinchcliffe’s win seemed to go to his head.
“Since it had only been 20 minutes, I said, ‘I’ll tell you what, even though I won, let’s double or nothing—$40,000 versus a minute of stand-up comedy.’ So I won $20,000, doubled the bet to $40,000, and any day now, he’s going to be popping in on the show.”
With Polk getting the last laugh in the showdown, the heads-up specialist got his wish and will soon be taking the stage to deliver his minute of stand-up comedy in front of millions.
