As the son of longtime Seattle DJ Bob Rivers, Andrew Rivers got accustomed early to the not-always-flattering spotlight.

"I was the butt of so many jokes on the radio show," he says.

Maybe that's why - despite his jokes about how he's not tough enough to walk those female friends to their cars - Rivers seems to have a pretty thick skin.

Take the story of how he got into standup. Although he always enjoyed comedy growing up and made funny videos in high school, he never intended on a career making people laugh.

He first gave it a try six years ago when he got laid off from a job at a marketing agency.

"That was when the economy started crashing, and as much I tried to get another job, no one was hiring," he says. "There wasn't a lot of hope.

"I was basically sitting around on the couch being depressed, so my dad was saying, ‘Just go do something; go do anything.'"

Read Molly Gilmore's full story on Andrew Rivers in the Music & Culture section.

ANDREW RIVERS, 8 and 10:30 p.m. Dec. 26 and 27, 8 p.m. Dec. 28, Tacoma Comedy Club, 933 Market St., Tacoma, $10 and $15, 253.282.7203or tacomacomedyclub.com