Communiqué
Filmmaker, Journalist and Comedian found freedom to be himself at Ohio University and WOUB
< < Back toIrvine studied video production and graduated from Ohio University in 2006
ATHENS, OH – When Travis Irvine looks back on his career, he remembers something his Ohio University commencement speaker, Brian Unger, BSC ‘87 said.
“It was really cool to have a comedian who started in journalism and also worked at WOUB speak at my graduation in 2006,” said Irvine. “And I’ll never forget the advice he gave. He said to ‘embrace the randomness.’ And my career as a journalist, comedian, filmmaker and politician has been so very random.”
Irvine grew up in Bexley, Ohio and studied video production at Ohio University. While coming to Athens for college wasn’t his first choice, he now knows it was the perfect fit for all of his different interests.
“I wanted to get as far away from Ohio as possible, but everything out of state was too expensive,” said Irvine. “I knew I wanted to do radio and television and study video, so I chose Ohio University.”
Irvine did not get involved at WOUB right away. During his freshman year, he wanted to be a weather broadcaster.
“I wanted to use that and turn it into a comedy career like David Letterman did,” said Irvine with a laugh. “But I kept falling asleep in meteorology class.”
Eventually Irvine got involved with student productions at Athens Video Works (AVW). He worked on the sketch comedy show Fridays Live and the sports program, Ohio Sports Zone.
“Getting started with AVW eased me into production,” said Irvine. “And by the end of my senior year, one of my professors convinced WOUB to hire me to work radio news over the summer. It ended up being one of my favorite summers ever.”
Irvine worked on morning radio with former WOUB Assistant News Director Fred Kight, and anchored the noon newscast on WOUB AM each weekday. Even though his summer at WOUB helped Irvine develop confidence and new skills, he still wasn’t sure what career direction he wanted to take. So, he started just following where his passions took him.
“Eventually I moved back home with parents in Bexley and started doing some marketing work for Columbus Alive,” said Irvine. “But then there was a mayoral election in my town. My neighbors had been dealing with a zoning issue, as nearby Capital University was purchasing homes, knocking them down and building dorms. So, I decided to run for mayor on the issue of saving the neighborhood I grew up in. I ended up doing a documentary on the experience called American Mayor. It was about how I ran for mayor, having never run for an elected office. Even though I didn’t win, it had a happy ending because I saved my neighborhood. The film was screened at the Cannes Film Festival in 2010.”
In 2007, Irvine continued dabbling in politics and moved to Washington D.C. to do an internship in the press office for U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer. After that he moved to New York and worked at the New York Film Academy for a couple of years teaching video editing. But politics kept pulling him back.
“In 2010, I moved back to Ohio and ran for 12th district congressional seat as a Libertarian,” said Irvine. “Once again, I did not win, but my campaign videos were featured on PBS News Hour.”
Irvine then went to Columbia University and got his master’s degree in journalism in 2012. He went on to work for The Huffington Post, The Guardian, and VICELAND.
“Again, I moved back to Ohio and shot a sequel to a movie I made in college,” said Irvine. “The sequel was called Killer Raccoons 2, and we shot the movie in Nelsonville on the Hocking Valley Scenic Railway using a crew half made up of Ohio University students.”
Thanks to COVID-19 and the lack of film production caused by the pandemic, when Killer Raccoons 2 was released in the summer of 2020, it was the number one comedy in America.
“It was the timing of the release,” said Irvine laughing. “People were looking for a new comedy to watch and Killer Raccoons was the only thing available.”
Now Irvine is living in Los Angeles doing standup comedy and working for the Last Podcast Network. He even has a comedy album called Guy from Ohio.
“My career has gone in a lot of different directions, but I loved working at WOUB and the old school reporting I learned there,” said Irvine. “I had people tell me they heard me on NPR. It was so cool to be part of it. And I followed Brian Unger’s advice. I took the experience I gained and the skills that I had and truly ‘embraced the randomness.’”