About the time Fuller was entering his formidable years, he realized the stuttering was always going to be a part of his life, so he was determined that the teasing wasn’t going to define him – but like it or not, the stuttering would.

“As far back as I can remember, I was teased for my speech impediment,” Fuller said. “Then, around the seventh or eighth grade I made up my mind that I wasn’t going to let it bother me anymore and I began to dish it out faster – and better – than the perpetrators.”

Fuller armed himself with comedy and was ready to react to every remark.

“For every comment a kid would make to poke fun at me, I had a better line to shoot back at them,” Fuller remembered. “I knew every stuttering joke there was, so I always had a funnier one than what they had dished out.”

Fuller says he was a “respectable class clown” as a student at Opelika High School and was actually asked to speak in school assemblies.

“I introduced students running for student government,” Fuller said. “I remember one time when my candidate followed ‘Mr. Everything’ – a guy with more accolades than I even knew existed. When it was my time, I said ‘in the eighth grade my candidate made the A-B honor roll – once – so here he is…. ‘ Everybody thought it was hilarious and we won the election. I think it was then I realized the power of comedy.”

Perhaps it was also then that the seed was planted for the now famous Stuttering Comic.

Fuller graduated from OHS in 1990 and joined the United States Army where he served on active duty from 1992-1996 as an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT). He was stationed in Germany at Landstuhl Army Regional Medical Center for two years where he was involved in the Black Hawk Down incident in Somalia.

After four years, Fuller returned to Opelika – and back to the job at Kroger he held all through high school – while he took courses at Southern Union State Community College and completed a Bachelor’s degree from Auburn University – Montgomery in 2001.

After graduation, Fuller wasn’t sure what he wanted to do – until the terrorists crashed U.S. airplanes into the Twin Towers in New York City. It was then Fuller knew for sure what he had to do; he rejoined the Army and was accepted to Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning, Ga.

Just three months after arriving at Fort Lewis, Wash., 2nd Lieutenant Fuller was deployed to Iraq where he served with the First Stryker Brigade for a year. While on this mission, the soldiers would often put on informal talent shows to ease the tension of being in a war zone so far from home.

Fuller’s unit encouraged their favorite funny man to take the stage. Fuller did and was an instant hit. From those appearances, one of the soldiers entered Fuller’s tape in a Wendy’s (Restaurant) Funniest Comic online competition and against thousands of entries, Fuller made the Top 15 putting him on the website for America to vote. The Top 5 vote-getters would win a trip to perform at The Flamingo in Las Vegas, and as you might have guessed, Fuller made the Top 5, performed in Vegas, and recorded his first DVD appropriately titled The Stuttering Comic.

“My material is all original and pretty much a story of my life,” Fuller said. “I talk about dealing with everyday life as a stutterer, my years working at Kroger, what it was like growing up in Opelika, and my military experiences.”

But just as his new career was taking off, Fuller put his professional comedy career is on hold and signed up for another tour of duty, this time with the Army National Guard.

“I just felt the need to serve again,” Fuller said of his decision to return to Iraq. “Our army is under-strength and having to pull from other units. I wasn’t doing anything that would prevent me from putting that uniform back on and going back, so that’s what I’m doing.”

When Fuller returns to U.S. soil again in June of 2008, he says he will again make his home in Opelika. Three of his four best friends, Brad Hunter, principal at West Forest Intermediate School, Adrian Yountz, owner of Auburn Wireless, and Chiropractor Ryan Meals, have all remained in Opelika, while another buddy, Shea Wilkes, is a VA social worker in Louisiana.

So strong is the bond with these guys, that Fuller’s records under the name JBARS – for Jody, Brad, Adrian, Ryan, and Shea.

“Those guys are like brothers to me,” Fuller said. “They make me really miss home.”

The buddies love Fuller, too. Meals said Fuller has always loved life and has a special way of turning negatives into positives.

“Jody grew up in some tough times,” Meals said. “His father died when Jody was young, but he proved over and over again that regardless of your circumstances, you can make yourself better and achieve success.”

“He made fun of himself before others really had a chance to. I think that was one of the reasons he was so popular. It wasn’t the fact that he stuttered that was so funny, it was the hilarious things he said.”

For Brad Hunter, Fuller’s influence in his life decided his career path.

“Jody’s stuttering was a motivating factor for me,” Hunter said. “I would watch him sweat profusely when a teacher would call on him to read in class. I felt so bad for him that I swore one day I would go into education to help kids.”

You can email Fuller at jody@jodyfuller.com. To learn more about The Stuttering Comic, go to www.jodyfuller.com or search for his video clips on www.YouTube.com.