Catching up with Joe Barksdale

Okay Joe, tell us a little bit about yourself.

I’m from Detroit Michigan. I’ve got a wife and two daughters and two dogs. I play music, I used to be a professional athlete. I also do comedy, I write – I’m an artist.

Can you tell us about the end of your football journey?

I needed to be the best me that I can be, and not continue to die inside doing something that crushed me. It sounds super simple, but that’s really it. The best me is the best dad, the best husband – just taking care of myself so I can take care of my family. After 2017 I really started to think about it, I never fit in with it, the job, it wasn’t… it wasn’t fulfilling. I felt like a prostitute because of the way they sell their bodies. I named my price, they paid me. I was coming back to do it again and I asked myself, ‘is this what I want to do with my life?’ Do I want to run my body into the ground to the point that I can’t play with my kids?

You mentioned your art and your autism advocacy. Where did that come from?

Yes, I am autistic. I was diagnosed a couple years ago – high functioning. I don’t have any debilitation disabilities, but there are things I’m not good with like eye contact, social situation, communicating with people in general. That’s why I like art. People seem to understand what I’m saying when it comes from an artistic place. As humans we want to understand and be understood, so when you’re misunderstood your whole life, it sucks. The diagnosis later on in my life definitely answered some questions for me.

What did it answer for you that was confusing?

It helped me understand that I get so frustrated when I get emotional because I don’t understand my emotions. I have trouble identifying them, so I just get angry. It explains why I don’t like looking people in the eye, why I hate being on teams, and that kind of stuff. I like being alone and doing things by myself.

What advice do you have for parents who have kids that may be autistic?

I will say that obviously every kid that has a temper tantrum isn’t autistic. I would caution people against thinking, ‘oh, I don’t like being around people either maybe I’m autistic.’ It’s a medical diagnosis. I wouldn’t want to be overreactive to my kid having autism to the point that I treat him that way subconsciously. Not me, but the parent. Yeah, I think we should be very careful of being overreactive as well.

When it comes to your music, tell us about your styling, your artistic endeavors, what drives you?

There’s nothing like me out there, but that’s not because I’m doing something crazy in the studio. It’s because I’m just being myself. I think some people try to be so different that they end up being the same as all the other different people if that makes sense. I would say my music is a mix between Marvin Gay, Sly Stone, and Jimi Hendrix, with Kanye producing.

Let’s end on comedy. When did you get started? What have been some of the pushbacks? The praise?

I started in February; I’ve been doing comedy my entire life. Through intense therapy I’ve discovered that I use comedy as a shield to get out of everything. Its stuff I’ve been working on my whole life, but I just started doing standup in February. Richard Pryor is one of the main reasons I had the courage to start. Richard Pryor, out of all other comics, saw the world the same way I did. My style of comedy is conversational, I would call it conversational storytelling.

Last question, what are some things you want people to look out for, catch up on?

We’re just getting started, but I would say just tap in man. There are different ways. You can me at JoeBarksdale.com, that’ll get you to the socials, all the music you’re looking for and that kind of stuff.