Colin Armstrong will be among performers at Montclair Comedy Festival

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“There’s just this visceral energy from doing comedy in Jersey that you just can’t get anywhere else,” says comedian Colin Armstrong.

The Newark native didn’t initially set out to become a standup comedian. He was a silly and naturally funny guy who went to Rutgers University to major in history with the intention of becoming a teacher. He started doing standup comedy as a hobby in college and noticed its potential as a career once he began earning some money with it.

“I was just hooked,” he says. “I was like, ‘This is a real thing, a service: I can actually do it and pay my bills from it.’ ”

After a year as a comic, he still got an office job processing mortgages while…