By Roxanne Brown
Person of Interest: Eddie Carmona
Paramedic by day, comedian by night, and both roles just as rewarding for one Mount Dora man.
Photo: Nicole Hamel
Vital Stats
- 35 years old.
- Works as a paramedic for Orlando Health.
- Served in the U.S. Army as a combat medic with the 82nd Airborne from 2006-2010.
- Improv comedian at Sak Comedy Lab in Orlando.
- Has two children, Odin, 9 and Zoe, 7, and two dogs.
- Is passionate about social justice and health care reform.
Greatest career accomplishment: With EMS, I delivered two babies, and one time, I had to make-up a freestyle rap to convince a patient to be transported to Florida Hospital Winter Garden when it first opened. Additionally, I saved a young girl in a bad auto accident, who later came by the station to thank me. I was out on a call, so she never actually met me, but the gesture was nice.
When did you realize your knack for making people laugh? I grew up in a military family, so I ended up moving a lot, which made it hard to make any long lasting friendships. I also had a speech impairment, which made it hard to make friends, talk to girls, make school presentations, plus that made me an easy target for bullies. I started being a smart aleck, which led me to making people laugh in a different way. I figured if they are going to laugh at me anyways, I could control the reason behind it. I then became this awkward person with this super dry sense of humor that extended itself to the person you see today.
How did you get involved with the Sak Comedy Lab? I always wanted to get into comedy, I just never knew how. Corey, a bartender from Serendipity, told me that he used to perform at Sak and suggested I take their level 1 Improv class. I did it, then performed and loved it, so I ended up taking all of their improv and avanced improv classes, in addition to their stand up class which helps new comedians get ready for open mics.
Best advice to your younger self? If you are going to do something, do it with 100% commitment. Don’t hold yourself back because you are afraid of what people are going to think. Even if you make a fool of yourself, people are going to forget about it and move on.
One thing on your bucket list? Giving back to the people, friends, and organizations that helped me these past few years.
Three words to describe you? I’m that guy.
Guilty pleasure? Watching anime and regular cartoons.
Originally from Nogales, Arizona, Roxanne worked in the customer service industry while writing independently for years. After moving to Florida in 1999, Roxanne eventually switched her career path to focus more on writing and went on to become an award-winning reporter for The Daily Commercial/South Lake Press newspapers for 16 years prior to coming on board with Akers Media as a staff writer in July 2020 – her dream job come true.
