by Kristen Kucharski
FAMED AMERICA'S GOT TALENT FINALIST, RYAN NIEMILLER PERFORMED AT THE PIAZZA IN AURORA
Glancer Magazine caught up with the famed Ryan Niemiller for a personal interview at a recent performance at The Piazza in Aurora.
You may know him as the disarmingly handsome comedian and 3rd place finalist from America's Got Talent Season 14. Despite being born with a disability in both arms, Ryan, the self-proclaimed “Cripple Threat of Comedy”, shared his views of the world from the perspective of the handicapped.
Growing up in the small town of DeMotte, Indiana of under 4,000 people at the time, Ryan was the only person in the area with a disability like his - Ectrodactyly. He learned early on that if you can be funny, people will leave you alone. For survival, his entire personality was based on making fun of himself. In high school, everyone called him Niems, short for his last name Niemiller. In college, as he got more comfortable with his disability, everyone called him Nubs.
As he approached his late 20s and early 30s, he fell into depression seeing himself as ‘different’ for the first time in his life. When he was a young boy, he didn’t realize the disadvantages of his disability because it never stopped him from doing anything. If he wanted to go play baseball, he played; he was even on the football team in high school. As he got older and moved out of his safe little town of DeMotte, he saw how the real world can treat people with disabilities; subsequently, he was turned down for jobs that he knew he was equally qualified for; he also began to see that he couldn’t date like most men.
Ryan worked through his own depression and disability with the help and inspiration from his mother - his ultimate role model.
“My mom was great. I didn’t always appreciate it as a kid,” Ryan shares. “My dad was a big-time alcoholic. Very verbally abusive and she took the grunt of it. My dad passed away in 2015, but they had split up long before that. My dad and I ended on good terms but it wasn’t always that way. I grew up as a trailer park kid and I didn’t have a real bed till I went to college. We just didn’t have the finances. Looking back at what my mom did to keep that all together - and even today, my mom - after everything she’s been through, she has every reason in the world to be mad at the world, but she is the most pleasant, optimistic person.”
Ryan used that optimism as leverage to pull himself out of his dark place. Influenced by comedians such as Jim Gaffigan, who also grew up in northwest Indiana, Ryan branded himself as The Cripple Threat and began his comedy career in Los Angeles, California, covering topics such as dating, trying to find employment and attempting to find acceptance in a world not designed for him. With his quick wit, good looks, great timing, and a gimmick that only he can exploit, Ryan is proving to the comedy world that he may be unarmed, but he is dangerous (and handsome!).
Ryan proudly released an Amazon special called ‘Unarmed and Dangerous’ aired on April 29. Check out the trailer -
Now married with his first child on the way, Ryan’s bucket list remains filled with continued hopes and dreams, including appearing on WWE Television and traveling to Australia and Japan.
