--- title: Watch Michael Keaton on Stand Up Comedy Humiliation VIDEO description: Jerry Seinfeld and Dave Chappelle have nothing to worry about from Keaton canonical: https://time.com/4637606/michael-keaton-on-jimmy-fallon/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-01-18T18:01:56.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:40:15.579Z og:title: Michael Keaton Had a Short-Lived Stand-Up Comedy Career og:description: Jerry Seinfeld and Dave Chappelle have nothing to worry about from Keaton og:url: https://time.com/4637606/michael-keaton-on-jimmy-fallon/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Michael Keaton Had a Short-Lived Stand-Up Comedy Career twitter:description: Jerry Seinfeld and Dave Chappelle have nothing to worry about from Keaton twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Watch Michael Keaton Talk About His Humiliating Short-Lived Stand-Up Comedy Career by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Jan 18, 2017 6:01 PM UTC by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Jan 18, 2017 6:01 PM UTC Jerry Seinfeld, Louis CK, and [Dave Chappelle](http://time.com/4578793/dave-chappelle-specials-netflix/?iid=sr-link4) have nothing to worry about from [Michael Keaton](http://time.com/4587671/twilight-cowboy-michael-keaton/?iid=sr-link2). The star of _The Founder_ stopped by the _The Tonight Show_ on Tuesday and recounted his very abbreviated career as a stand-up comedian. Turns out that before Keaton made a name for himself as [Batman](http://time.com/4108070/michael-keaton-explains-batman-better-than-spiderman/?iid=sr-link3) or [Beetlejuice](http://time.com/4428264/winona-ryder-tim-burton-michael-keaton-beetlejuice/?iid=sr-link4) or earned his Oscar nomination for his work in [_Birdman_](http://time.com/3663303/golden-globes-2015-michael-keaton-birdman-speech/?iid=sr-link1), he was hustling as a stand-up comedian in Pittsburgh. Host Jimmy Fallon is well-acquainted with what it takes to make it in stand-up and the two stars swapped war stories of playing in clubs with no microphones and bars where no one expected a comedy act. Keaton struggled to find his bit, and decided that he might be “the wacky guy” who used props in his routines. “Only Steve Martin was great with props,” noted Keaton, but this didn’t stop him from trying it out with a rubber chicken. “It was humiliating,” said Keaton. Luckily his fall back career of acting worked out pretty well for him. Watch above. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4637606/michael-keaton-on-jimmy-fallon/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4637606/michael-keaton-on-jimmy-fallon/"},"headline":"Watch Michael Keaton Talk About His Humiliating Short-Lived Stand-Up Comedy Career","datePublished":"2017-01-18T18:01:56.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:40:15.579Z","description":"Jerry Seinfeld and Dave Chappelle have nothing to worry about from Michael Keaton","url":"https://time.com/4637606/michael-keaton-on-jimmy-fallon/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Television","movies","Comedy","jimmy fallon","The Tonight Show","Michael Keaton","Late Night Television"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4637606/michael-keaton-on-jimmy-fallon/","name":"Watch Michael Keaton Talk About His Humiliating Short-Lived Stand-Up Comedy Career"}}]}] ```