Polk County comedian gives teachers comic relief through podcast

Through his podcast "Crying In My Car," former teacher and comedian Devin Siebold takes a humorous look at classroom life. 

"’Crying In My Car’ came to me because teachers sometimes get out of work and just the day they've had, they sit in the car and they let it all out," Siebold told FOX 13, "and I thought that's what this podcast is going to be."

"It's just going to be us sitting in the car letting out the frustrations of the job," he added, "laughing about being all on the same page talking about the profession talking about the job. It doesn't have to be just for teachers...it's comedy. In general, we just talk about the profession, what's going on. We do some games. I'll do top 10 lists. We'll do sketches. we'll act out things."

"Crying In My Car" is apparently relatable to so many, that it's found a global audience. 

"It's international," Siebold said. "The podcast is in 140 countries and all of them saying it's the exact same stuff that happens in almost every single country."

He has also created comedic YouTube videos. 

"There's just a harsh reality behind the jokes that so many teachers say that they laughed and they laughed and then they cried and the reason they cry is that there is a reality to the comedy that's being presented online," Siebold explained. "So they hear these jokes and they think it's hysterical but then they realize it's also their life and the life that they're living and there's so many that say that my jokes and my comedy are therapeutic to them and they look forward to this every week."

But while he pokes fun, the pandemic led Siebold to make the serious decision of leaving his career of teaching high school. 

"I had to step away," he said. "It was just too much with the COVID situation, the dangers. Kind of going around that, I really am passionate about doing comedy and helping teachers in other ways and kind of being hopefully a spokesperson for the teachers." 

But for now, he's growing his audience online and encouraging them to help teachers.  

"We started filling teacher wish lists and I think we raised over like $6,000 just funding teacher wish lists and then I did a reading of ‘How the Grinch Stole Christmas’ on Facebook too that got over 250,000 views. For that particular live reading and we raised money that way too to fill more teacher wish lists," said Siebold.

He said his comedy isn't just a career, it's an outlet and a purpose.

"There's people depending on this. There's people having really bad days, really bad weeks and if I can cheer them on just a little bit. I need to make sure that's out there," said Siebold. 

For more information about "Crying in My Car: A Podcast for Teachers," head over to the Facebook page.