Olympia’s Sam Miller leads the laughs in Seattle International Comedy Competition

Olympia comedian Sam Miller is off to a strong start in this year’s Seattle International Comedy Competition. He’ll compete in the semifinals, including an Olympia show on Thursday, Nov. 18.

Miller, known for honest and self-revealing comedy that deals frankly with his life as a recovering addict and his time in jail, won three nights out of four during the preliminaries for the prestigious competition — and that was without doing his favorite new joke, in which he describes how he and his wife, Brittney, spiced up their sex life during the pandemic by pretending to be in the Serengeti.

“I wanted to do that joke, but I never had time,” he told The Olympian, explaining that in the preliminary rounds, comedians are penalized if their sets last more than seven minutes. Lights warn them when time is almost up.

“This is the best problem in the world,” he said. “I was doing so well that I couldn’t finish the set I had planned, because people were laughing so much. I was getting the light, and I was like, ‘I have a minute left,’ and then I’m scrambling through my Rolodex trying to find a joke to end with.”

He found one, obviously, and wound up finishing first among the 16 comedians in the first set of preliminaries.

“Sam’s stage presence is huge in more ways than one,” said Jonathan Fox, the producer of the competition, adding that even Miller’s competitors were impressed.

“A fellow competitor, Jesse Warren, took time out from his own routine to tell the audience how amazed he was with Sam,” Fox told The Olympian. “ ‘He’s like half grizzled sea captain and half someone who works at Build-A-Bear. You don’t know whether to be terrified or to hug him.’ ”

On Thursday night, Miller gets 10 minutes to show his stuff — including that Serengeti joke — to a hometown crowd. The Olympia show is the second in the semifinal round, in which Miller, Josh Firestine of Tacoma and three others from the week one preliminaries will face the top five finishers from the week two preliminaries, which wrapped up Sunday, Nov. 14.

Those who saw this year’s Lord Franzannian’s Royal Olympian Spectacular Vaudeville Show have already heard the joke, which finds him acting out the role-play to great effect.

Miller worked on his competition set at the show, where he’s been a regular performer since before he started doing standup. His first vaudeville act involved balancing heavy objects — including a lawnmower — on his chin.

Miller just launched a new weekly show, “The Sam Miller Comedy Show Hosted by Sam Miller,” happening at 9 p.m. Wednesdays at the Wayside Café, 500 Capitol Way S., Olympia, and he’s been performing across the Northwest since things began to open up.

He also has big plans beyond the competition, which wraps up Sunday, Nov. 28, in Seattle. On April 23, he’s recording a comedy special with Porcupine Media at the Capitol Theater in downtown Olympia.

Seattle International Comedy Competition Semifinal

• What: Sam Miller of Olympia is among the 10 comedians competing in the semifinal round of the prestigious comedy competition. Also competing is Josh Firestine of Tacoma.
• When: 7:30 p.m. Thursday. Nov. 18
• Where: The Washington Center for the Performing Arts, 512 Washington St. SE, Olympia
• Tickets: $30-$36 with discounts for military
• More information: 360-753-8586, https://www.washingtoncenter.org/event/seattle-international-comedy-competition-21/
• Also: Those 12 and older need proof of COVID-19 vaccination or a negative COVID test to enter the center.