About Joel Walkowski

Writer, comedian, sobriety group facilitator, Lions fan.

Hey. I’m Joel. I’m a Greenpoint based writer but my heart remains in Detroit.

After being a great little art kid, I got a scholarship to USC and made some esoteric little films before realizing I just wanted to write and be funny.

I published some essays, wrote novels, and started battling addiction. Soon after, I moved into an RV and failed.

I relocated to New York City and became an award winning comedian. I toured nationally, wrote for the Comedy Central Roasts, and made a number of pilots that weren’t picked up.

I committed to sobriety and became New York’s leading SMART facilitator—working with addicts every Thursday.

I wrote Honolulu Blues because it was the most honest story I could tell, mixing my beloved Lions with the difficulties within my family and addiction. It is being published in July 2026.

Since the manuscript’s completion I have pursued ghostwriting to great results.

On top of all this my great love is basketball. My annual birthday tournament, “The Big Walkowski” is a fully fledged 501c and staple of the New York Social Calendar. Each September we raise money for organ donation with funds raised for Live On New York in the name of the dearly departed Kenny DeForest.