Josh Groban Says His Funny Side Has ‘Allowed Me to Show That There’s a Human Being Behind This Persona’

More than most singers, and certainly more than most singers in his contemporary classical world, Josh Groban has found a way to integrate comedy into his career.

Earlier this year on the 98th Oscars, he joined host Conan O’Brien in some good-natured silliness in a sketch dubbed “I Won,” during the opening monologue.

He has sung tweets on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and played himself on such shows as It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Parks and Recreation, Glee and American Dad! Speaking in the October/November issue of Reader’s Digest , out Friday, Groban told interviewer Leigh Belz Ray (who is also the 104-year-old magazine’s editor in chief) that he was cautioned that the comedy bits might confuse some fans of his music.

But he contends that his comedy appearances have served a purpose.

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“But it allowed me to show that there was a human being behind this persona.

A lot of the press I got was so serious and so much like, ‘We’re putting this opera child on a pedestal.’ Comedy was my way to get back on my feet, back on the ground.” That turned out to be especially true for self-deprecating comedy.

“It was a way for me to machete through my own demons, put a pie in my own face,” he told Belz Ray.

“And also to be around some of the funniest, smartest people that I’ve ever met.

The rhythm of a great song is the same as finding the rhythm that makes somebody laugh.” What does Groban see as the best decision he ever made? “Saying yes to making a Broadway debut was a big one,” he says.

Groban appeared on Broadway for the first time in 2016 in the musical Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 .

His leading role as depressed outcast Pierre earned him his first of two Tony Award nominations for best actor in a musical.

Groban amplified on why that decision was so pivotal.

“Revisiting a dream that I’d had since I was a kid, knowing full well that it could go sideways and the critics and audiences could say ‘Go back to your home.’” Groban, 45, amended his answer with a second “best decision”: “And proposing.” Groban announced his engagement to Natalie McQueen in April.