ziggler grew up a fan of comedians such as johnny carson, jon lovitz, dana carvey, jan hooks, phil hartman, adam sandler, george wallace and brian regan. it was around 2010 that he got the idea to start doing comedy. in 2013, ziggler performed stand-up comedy for the first time in a small venue in los angeles and began getting offers to perform at various comedy clubs nearby wwe events. at this point he had been studying comedy almost ten years in preparation for a comedy career. he also began hosting a monthly improv comedy show called "flying chuck" alongside fellow professional wrestlers john morrison and his brother ryan nemeth. a few years later he started working as an opening act for his friend sarah tiana. in july 2018 he appeared on comedy central's roast battle iii facing off against tiana.