Spite can be a great motivator.

It works wonders for comedian Russell Keller. In 2019, after a college screenwriting professor told him he wasn’t very funny, Keller thought, “I’ll show you,” and started doing stand-up around the Pikes Peak region.

But after one too many shows in dive bars where nobody cared about or paid attention to the guy in the corner telling jokes, he founded his own comedy series, Pikes Punks Comedy Show, about two years ago.

“I’m exclusively motivated by spite,” Keller said. “I started Pikes Punks out of spite. I wanted something excellent with lighting and a stage and great comedians.”

His first shows were pop-ups around town, but now he’s settled into The Public House at The Alexander, where he brings his favorite local and regional comics to the stage every month. Saturday’s 90-minute show features Denver comic Brent Gill, who regularly tours with and opens for comedian David Spade; Colorado Springs comic Thad B; and Denver comics Liv Carter and Joe McKenna. Keller also acts as host and does about 10 minutes at the mic.

“A lot of them are professional comedians who headline at Comedy Works in Denver or here at Loonees or The Comedy Fort in Fort Collins,” Keller said. “I’m trying to find the best Colorado comedians.”

Headliner Gill, who grew up in Monument and graduated from Lewis-Palmer High School, is one of them. He’s opened for some big names at Denver’s Comedy Works, including Dave Chappelle, Ron White, Taylor Tomlinson, Nate Bargatze and Whitney Cummings, and produced Boulder Comedy Show for more than a decade. Last year he created the Austin Comedy Show in Austin, Texas. And about five years ago he got involved with Hole Hecklers, a group of comedians who attend golf tournaments around the country and roast golfers to raise money for charities and philanthropic causes.

“It’s a bunch of ‘you look like’ jokes,” Gill said. “Sometimes if we do PGA events, we’ll do Pro-Ams and we know the pros, so we’ll roast them off public knowledge. You’ve got to be quick and fast and relatively corporate clean. You can’t say too much, but you can’t be too soft. It’s a fun tango.”

Gill’s pursuit of a life steeped in comedy began in high school when he did an independent study on how to be a comedian. Minutes before performing at the high school talent show, his nerves got the best of him and he dry heaved in the hallway. But he got up and did a set that “went incredible,” he said.

“When you talk to lifelong comics, that first show is the greatest thing of all time,” he said. “And then it goes downhill fast and slowly climbs back up.”

At University of Colorado in Boulder he organized a one-man show in the basement of his dorm before upgrading to open mics around Denver. Eventually he started producing comedy shows, which allowed him to quit his full-time day job.

“I’m not the dirtiest but I’m not the cleanest,” Gill said. “I make decisions that are a terrible choice but will lead to something funny. I report back on the misadventures that make up my existence. You’ll hear a story about how I potentially got molested at a massage spot, an Uber ride from Fort Collins to Denver, cannabis, some sex stories. Who doesn’t love a good old-fashioned filthy joke?”

It was Gill’s professionally produced Boulder Comedy Show that inspired Keller to create Pikes Punks. Plus, he enjoyed Gill’s on-stage antics.

“He’s one of my favorites,” Keller said. “He’s a huge, big ball of energy. Such a presence and volume on stage that stuck out to me.”