Jesse Joyce spent the early part of his life sabotaging his career.

At Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, he chose majors and minors he knew would not lead to a job right out of college.

After college, he worked as a writer and designer for an advertising agency.

The gig paid well, but he left after one year to head to New York City to try his hand at stand-up comedy.

Once in New York, the sabotage continued.

“I intentionally took jobs I didn’t give a s— about just so I could leave them if I had to,” he said.

He did this because since he was a boy in Pittsburgh, he knew where his calling lay.

“Doing stand-up is like my astronaut job,” he said. “All I really want to do is be a stand-up comic.”

Joyce, 29, will perform at 9 tonight at 7th Street Underground in the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union. His performance will kick off University Board’s comedy series.

Joyce’s goal has been clear since as early as his eighth-grade graduation.

In a packet handed out at the ceremony to parents and teachers, the 13-year-old wrote that his hobby was “telling funny jokes” and his ambition was “to be a comedian.”

Since then, he has performed across the United States and in 13 countries around the world, including Malaysia and China.

He has been featured on Comedy Central’s “Live at Gotham” series.

He has a part in a feature-length independent dark comedy, “Stags,” about four 30-something men whose friend dies while having sex. This causes members of the group to rethink life and change the way they live.

Joyce plays a recovering alcoholic, which mirrors his own personal demons he faced when he was in his early 20s.

Joyce said the movie serves as an example of the sad truth of the comedy business.

“You have to do something that’s not stand-up in order for them to give a f— about your stand-up,” he said.

When he performs for college audiences, Joyce said his approach changes a little bit as compared to clubs.

“You can be a little smarter with colleges,” he said. “You can be a little more subtle.”

Matt Caponera, University Board’s comedy coordinator, said he first saw Joyce’s name at the National Association of Campus Activities last spring.

This will be the first year Caponera serves as comedy coordinator. The junior corporate communications major has worked with comedy for the last three years.

“I’ve been interested in comedy my whole life,” said Caponera, who is a part of Eastern’s sketch comedy group, Lunchbox Voodoo. “I like seeing people laugh and I try to make people laugh.”

For Joyce, comedy made him the center of attention at his 10-year high school reunion.

“I was the most interesting guy there,” he said. “I was carving out a different path than you would necessarily have.”

Although he loves his job, Joyce has had to endure some struggles to reach this point.

He once performed in a field in Altoona, Pa. on the back of a flatbed pickup truck.

He used a karaoke microphone to try and entertain an audience made up of about 600 drunken prison guards.

Despite this, Joyce said he would never want to do anything else.

“You basically get paid to be a sarcastic d— to people,” he said. “It’s the coolest thing in the world.”