INDIANAPOLIS – Chris Rock. Kevin Hart.

And Pat McAfee?

No, this really isn’t a joke.

McAfee, the Indianapolis Colts’ outgoing punter, plans to leave the audience in tears of laugher during two standup comedy shows this weekend in the Indianapolis area.

“What, you don’t think I’m funny?” McAfee said.

McAfee isn’t retiring from the NFL at age 28. He’s hosting two sold-out comedy shows (1,600 seats at each show) and the proceeds will go toward the Pat McAfee Foundation, a nonprofit organization that’s dedicated to providing academic scholarships to children of U.S. military personnel.

Colts punter Pat McAfee signs autographs before an organized team activity in June. McAfee will try his hand at stand-up comedy at a charity event this weekend. AP Photo/Darron Cummings

“This is kind of been 28 years in the making almost,” McAfee joked, not surprisingly. “A lot of NFL players like to play video games or binge-watch moves in their spare time. I’ve always enjoyed chitchatting with my friends and making them laugh.”

All you have to do is follow McAfee on Twitter (@PatMcAfeeShow) to see his humor. He hosted an Internet show two years ago and had a show on the NBC affiliate in Indianapolis last year. He routinely makes radio appearances.

McAfee, who said it’s never too early to start planning for his post-playing career, wasn’t one to sit around watching comedians growing up. Ron White is the first comedian he watched as a kid.

“I said I think that guy might be my dad; I liked the way that guy told stories,” McAfee said. “It was at that point when I realized this could be a pretty cool career later in life, but I never really took it seriously. I think [White] and I are very similar. I’m nowhere near as funny as him.”

McAfee has faced the pressure of defenders rushing in trying to block his punts throughout his career. He’ll face pressure again this weekend when he’s on stage alone and with all eyes on him. Entertain the crowd and they’ll cheer as if he pinned a punt down on the opponent’s 1-yard line.

But if he bombs...

"I’ll have 1,300 people letting me know I suck,” McAfee said. “But if I mess up my kicking job, I have 60,000 people letting me know immediately that I did not do well. Punting the football is much more pressure. It’s fulfilling when you help your team win. I don’t think the pressure of stand-up comedy is near what it is in football.”

It was almost five years ago that McAfee was, well, considered a joke himself after he was arrested for public intoxication when he went on a pre-dawn swim in an Indianapolis canal. Now he’s become a fan favorite in the state, one of the best punters in the NFL and able to sell out his first comedy show.

“The big thing I learned when I got in trouble was that when you’re in the NFL you’re in a fishbowl no matter who you are,” McAfee said. “That night I made a poor choice. It was one of those things where I was trying to save my name, really. I was never talked about before that night. No radio shows, no Internet stories or newspaper stories. Nobody had talked about me before.

“The first thing people had heard about me was that I was a drunk idiot. Ever since then I promised myself, my family and the Colts that I was going to change what people think about my name. I’m trying to enjoy it, do the right thing, make people happy and trying to become the greatest punter to have ever punt a football and trying to win a couple of Super Bowls.”

And tell a few jokes.