ST. PETE BEACH, Fla. — From spiking footballs on the field to dropping mics on the stage, this athlete-turned-entertainer is making audiences laugh across the bay on a nightly basis.
As a walk-on for the University of Missouri football team, Michael Oldroyd wasn’t the fastest or the strongest, but nobody worked harder.
“Talk about Rodney Dangerfield. I got no respect when I first walked on, but eventually, you earn it,” said Oldroyd.
Oldroyd spent his first two seasons as a wide receiver on the scout team.
“Then, going into the spring of 2008, after we won the Cotton Bowl, we had four receivers graduate. Gary Pinkel, our head coach, sat down with me in a meeting and said, ‘You have a chance,’” said Oldroyd. “On the second day of spring ball is when I injured my knee.”
His dream of playing in the NFL may have been over, but all that time spent among teammates in the locker room was preparing him for a new dream: stand-up comedy.
“A lot of the guys would be like, ‘Oldroyd, we don’t want to hear it right now, we are exhausted, we are tired, we don’t want to hear this Oldroyd,’ but then they would find it in their heart usually, and they would say, 'ok fine, what do you got,’” said Oldroyd.
“I won two big comedy competitions in Columbia while I was on the football team, and that really got my career started,” said Oldroyd.
Inspired by the likes of Adam Sandler and Jim Carrey, Oldroyd moved to LA, then New York.
“So many parallels from football that I’ve taken. I’d wear one of those wristbands that has those plays written out if I needed to, but with the jokes, I don’t actually do it, but I’ve thought about it before,” said Oldroyd.
Oldroyd keeps his passion for football alive in his act through impersonations, like the Water Boy, Michael Strahan, and Peyton Manning.
However, the laughs came to a sudden stop in 2020 with the pandemic, which is when Oldroyd decided to move to Tampa Bay.
“Allowed me to start headlining, which was surprising that it actually boosted my career, I think it was just the timing and the clout that I built up in New York,” said Oldroyd.
This Sunday, he’ll be headlining at Sunshine City Comedy Club in St. Pete Beach.
He said he can’t decide what’s more gratifying, hearing a crowd cheer for a touchdown or an audience roar with laughter at a joke.
“I’m thankful to know what it feels like to experience both, and I wouldn’t trade either of them for anything,” said Oldroyd.
For more information on the comedian, visit his website or follow him on Instagram at @TheDroyd.
