KP Burke

KP Burke is many things. He's a stand-up comedian, a Navy Veteran, an American History junkie and now, an author. Burke considers himself lucky to have had the opportunities in life because of his parents Larry and Sandie Burke, who adopted him at birth in 1987 and raised in Northern New Jersey. Thanks to his parents, KP was able to develop a passion for history from childhood, which was full of trips to battlefields, forts and museums. Early in his youth, the trips to Fort Ticonderoga and Fort William Henry fascinated him endlessly and the first family vacation to Gettysburg pretty much sealed Burke's fate as a "history nerd". Burke, never an academic, attempted to go to Bergen Community College after high school. He did so well that they suggested he join the military and never come back... He left for the United States Navy in January of 2007 and was stationed aboard the USS Carney as a Hull Maintenance Technician (they told him he'd be a welder/firefighter but all he really did was fix toilets). He would also later serve with the Maritime Security Squadron 10 which would deploy him to Dubai in 2011. Here he would be doing armed security where everyone encouraged him to pursue comedy because he was very funny and could probably get him to turn in his firearms and finally get out of the military. Burke began performing stand up in March of 2012 and by every conceivable metric... it ruined his life. He immediately caught the eye of Chris Buck, the preeminent comedy writer of Jacksonville, Florida where Burke lived due to the Navy. He was soon working road gigs in the SEC region of the country. After a breakup, Burke returned home to New Jersey and began working hard at blending his passions of comedy and history between performing in NYC and NJ. He also made his second attempt at higher education at Brookdale Community College where his writing and history professors helped him develop all the skills that led to writing a book.