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Funny guy: Comedian says Jim Harbaugh once asked for jokes to tell on recruiting trail
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Coaches will do just about whatever it takes to impress a recruit. Jim Harbaugh is no exception, even if it means asking for a little friendly advice.
In a recent episode of Big Ten Network’s On the Bench with Mike Hall podcast, comedian Randy Sklar told a story about how the Michigan head coach once reached out to him about sharing a joke that he could tell a recruit. Harbaugh thought he could use a little help in the comedy department in an effort to impress the prospect.
“He texted me one time and he’s like, ‘You got any good jokes?’ Out of the blue, ‘You got any good jokes,’ he texted me,” Sklar said. “I was like, ‘Yeah, okay.’ I wrote a few jokes and I sent them to him, like just jokes that your dad could tell someone, you know what I mean? Even though he’s like, not that much older than us. I’ve got to do it in a way that he could. And he did, it was so great. He’s like, ‘I’m about to talk to this running back from Cleveland, or Cincinnati from 2022. I’m going to use one of these jokes.’ And he did. It was great.”
Sklar went on to say that Harbaugh mentioned that nobody laughed when he was trying to be funny or tell a joke. However, when he’s not trying so hard is when he seems to get some laughs.
“What’s funny for him is he was like — on his podcast, when we did his podcast with his dad — he said, ‘I always try and — whenever I try and be funny, no one laughs,’” Sklar said. “‘Whenever I’m not trying to be funny, people laugh. And we laughed at that. He was like, ‘See? I wasn’t trying to be funny there.’ I’m like, ‘It’s funny!’”
Harbaugh was willing to step out of his comfort zone on the recruiting trail. It’s not clear, though, if the joke landed and Michigan got the commit.
Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB