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The Power And Light Of Dow Thomas

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Dayton And The World Loses A Comedy Icon

 

Dow Thomas: Comedian & Musician 1953-2012

Sifting through scattered memories, most of which are second hand recollections that occurred before my time, I find myself overwhelmed by a life lived with a manic exuberance. I found out about comedian Dow Thomas’ passing from a friend and regular customer of Wiley’s Comedy Niteclub who called to inform me of the news. I stayed up until around 2:00am poring over the condolences that poured out from all over the country, cascading down from Dow’s Facebook page and other social media outlets. I looked through pictures that I had of Dow, read through transcripts from interviews I had done with him and reflected on conversations that we had had in the past. While many around me knew Dow longer and were closer friends than he and I were, Dow possessed the ability to make you feel that you were the only one in the room. Even during performances where there were a hundred or more people in the room, he made you feel as if you were within his inner circle, that this was an intimate gathering of friends and not just a group of people watching a performance. Even beyond his unerring talent and exuberant imagination, this was his true gift.

Born in Chillicothe and raised in the Akron/Cleveland area, Dow moved to the Dayton area in 1971 to attend Wright State as a theater major, a fitting field of study for someone who had been familiar with the stage for much of his youth. Even though Dow was not a native ofDayton, he embraced the area with the fervor that a lifelong resident should have.

“I didn’t originally come from Dayton. I just kind of adopted the city in 1971. I moved to the area to go to Wright State and I just stayed.” Dow said during one of our conversations. “I ended up living in downtown Dayton. I used to hang out at the Arcade a lot there. I’m a downtown kind of guy.”

Dow Thomas as Cléante in Molière’s Tartuffe

Dow was very active in the drama department while at Wright State, performing in several theater productions, such as Shakespear’s Romeo and Juliet and a pair of Molière’s plays; That Scoundrel Scapin and as Cléante in Tartuffe. In the latter drama, he caught the eye of a fellow student, Rob Haney, which signaled the beginning to a lifelong friendship.

As his hair grew, so did Dow’s creative yearnings. He began playing music around town, playing at venues that are but a mere memory to most Daytonians.

“I started my shows at the Upper Krust on North Main St. for ten dollars a day. I liked being up on North Main because I liked to go to shows and Gilly’s used to be up on North Main and there was also The Tropics and Suttmiller’s, which was fun for me to go see supper club type comedians like Jerry Van Dyke or Pete Barbutti and those kind of guys.”

Even though many venues and stages were opening themselves up to Dow’s music and acting, this was still not enough to contain Dow’s imaginative energies. He started sneaking his oddly skewed humor into his songs and banter with the audience.

A poster from 1972 for the Upper Krust

“I was actually doing comedy in 1972, but at that time there weren’t any comedy clubs, so I was just doing comedy along with music. I would get hired as a musician/entertainer and just add in the comedy in between songs.” Dow reflected. “I would always put on masks and stuff…I just can’t help myself from clowning around. I’d have the gig and eventually I had bands, but when I clowned around, everyone clowned around with me. What was always part of the show was me being stupid. It was what I said in between songs and me ruining songs, like singing like a dog and getting a ‘bark along’ going.”

In those days, you may have seen Dow tooling around town in his hearse, decked out like a Bohemian undertaker, black clad and sporting his ubiquitous top hat, running from gig to gig. He played with Astrid Socrates for seven years (creatively billed as Astrid & Dow) as well as drummer Doug Buchanan Tim McKenzie on lead guitar during yet another incarnation of his ingenuity. He was a featured act at The Trolley Stop, Clancy’s, the Iron Boar and Bogey’s.

Comics don’t need to spend actual time together to feel like brethren or family.  We are constantly accruing that common experience that instantly bonds us all separately and continually.  But, few of us are as pure, kind, original, and superbly funny as Uncle Dow.  I feel forever indebted to him for making it possible for me to ever start and I know that anyone who knew him feels like they, too are some of the luckiest people alive.  Uncle Dow made people laugh, but even more so he made them feel alive and always made them smile. ~Ryan Singer

“I’ll never forget the day Dow Thomas and my path crossed. I was part owner of a night club called Bogey’s onWatervliet Ave. in Dayton when Dow and Jeffro stopped in after buying guitar strings at Ace Music.” Mike Adams reminisced recently. “Things weren’t going very well at the bar and we couldn’t afford a barmaid or a cook so I was working. Dow Thomas ordered two drinks and asked for a menu and ordered a sandwich. Upon serving him he asked who owned the place and I confessed. He asked how things were going and I said not to well. He said he could tell. He asked if I had ever heard of Dow Thomas and I said yes but had never seen him and he told me I was talking to him. He offered to do a show one night a week for free as long as I didn’t interfere with him trying new material. I lost a lot of money owning that bar but memories like this makes the money seem irrelevant.”

Dow also frequently played in a bar onPatterson Road called the Iron Boar and becoming steadfast friends with the owners, Dan and Jodi Lafferty.

“We used to do a Gong Show at the Iron Boar and it was fun because we’d have some guy come up and go, ‘I’m going to do my imitation of a lobster’ and we’d go, ‘Good!’  So he’d put claws on and hop around like a freak…it was just so stupid!” Dow began chuckling to himself on the phone before going on. “I used to do a thing called Punt The Fish and I’d yell out, ‘It’s time to…’ the audience would scream, ‘Punt the Fish!’ I had this rubber fish and audience members would come up and kick this fish and we’d measure it off with toilet paper and the one who kicked it the farthest won. One night I had this woman up on stage and she kicked the fish and it went into the propeller of the ceiling fan and came back and smacked me in the face. Everybody was just laughing and I stood up and screamed, ‘Disqualified!’ It was all just so stupid, but you’ll never be able to have a moment like that ever again.”

In ’91 when I took over Jokers Comedy Café, Dow was running the open mic night.  I’d never heard of Dow and looking at this man in a black trench coat and top hat, I have to admit my first impression was not great-   he’s gonna be dark and sarcastic and egotistical, I thought.  I could not have been more wrong!  Dow loved being on stage and his joy radiated through the crowd. He would have an audience pounding their table to Power & Light, and tossing paper plates across the room as he sang Sail Cats. ~Lisa Grigsby

The comedy began usurping the music and Dan Lafferty began booking ventriloquists, jugglers and other oddball acts to fill out the shows.

“I used to have people like Jay Haverstick, who owned Jay’s Seafood, he would come and see my shows. So would Mike Peters. They would be out late at night and they would just say, ‘Hey! Let’s go and see what crazy Dow is doing!’” Dow said during another conversation. He went on, describing another huge change that was bout to occur in his life. “But there wasn’t a comedy club, so I left forL.A.I gave them (the Lafferty’s) a one year’s notice (laughing) and said, ‘In a year, I’m going toL.A.’ and that’s when we turned it into a comedy club.”

Eventually, the Lafferty’s decided to change not only the whole format of the club to comedy, but the name itself. In an unexplainable instance where someone could legitimately name a comedy club Lafferty’s, Dan decided to use his nickname instead, dubbing the newly restructured club Wiley’s.

Dow, true to his word, eventually left forLa-LaLand, seeking his fame and fortune, both of which proved to be elusive in the land of silicone and sunshine. He found that the venues that were available to him were less than conducive to his creative talents. At one point, he found himself doing sets between bouts at a boxing match and, towards his triumphant return toDayton, he was unceremoniously replaced with disco music at a Newport Beachclub. Yet the comedy scene was heating up nationally and Dow was riding the cusp of this chaotic wave. The shows were not the structured tight sets that we witness now in the clubs, but were given to more improvisational melees and surprise guests.

“There were these guys like Rich Purpura, who was a comedy/magician, and Tim Walko, a guitarist, and they were both fromChicago. We’d do a show, just packing the place, but at the end, we’d just get up there and jam and kept the show going and clown around with each other.” Dow said. “By then, we were just trying to make each other laugh, and that’s what the audience liked. It was kind of like. It was kind of like having the Rat Pack or something. It was that kind of feel, where everybody’s in the groove. Back then I could have Emo Philips come in and do twenty minutes and then I’d get a chance to go to the bathroom. Then maybe Judy Tenuta would come in and do twenty to thirty minutes and then I’d get a chance to go to the bathroom. For me, I thought it should go on all night.”

Rob Haney

Another person that benefitted from the burgeoning comedy scene was Rob Haney, a newly touring comic and future owner of Wiley’s Comedy Niteclub.

“Rob Haney came up to me one time and said, ‘Can I get up and do some time? I just got back from The Comedy Store.’ He had just done some showcasing there…which surprised me because Rob was a bouncer in a bar I used to work at.” Dow recalled that, “When I first met him, he was a doorman at a place called The Bar inWest Carrollton. It was a rough little joint that ended up being Omar’s for a while. It was an old basement bar and the family that owned it was pretty rugged. I actually had guns pulled on me in that bar. I’ve seen him mace guys and throw guys out…he’s a pretty tough guy. He had like shoulder length hair at the time and pretty well built, so it was a different Rob Haney that came up to me with short hair and asked if he could do like twenty minutes and I said, ‘Sure!’ I let him up at the Trolley Stop and I had a gig there like six nights a week…it was crazy.”

Another iconic staple of the Miami Valley that Dow had a huge role in was with his friend Dr. Creep (Barry Hobart) and Shock Theater. The inception of Shock Theater was supposed to be actually scary, as an accompaniment to the B-rated horror flicks that they screened, but the campy ineptness and irrepressible humor of Dr. Creep and the people that worked on the show quickly made the show a campy carnival for all of those late night viewers.

“I ended up getting on just about every television show in Dayton, but I got with Dr. Creep in the late seventies when it was called Saturday Night Dead because they had him on after Saturday Night Live, so it was kind of a neat spot.” Dow went on to say, “So I wrote The Ballad of Dr. Creep and went on there with my girlfriend at the time, Astrid Socrates and also with a bunch of my friends and we did skits.”

Barry Hobart (Dr. Creep) And Dow

“You know, what’s funny about that whole thing is that they became the number one, locally produced television show while I was writing for them. They would go, ‘Okay, we’re showing Dracula: Prince of Darkness’ and we made up the Bat Photo Studio and all of the prints would come out really dark, and customer’s would comment, ‘Wow! These prints are really dark!’ and I’d go, ‘Well, I am Dracula: Prints of Darkness! Sometimes I accidently cut their heads off!’ and I’d hold up a severed head. It was just stupid stuff like that.” With a tinge of regret, Dow added, “Of course, Joe Smith said, ‘No, you can’t do this and you can’t do that.’ He was an integral part of the studio there, so I got censored quite a bit and got into a little bit of trouble. I remember John Riggi and I getting yelled at because we changed the weather map one time. We got up there and started putting a bunch of tornados around Xenia…they were just little magnetized things back in those days. We were hippies in a studio that had rules.”

Dow played some forty different clubs in the MiamiValley the years that he was here and developed a huge fan base locally as well as in other cities that he performed in. In 1997, he moved to Florida with his wife Kay and they took up residence at some of the local clubs near their new home. Even after his departure, Dow was voted Dayton’s Best Comedian for two year’s running. He would still make frequent sojourns to Ohio, usually performing at Wiley’s one to two times a year, creating comedic chaos with his skewed humor and especially with his song Sailcats, in which he would cajole the audience into throwing paper plates in lieu of flattened kittens as the song implied. The staff would usually find the last paper plate stuck in the rafter shortly before Dow’s next scheduled appearance.

Dow Thomas At Dirty Little Secret Sanitarium Show

I contacted Dow in February of 2011 to ask if he would perform at my upcoming Dirty Little Secret Sanitarium show in May. He was eager to do the show because of the variety aspect of the event, but was reluctant in some ways, feeling that it would be a conflict of interests with his Wiley’s appearances. Rob Haney assured him that there would be no conflict and he agreed to do the show. That evening became an impromptu reunion of sorts in honor of Dr. Creep as not only had Dow worked closely with him, but so had some of the other performers slated for that evening. Thomas Nealeigh from FreakShow Deluxe had worked with Dr. Creep as had A. Ghastlee Ghoul. Our emcee for the evening was Dr. Creep’s protégé  Baron Von Pork Shop and some of the members of Team Void had recorded music for Shock Theater’s DVD’s. Dow had a blast at the show and had garnered yet a few more fans for his cult of comedy.

I contacted him again this past December to see if he wanted to be part of the Dirty Little Secrets Sick Of Santa Show and he readily agreed. We spent the rest of the conversation talking about old horror movies and other trivialities. On the night of the show, December 28th, 2011, his wife Kay showed up at the club saying that Dow was really sick and would be unable to perform. Seeing the look on her face and knowing Dow’s penchant for performing, I knew then that it was ore serious than she was letting on. The next evening, Dow arrived at Wiley’s to do his Thursday night set and we could all tell that something was wrong. The current owner, Rob Haney, and other staff and friends finally convinced Dow he needed to seek medical attention. He was admitted toMiamiValleyHospital and, two days later was released. He performed the New Year’s Eve show as well as the shows the following week.

His last show on January 7th, 2012 was astounding. Offstage, he seemed somewhat fragile, but as soon as he was on stage, that glimmer came into his eyes and the casual smirk shown across his face. He performed Sailcats and wheedled the audience into throwing the paper plates once again, daring any one of them to land one of them on his top hat. It was a picture perfect performance where someone actually landed a paper plate onto his top hat. The show ended with a standing ovation for our Uncle Dow, with audience members shouting out their approval and appreciation for Dow’s show.

After the show, Dow was surrounded by family and friends, well wishers and fans. It was the way of Dow: that feeling that you just needed to be near him and everything would be alright. You would be safely ensconced in his world.

Shortly after returning to Akron, Dow was hospitalized. He died January 18th, 2012. The outpouring of condolences and memories was immediate and Dow’s Facebook page became a makeshift memorial for a legion of stunned fans and friends to share their grief as well as their memories.

I think now of the boarded up Upper Crust, the warped wooden floors of the Trolley Stop, the comfortably worn carpet of the Wiley’s stage and I can hear the clank of glasses against the cascading laughter and see Dow with a mischievous gleam in his eyes as he dons a mask and unleashes a dialogue of absurdity in the voice of Lon Chaney. I can see him on stage doing what he did best: fashioning a world without limits, pushing the envelope until it bent and combining chords to nonsensical songs that bring laughter to all who are compelled to bang their glasses on the table and sing along. I see him smile down from the stage wearing a paper plate atop his felted hat, an improvised halo for our imaginative jester.

Read my previous article from 12/2010 – “Dow-Town Dayton”

The Church of Augiology

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Auggie Smith and the Wayward Masses

To the uninitiated, (or “non-believers” as they are commonly called by The Auggites) Auggie Smith is the founder and Grand Pubah for Life of what has come to be known as The First Church of Augiology. While not technically a religion, at least not in the fully tax exempt definition narrowly portrayed in the IRS’s Draconian codes, the movement of Augism is gaining momentum in this country, as well as other, more backwards countries who really don’t know any better. With the recent release of his new DVD and CD, Cult Following, more of the weary and downtrodden will quickly become zealous converts.

Smith was born. This we know to be true. Everything after that is rather suspect and apocryphal. Being a rather shy individual throughout his youth, Auggie attained the rank of presidency of the speech team and cleaned the bathrooms at his school, making his vows of chastity almost unavoidable.

“You can imagine how the girls just flocked to that – president of the speech team!” Auggie says in Duderonomy 4:16. “’Wow, look at that!’ All girls care about at that age is a guy who can conjugate a verb.”

He remained chaste until the age of eighteen, succumbing to the lure of the flesh and Auggie found it to be good. He began his journey into the world, preaching his message for the masses, never gaining the attention he so richly deserved. After many disheartening years, Auggie considered renouncing his calling and wandering the earth like Al Gore, broken and dispirited. As destiny would have it, he met two like minded individuals; Apostle Bob and Saint Tom. They gave Auggie the inspiration and hope to preach his sermons on their quaint morning show. Thus the cult of Auggie was born.

After years of spreading the gospel on XM and Sirius satellite radio, after performing miracles at countless comedy clubs throughout the nation by turning dollars into wine and even after he died one night on stage in Butztown, Pennsylvania, only to rise three days later in a defiled motel room, hung over, Auggie is ready to be your personal pathfinder. He has sacrificed his life to be your personal sherpa, guiding you through the pitfalls and the pain, making you forget, at least for an hour or so, that the world is a festering cesspool of rampant self-interest.

This messianic messenger of mirth is bringing his traveling revival show to a stage somewhere near you, to spread the one true gospel. What should one expect when entering Auggie’s church? The faithful will be blessed with a bellicose dose of reality, delivered in a breathless, rapid-fire rant, shining a stark light on the futile efforts of man. From the current political scene to Barbie being raw dogged by G.I. Joe as he has a ‘Nam flashback, nothing is sacred in this sanctuary. The pervasive daily fears we all surrender to will be lifted to reveal the true evildoers behind senior citizen NASCAR drivers, voracious vending machines and drunken pink bunnies.

“Really brother, wouldn’t it just be easier to stay home and not have to interact with any live people?” Aug asks. “I SAY NO! The fear ends now. The only way to win is to not be afraid, or to paraphrase a Stallone classic, ‘fear is the disease…Aug is the cure!'”

Why should you be a follower of Auggie Smith? Why should you become part of the Cult Following? Humbly witness all that Auggie has sacrificed for us: his wasted teenage years scrubbing bathroom stalls while we were partying and getting laid. His ongoing pursuit to ingest every street corner pharmaceutical product, keeping them out of our reach so that we won’t cause harm unto ourselves as well as his ever vigilante watch over all the bars and pubs across this great land of ours, safeguarding them until they are safely closed. These things he does for us…selflessly! He truly cares about our well being and tries to convey this clearly during his sermons. He forces you to see the inequities in the lives we witness as well as the ones we live. His inescapable diatribes hammer home the absurdities we all see in everyday life, yet are afraid to comment on. He speaks while we are silent. Well, to tell the truth, he speaks while we’re talking as well, but nobody’s perfect.

Just reflect for a moment on this truism that he has shared with us;

“Your bunny may be your relationship or your job, but at one time, you tried to give your bunny a bear hug and things got out of hand.”

How can one argue with this incontrovertible truth? How?

Watch the DVD. Listen to the CD. Catch him on The Bob and Tom Show, or better yet, witness the man in person when he comes to town. If you’re not completely satisfied…well, you’ll still be out the money for the DVD, CD and the tickets, but hey, doesn’t it just make you feel warm inside knowing you helped a potentially sober comedian attain a higher level of consciousness via many, many Jägerbombs?

Services for the Church of Aug will be held at Wiley’s Comedy Niteclub on Thursday August 25th at 8:00pm (for a $5 tithe), Friday August 26th at 9:00pm (with a mandatory $10 donation). Saturday August 20th brings us to the conclusion of Auggie’s missionary work here in Dayton with a full blown comedy revival, featuring the comedy sermonizing of Deacon Tom Griswold from the Church of Latter Day Bob and Toms. Services for this revival will begin at 8:00pm with a secondary service held 10:30pm for all of those incorrigible heathens. For these special Saturday Night Sermons,  a collection of $20 is required. To make reservations, call (937) 224-JOKE. For more information, go to the Wiley’s website at http://www.wileyscomedyclub.com/ or add them as a friend on Facebook at Wiley’s Comedy Niteclub.

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‘Let’s Do The Time Warp Again’: ‘Rocky Horror’ to be Revived at Wiley’s

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Daytonians will get the chance this weekend to put on fishnet stockings, scream unabashedly at a projector screen and pelt strangers with handfuls of rice.

"The Rocky Horror Picture Show"

July 29, 2011 Show Poster

The local variety show group Dirty Little Secrets wants attendees to take a walk on the wild side at its special screening of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” from midnight to 3 a.m. Friday, July 29, at Wiley’s Comedy Niteclub, 101 Pine St.

The event is a rare opportunity for audience members to view the R-rated feature length film, while also enjoying a full service bar offering movie inspired drink specials, according to J.T. Ryder, who is responsible for the booking and promotion of the event.

“As with the creation and concept of Dirty Little Secrets itself, the screening of ‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show’ started with that small, still voice in my head,” he said. “ … This voice always begins our conversations with, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if … ?’”

The public screening comes a decade after The Neon stopped showing the film in spring 2001, when the theater underwent a renovation, according to Ryder.

“The clean up and raucous nature of the movie and the attendees definitely go a long way in explaining why most theater owners are loathe to run the movie on a regular basis,” he said.

“The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” first released on film in 1975, parodies science fiction and horror flicks of the 1940s to 1970s, and is noted as one of the most well known movies of all time, attracting the attention of an international audience. A criminologist narrates the story of a newly engaged couple who stumbles upon a strange mix of people at an annual Transylvanian convention and soon becomes immersed in the world of Dr. Frank-N-Furter, a transvestite who created a creature he calls Rocky Horror. The film is full of musical performances — including the Transylvanians’ famous dance to “The Time Warp.”

Sean Sandefer, one of the two directors of The Dayton Affair, the Dayton area’s “Rocky Horror” shadow cast, said some of his cast members will take part in the film screening at Wiley’s, acting out certain scenes on stage in costume. The group’s technical crew also will lead the audience in participation callbacks.

According to Sandefer, the show appeals to a wide range of people, which has been key to sustaining its popularity for more than 30 years.

“‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show’ is a timeless classic with a little bit of something for everyone,” he said. “It’s also a unique experience, where the audience is encouraged to participate by yelling during the movie and throwing things. If you’ve never seen the movie before, this would be a great first experience.”

One of the reasons the film has experienced ongoing popularity is in its ability to build a strong community of fans, according to Ryder.

“There is a commonality between the people who identify with this movie in much the same way as motorcyclists or tattoo aficionados identify with each other,” he said. “A lot of people think that it is the sexual ambiguity of the movie that draws people, but I think that only plays a small portion of it. There is an underground, cult-like presence that draws people whose everyday life could be very mundane, but this experience gives them a chance to delve into their wild side a bit.”

The tight-knit community is exactly why April Pope and her boyfriend Ronald Lynch remain die hard “Rocky Horror” followers. Pope and Lynch met at a showing in 1998, and have been together ever since.

Pope has attended more than 300 performances by The Dayton Affair, and said she used to never miss a show.

“I think ‘Rocky’ continues to thrive because it’s a place where you can go and fit in,” she said. “I come from Preble County, and when I was younger, unless you were into derby cars and tractor pulls, there isn’t a lot for you here. I know a lot of Preble County ‘misfits’ have ended up at ‘Rocky.’ We fit in there. It’s one of the first places I felt comfortable and no one judged me.”

Ryder said he expects a packed house of fans Friday. Attendees must be at least 18 years old, and are welcome to come dressed as one of the characters in the movie, or as “any other combination of outrageousness that is legal to be seen wearing in public,” he said. Those who attend are allowed to bring any of the standard “Rocky Horror” items with them, including hot dogs, newspapers, toilet paper, squirt guns and toast.

Tickets for the event can be bought at the door for $5. Individuals are encouraged to make reservations ahead of time, especially if they are attending with a group, by going to the Facebook event page titled “Dirty Little Secret Sweet Transvestite Screening” or by calling (937) 224-JOKE (5653).

According to Ryder, audience members should come expecting, in the words of Frank-N-Furter, “erotic nightmares beyond any measure, and sensual daydreams to treasure forever,” in a show that changes with every viewing.

“The only mission that Dirty Little Secrets is on, that I can discern, is to create a sense of community, as well as presenting the most unique entertainment available,” Ryder said. “In that fashion, the screening of this movie is right on target.”

Read Ryder’s DaytonMostMetro.com piece titled “Maybe You Understand Me Now” for his take on the philosophy behind the show.

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An Interview In Five Easy Pieces

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Dave Dugan: Corporate Comic, Stand-Up Comedian And Voice Over Talent

When you see Dave Dugan perform, you may be reminded of some of those well meaning television dads who mete out their sage wisdom in a fumblingly laconic manner, usually with horrific results. His stand up comedy hinges on eloquent misdirection and an ironic demeanor that is somewhat incongruous with the situations he finds himself in. Having done hundreds upon hundreds of voice over gigs, from Midas Mufflers to Microsoft, it’s a good bet that you have heard of Dave Dugan before and just don’t know it. Having seen him perform several times, I wanted to talk with him in more depth about his voice over talents…

J.T.: Since you do so much voice over work, do you have a ritual to prepare for the particular mood or emotion you need to convey?
Dave: Sure, if they want a manly, gritty read, I chop some kindlin’ and gargle some Jack Daniels. If they want me to be all sensitive, I crank up the Tori Amos and shave with a Daisy Razor.

J.T.: Do you ever have to perform a series of intentional “outtakes” just to get some of the funny stuff out of your head so you can do a serious take?
Dave: Recently, I voiced fun facts about California for anyone renting a car in the state to hear on their navigation system. The script was of record length …took 8 days to record! Outtakes were plentiful just to keep from going stir crazy.

J.T.: What is probably the most difficult voice over that you have had to so?
Dave: I auditioned for roles in an Italian animated series that was sold to an American (broadcaster) and therefore needing English speaking voices to translate the original lines. I ended up getting the roles of two characters. One voice was a very screechy, evil bird character and for the audition I went way out of my voice range. Then when it came time to do the actual read for the show, the character had tons of lines. I strained myself big time. Pretty sure I may have collapsed a lung…

J.T.: With your comedy, your approach is so deadpan…do some audiences have difficulty in picking up on the subtleties of your act?
Dave: Sometimes a few audience members just don’t get it… and they are always asked to leave. No, not really…I’m just kidding. I usually try and play off their not following me with a series of random audience involvement comments. After doing standup comedy this long, I know I may have to make adjustments from time to time to please all audiences.

J.T.: What is your ultimate Spinal Tap moment?
Dave: A booker once scheduled me to headline ‘ a club’ in Napa Valley, California. I had visions of smart, jaded audiences sipping fine wine and appreciating my most obscure comments. Turned out to be a biker bar. Before the show was over a biker chick came up on stage and tried to wrestle me to the ground.
To save face, I made cracks about the absurdity of it all, which only seemed to make her angrier. Fortunately, her 300 pound boyfriend found that part of the show amusing and I was allowed to settle up and leave without being maimed or beheaded.

You can check out Dave Dugan live at Wiley’s Comedy Niteclub at 101 Pine St. on Thursday June 9th at 8:00pm, Friday June 10th at 9:00pm and June 11th at 8:00pm and 10:30pm. Tickets range from $5 to $12, but for our DaytonMostMetro.com readers, you can mention you read this article when you make your reservations and receive a two for one admission price.

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Maybe You Understand Me Now

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The Philosophy Behind The Dirty Little Secrets Show

May 11, 2011 Show Poster

While, at first glance, this may seem like a very self serving article, insofar as I am the creator of the variety show Dirty Little Secrets and should not write about things I have a vested interest in. I am not, however, using this as a platform to promote the next show (which is on May 11th!) because that would not only be in bad taste and self aggrandizing , but might also be viewed as potentially unethical (…at 8:00pm!). No… instead, this is an article about the impetus for creating the show, the  philosophy behind the show and the hopes of what the show will one day become.

The way in which the idea of the show was formed was of the same fashion in which I do everything: haphazardly. It came to me slowly and was just a jumbled collection of thoughts, most of which was borne out of boredom and irritation. I was getting bored with the desperate attempts that performers and venues alike were going to entertain the masses. It probably hit critical mass when I went to see Trans Siberian Orchestra and, along with 4,263 guitarists and more lasers than the Rebel Alliance, they made it snow inside the arena. While novel in many respects, it was not nearly as useful or needed as it would be, say, in July. The irony was not lost on me as I walked back to my car in the snow, wondering why they didn’t just open up a skylight or something and allow the real snow in for free…and reduce the cost of the tickets. I also was getting bored with the whole “scene” scene.

I was never one for going to a crowded club and having beer spilled on my boots as I witnessed a “Triple Bill Extravaganza Of Epic Proportions” which turned out to be three musical groups from the same genre belting out seemingly the same melodies at a tooth shattering decibel level. The comedy scene consisted of emcee, middle act, headliner and “don’t forget to tip the wait staff!” before being unceremoniously directed to the door. Then there was the entertainment world of the theatres and pavilions and centers, which, to be honest, I would never be able to afford. Even for how high profile their acts are, there is a stringently preformatted, preprocessed feel to them, taking away any sense of danger or wonderment from the event. Straying off topic for the moment…can we please have a moratorium on the obligatory encore? This whole standing up and sitting down thing is too reminiscent of Mass and is also very disingenuous. Like there would be anyone at a Lynyrd Skynyrd concert saying to themselves, “My God! I can’t believe they are going to leave without playing Freebird! Stand up! Stand up and applaud people! They may have forgotten it was on their set list!”

I began to look back in fondness at the entertainment of my youth as, growing up, I watched Shock Theater, The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and community theater where there was always a real danger in someone forgetting their lines or the stage possibly collapsing (it happened in Hagerstown, Indiana during The Fiddler On The Roof when I was about eight). There are so many things that I like, that you would never be able to find them all in one place. Where could I find good music, comedy, unusual acts, dancing and other more theatrical arts? Nowhere.

At this point, I started using the Wiley’s Comedy Niteclub Facebook page as a litmus test, posting up videos of various things, gauging people’s reactions by comments and views. I would post up random stuff from the Carol Burnett Show, Carson, the Dean Martin Show, older Catskills comedians and various vaudevillian movie clips. The reaction from the subscribers dwarfed the reactions to more modern fare. Maybe there were others that were bored or didn’t like all the frenzied build up and hype that seems to go into modern entertainment. That is when I started talking to others about the idea that was forming…

Lisa Bunny Foo-Foo and Todd The Fox

This is not to make it seem like I discovered something new, like plutonium or the law of gravity or that pair of Oakley sunglasses that I set down three months ago, which were never to be seen again. The idea that I had was simply to bring all the elements that I find entertaining into one big variety show. To be totally honest, I actually spoke to people that I had hoped would take it upon themselves to bring the show to fruition. I mean, the whole purpose of this was to entertain me, which would be pretty hard to do if I actually had to work at it! Sadly, there were no takers and it came down to a put up or shut up proposition and so I took the plunge.

The date of the first show was set for February 16th and now all I had to do was find some performers and the rest was gravy. I made a few calls and booked a few acts and thought to myself, “Is that all there is to it?” Well, my subconscious, who has had some sort of vendetta out on me for years, remained silent, allowing me to blissfully walk into the nonstop whirlwind of promotions, preparations, press releases and scheduling that comes with each show. Had I known what was to go into each show…well, read on…

Our Beautiful Waitresses: Kira, Sarah and Kristina

I had booked a phenomenal jazz singer, Patricia Berg, Geborah, a modern jazz and hip-hop dancer, Henrique Couto, a…um…he’s…well, he has a mustache. He is kind of hard to describe. He’s like what would happen if the spirits of Tiny Tim and Sam Kinison  possessed the body of Weird Al Yankovic and then coerced him to have sex with Judy Tenuta…Henrique would be the spawn of such a union. I also had a comedy troupe from Cincinnati that was supposed to be there, but they bailed at the last minute. I called Jay Madewell, who is a local musician and who was also playing drums that night for Henrique. Madewell suggested that I call Todd the Fox, who, as luck would have it, was available that evening. One of the other essential facets of the show was the selection of the waitresses. I knew I wanted unique, friendly waitresses and I thought it would be neat for them to be able to dress in retro or pin-up clothing. I wanted the waitresses to be the very beautiful face of the show, and model Sarah Walls, dance instructor Kira LaFave and the very versatile Kristina Savage have gone way beyond my expectations. If anything, they are not only the face of the show; they are the heart of the show.

Our Beautiful Waitresses: Lily, Sarah, Kira and Kristina.

Aside from a few technical glitches (don’t trust me around a CD player) the evening went beautifully…and this is where all of the time I had invested in running around, making phone calls and the ensuing chaos was made worthwhile. When the emcee, Vincent Holiday, said, “Goodnight!” and the lights came up…no one left. No one left and there was this energy…people were excited. The performers wanted to talk to the audience and the audience wanted to talk to the artists and to each other. Some of the musicians were taken aback because they were not used to performing in front of a “listening” audience and they had to scale back the act that they were used to performing in front of a rowdy bar crowd. The audience was exposed to forms of music and dance and comedy that they may never would have experienced before because they were usually performed at venues that they may not frequent. The performers were influenced by other performers that they, in turn, may never have shared a stage with. That is when I knew that this was right.

Over the course of several shows, we have had fantastic rock, ballad, R&B, soul and jazz singers, accomplished guitarists, drummers, saxophonists and other sundry musicians. We have had belly dancing, shadowbox dancing and other various forms of dance as well as sideshow performers, comedians and poets. Each show has unintentionally taken on it’s own hue and flavor, dictating for itself what the other acts should be, how it should be promoted and any other special features. For instance, the last show featured shadow dancers, a spoken word artist, a belly dancer, an R&B singer, an improv comedy troupe and Al Holbrook, who is a phenomenal soul/R&B singer and keyboardist. In contrast, the upcoming show will have legendary musician/comedian Dow Thomas, Kaleb Kane and Reverend Tommy Gunn from Hollywood’s FreakShow Deluxe, the lucha surf band Team Void and, rounding out the weirdness, hosts and emcees, A. Ghastlee Ghoul and Baron Von Porkchop, whose Tales of the Macabre television show has marched on in the footsteps of Dr. Creep. The next show will have…hell, I have no clue what the next show will have. It could have zydeco musicians paired up with juggling baboons for all I know…and that’s really the point.

Shadowbox Dancer and Al Holbrook

In an age of homogenized, prepackaged consumables (entertainment included) I think there should still be a danger there. I think that the audience should be should be able to come in to a theatrical setting and be surprised instead of entering with a head full of preconceived notions. I think that everyone who witnesses one of these shows should have a niggling feeling at the base of their skull telling them that, at any moment, all of this could go horribly wrong as it is all done without a net. I think that, when the show is over, the audience and the artists should be able to walk away with swirling images of the moments of unexpected brilliance that that they had witnessed, like when Todd The Fox and Lisa Bunny Foo-Foo took to the stage with a guitar, a suitcase and a washboard and tore the house down. This is all just proving that there is more out there on the desperate horizons of our everyday life that can still not only entertain and audience, but can make that audience feel as if they are part of the show as well, taking them out of the role of voyeur and allowing them to see through that fourth wall, sharing the symbiotic energy with the artists.

In essence, the overall philosophy of the show is this: to create a community. A community between the artists that grace the stage. A community of audience members that find kindred souls with similar interests and, most of all an all encompassing community of everyone involved. Of course, I would like to have a larger audience (which is slightly difficult since the shows are held on Wednesdays) and this is not so I can line my own pockets with more money. I want to be able to pay the performers what they are more than worth. I’d like to give bonuses to the waitresses and be able to create props and such for the show itself, to make it better for the audience. I would also like a larger audience because I feel that the performers I have had deserve a larger audience, and one that is there to take in the experience, not to pound back brew with background music. Maybe I’m just too naively idealistic, but all of this has opened my eyes to the creativity that exists in Dayton and I would love to draw all that creative energy into one place… then it will be a Dirty Little Secret no more…

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Video of the February 16th Show

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Video of the March 16th Show

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Video of the March 23rd Show

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Video of the April 27th Show

Goes To The Edge…And Folds It Neatly (with Tim Bedore)

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Tim Bedore: Standing Up Against The Animal Conspiracy

Comedian Tim Bedore, who hails from Minnesota is a philosopher, a writer, a comedian; He is a man who once had the urge to kiss a wombat full on the lips. He has made numerous television appearances and his Vague But True weekly series can be heard on NPR’s Marketplace weekly program. The last time I spoke to Bedore, it was to gain his wisdom pertaining to his area of expertise: the animal conspiracy theory.

Bedore’s theory is rather alarming in its utter simplicity: Animals hate us and want us dead so that they may rule the Earth and inherent all of the fine Hostess products that will be left in our wake. I decided that the animal conspiracy theory was a great jumping off point for our most recent conversation, so that is where I began…

J.T.: Are we all still in imminent danger from the animals?

Tim: The animal conspiracy thing still looms large, and let me tell you why: Because I love my country. I want Americato continue to be at the top of the economic food chain as well as the literal food chain, so I constantly bear witness and am on the case at all times. At Wiley’s, I’m going to do the animal conspiracy slideshow, of course, and there is a lot of new stuff. I’ve got some amazing video of some elk that have taken over a town to the point where if you want to golf, you pretty much have to golf around the elk and play out of the divots that they make with their horns. They are literally coming into town and chasing after hunters before the hunters get out into the woods to hunt them. I’ve got video of it that’s just incredible.

J.T.: Do you think that the animals are acting independently or might they be lobbied by certain special interest groups and instructed to go after specific targets?

Tim: Boy, that’s an ugly thought! Are you saying that this might be political? Man! So even this is a partisan thing! Anything is possible. Things have changed so much that I expect that, one day, you will see wolves and elk working together to drive keepers and tourists out ofYellowstone. Natural enemies joined together.

J.T.: Are the squirrels still the central part of the conspiracy?

Tim: Oh yes! Squirrels are literally the smartest animal on the planet, other than humans. I mean, they’re rats, but we allow them to live in our cities and we allow them in our yards and people think they’re cute….it’s that damn fuzzy tail. Unbelievable when you think about it. It’s just that fuzzy tail and – bang! – they’re not a rat anymore.

J.T.: Well, since the last time I spoke with you, I started homeschooling my eleven year old son. It makes you yearn for the days when you could hand a kid a sack and send him to a coal mine to earn his keep. I didn’t think teachers made enough money before…

Tim: …and now you’re certain of it. Yeah, that’s a big commitment.

J.T.: Yep. But, I think the problem with the schools now is that all they are concerned about is the State testing and not about cognitive reasoning or problem solving.

Tim: No they don’t.

J.T.: But I think it is becoming apparent because kids are coming out of school and unable to do the jobs because all they know is the answer to question 1-A.

Tim: We had a teacher in college that taught us to think like critical thinkers by saying, “Men do not have to wash their hands after they use a urinal in a public restroom…

J.T.:…but before…

Tim: Right! Wash your hands before! His point was that the penis is the cleanest part of a guy’s body. If you take a ten minute shower, nine minutes is spent cleaning the penis. You get that very, very clean. It’s the hands that are filthy when you think about it. You ride busses with your hands. You touch coins and pick your nose…clean your hands first so you won’t get your penis dirty because it is already clean and, unless you have a spastic fit at the urinal, you don’t have to soap up afterwards. Now, that’s a very interesting way to think, but you can’t make a living with this information, really. I tried. You hang out in bathrooms and try to point this out and…well, the tips were very low.

J.T.: Yeah…well, I don’t know if I would use that phrasing…

Tim: No! “Hey ‘big’ fella! Can I talk to you a second?”

J.T.: So what do you want people to know about you?

Tim: You know what you can tell people? You can tell them that I do not lie on stage. Most comics lie. Most comics make stuff up and I only talk about truthfully honest things because I think that there are too many lies in the world and I really believe that I am going to be the force for truth and honesty. You hear lies all the time and we’ve become just too used to hearing them. How many times have you flown and the pilot gets on the intercom after pulling in three hours late and says, “We apologize for any inconvenience and we really hope to serve you better in the future,” which is just a lie. They know they are not going to serve you better in the future: It’s the nature of their business. If they were honest, they would say, “Yeah, we’re sorry about the inconvenience and all, but hey! This airline sucks, but so does walking fromMinneapolistoDetroitwith a golf bag, so…see you next time!” Like Home Depot…”You can do it, we can help!” That’s a lie. It should be, “You can do it, we can help…but it will look like hell and you’ll probably kill yourself.” That’s the honest way to say it. That’s the truth.

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Music Video Monday: March 14, 2011

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This week brings us two videos from C. Wright’s Parlour Tricks since you’ll have two chances to see them live this week.  You can catch them at Wiley’s Comedy Club on Wednesday for the latest Dirty Little Secret.  The show features music, dance, magic and comedy all on one stage.

You can also see Parlour Tricks on Saturday night at Gilly’s as part of Dale Walton’s Rock and Roll Circus.

This week’s videos are from C. Wright’s Parlour Tricks’ performance at January’s Dayton Does Dayton show at Canal  Street Tavern.

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[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhMFgl6PWUQ’]

Conservatively Comedic

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Mark Klein Is Conservative On Everything But The Funny

Mark Klein - Conservative Comedian

While Mark Klein’s early career careened around the edges of the blue circuit, playing in seedy clubs and even strip joints. Over time, his act evolved and matured as he himself did. His performance reflects who he has become rather than a persona he cultivated over the years on stage. While being touted as a conservative comedian is a rarity, finding someone that is true to themselves on and off the stage is even more extraordinary.

Klein’s career has taken him from the comedy club circuits, to the cruise lines and into the corporate boardrooms, and his blend of political and observational humor has managed to win over audiences, fans and naysayers alike. I was able to speak with him as he was wending his way across the country and, as we spoke, a clearer picture of the man and his comedy shone through.

J.T.: Okay, so you are billed as the most conservative comedian…
Mark: Well, not the most conservative comedian, but I am the only Jewish, Republican, conservative comedian from Louisville, Kentucky in the world. There is only one and I am it. My political viewpoint on stage is definitely conservative and it has a definite point and edge to it. My career is comedy club work, cruise ship work and corporate speaking and I’ve kind of blended all of those into a show that says exactly what I want it to say and it’s become a real passion to get both the message out there and the comedy.

J.T.: Well, a lot of people are afraid to do that. A lot of people are afraid to use the platform that they have.
Mark: I can understand that. The minute you take a political viewpoint, you’re alienating half the people that are listening to you. My idea of a perfect show is when I see someone in the audience that doesn’t agree with me, and they’re laughing. To me, that’s just the greatest show you can have.

J.T.: Yeah, especially within the last decade or so, everyone has become so encamped and entrenched and polarized, people don’t feel they can laugh at truths about themselves even.
Mark: Right, and that is exactly what comedy is not about. Comedy, to me, is about getting people to look at the world and themselves and laugh at it as well as laugh with it. The whole goal of comedy is to find the points that we have in common and how we laugh at the same things together and then you get to use that to examine who you are and what you believe and examine the world around you. It’s a joyous way to make a living because you get to be the vehicle for the audience to be able to do that, so it’s just a great way to make a living.

Well, this doesn’t look conservative at all! No sir, it surely does not!

J.T.: Do you think that having yourself billed as the most conservative comedian kind of limits your audience? Would someone who sees themselves as a liberal enjoy your show just as much?
Mark: Of course, of course. There’s a good part of the show that has nothing to do with being liberal or conservative. A tremendous part of the show is just my world view described in a funny way, so it doesn’t matter who you vote for or what you believe or where you are from, you are going to find these things funny. Even when you disagree with the viewpoint, there are jokes there that are funny. A well written political joke for me is one that makes people on both sides of the aisle laugh and even people that disagree with it will find the humor in it and be able to laugh at it and, in that sense, I try not to use my humor to polarize people, but to unify them.

J.T.: Yeah, and a lot of people don’t do that. People take the opposite tack and ostracize a group.
Mark: There’s nothing insulting or bashing; there’s no ugliness to the show that I do.

J.T.: Well, why do you think that there are so few conservative comedians?
Mark: Well, entertainment, by it’s very nature seems to have more of a liberal following, in both the performers and those that patronize live entertainment and so most comedians are afraid of being ostracized from the comedic community for not being politically correct and, let’s face it, as an entertainer, you depend on the approval of your audience. As a professional entertainer, to get work, you depend on the approval of your peers and the people that book your work and so a lot of these guys are afraid of not having that approval. Well, I’m not afraid of that. I know who I am and what I believe and I know I can make it funny. You have to be true to yourself and my act is very true to who I am and what I believe and if it costs me work, so be it. To not be able to be that person on stage, that would absolutely suck the joy out of what I do for me. It’s important for em to stay true to myself politically onstage.

Mark Klein is set to take the stage at Wiley’s Comedy Niteclub (101 Pine St.) on Thursday, January 20th at 8:00 pm ($5 admission), Friday, January 21st at 9:00pm ($10 admission) and Saturday, January 22nd at 8:00 pm and 10:30 pm ($12 admission). Opening up for Mark Klein will be joined by the always likeable and incredibly funny Dave Zage. To make reservations, just call (937) 224-JOKE and for more information, go online to wileyscomedyclub.com. You can also find them on Facebook at Wiley’s Comedy Niteclub.

Brilliance On The Edge Of Night

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The Passing Of A Community’s Icon

A seven year old boy sits rapt, wrapped in a heavy quilt in a darkened room, the only light coming from the television, which created sporadic flashes of light and shadow against the living room walls. Vincent Price, Peter Lorre and Boris Karloff are on the screen, emoting Roger Corman’s interpretation of the Raven. In between scenes of decrepit castle chambers and crypts of the unquiet dead, commercials for King Kwik and other local retailers burst forth in chromatically bright colors in stark contrast to the desaturated dimness of the movie. 

After the vendors are done hawking their wares, a familiar black and white face appears, a gentle smile plastered across his grease painted visage. Dr. Creep launches into a faux interview or an outlandish skit that, by the grace of it’s own unpolished design, seemed funnier. Whether it was spoofing the movie that was playing or reviewing the disco moves of John Revolting, Dr. Creep, in his signature black top hat and cape, would reassure you that this was all make believe, that nothing could hurt you and that the world of horror was a landscape to be explored and not abhorred. 

The nephew of Doug Hobart, a makeup artist and stuntman who had a traveling monster show back in the 1940’s and 50’s called Dr. Traboh’s House of Horrors, Barry Hobart was almost predestined to become Dr. Creep. Hobart was a master control engineer for WKEF-Channel 22 when, in 1971, he suggested a late night hosted horror show to salvage lagging ratings in the late night time slot. After submitting a tape of Dr. Death, the project was well received, yet remained shelved until the following year. On January 1st, 1972, Dr. Death made his television debut on Shock Theatre. Several shows into the series, the woman in charge of makeup got rid of the vampire teeth and changed Hobart’s costume. A name was drawn out of a hat and Dr. Creep was born. 

The comedic aspect of the show was an accident. Props failed, lines were forgotten and effects either didn’t work or went on far longer than intended…which cracked the Creeper up. The whole crew decided to go with the natural flow of things and an organically kitschy comedy of errors ensued from 1972 until 1985. Throughout those years, from being a child all the way into my adult years, I would run into Dr. Creep at various events or in the most unexpected places. I remember going with my mom to the Dairy Queen on Airway Rd. to an autograph signing attended by Dr. Creep, Wolfman Jack and someone who I believe was Elvira, although it could have been one of the other incredibly seductive vampires roaming the countryside at the time. I was at the drive-in on Halloween when they buried Dr. Creep alive as part of a benefit. There was a dusk to dawn showing of B-rated horror films with periodic updates broadcasted by Dr. Creep from beyond the grave. Years later, I was talking to Philip Chakeres, owner of Chakeres’ Theaters, and we got onto the subject of that particular event… 

“You were talking about Dr. Creep earlier. Well Steve, the guy who runs the drive-in there, he can tell you better… he said that one time, this drive-in actually buried Dr. Creep.” Chakeres went on to talk about what those kind of evenings entailed. “I mean, there were all sorts of things done. We used to do that stuff and we would give away Dracula Cocktail, which was just Cream Soda, and then when the movie was over, during the dusk to dawn shows, we’d give out coffee and donuts at dawn. There were some times when we ran dusk to dawn shows where the sun would start rising and the credits were still on the screen. Those were the good old days…” 

The “good old days” also included a lot of local programming, creating local icons that attained their own, more homespun, brand of celebrity. The King Kwik “Brothers” (Mike Tangi), Steve Kirk, Bob Shreve, Ruth Lyons, Bob Braun, Don Wayne, Uncle Al…the list goes on. At the top of that list sat Dr. Creep. With his kind heart and his patented ‘hoo-ha-ha’ laugh, Dr. Creep was probably the most recognizable local television personality in the Tri-sate area. Black grease painted eyes and white face tended to make you stand out in a crowd…and driving around in a hearse would make an impression as well. He also used his celebrity wisely by offering his services for a slew of charities, such as the Muscular Dystrophy Association, Project Smiles as well as a host of many other, smaller, fundraising events. In interviewing John Higgins, a puppeteer who worked on Shock Theater, Hobart’s generous heart was one of the first subjects he brought up. 

“Those years working with Creep on Shock Theatre and Saturday Night Dead were some of the most fun of my working years.  Having fun and making a difference in people’s lives were key values he lived by…and we all shared.  It was always amazing to see how much everyone loved him, particularly the kids.” Higgins went on to reflect on the oddity of the children’s reaction to the Creeper. “The kids absolutely loved Dr. Creep, someone they, by all rights should have been afraid of, with that white face and black eyes…they must have sensed his very kind heart.” 

Dr. Creep and Obieyoyo

On the topic of benefits, John went on to reflect that, “Barry was always soliciting me as puppeteer and director of Night Vision Puppets to do freebie benefits with him for people in need in the community. I’d get Obieyoyo and other characters and appear with Creep and musician friend Garry Pritchett, who appeared a few times on Shock Theatre as the four armed bongo-playing hipster, Octo Rhebop. It was always fun, always for a good cause, and usually never involved any kind of income. That was Barry. He loved helping people, he loved getting friends to help out…and he was fun to work with.” 

Dow Thomas, a comedian and writer for Shock Theatre which, by that time, had become Saturday Night Dead,  had some insight into Hobart’s unerring compassion… 

“The best thing I remember about Barry is that he was always kind. He was a good, I mean serious Christian. He went to church all the time and really cared about people. He did all these benefits and expected nothing in return. Some of them would be long and grueling and he would be hot in that costume, but he would talk to everybody and sign autographs.” Dow added, “He was sincere about it and he has really touched a lot of people’s lives. I think it broke his heart when he lost the show.” 

Even though the films that were shown were creepy and campy, like Curse of Frankenstein or Invasion of the Body Snatchers, the movies actually became a secondary feature to the show. Everyone tuned in to see what kind of Gong Show antics Dr. Creep and the crew would brew up this week. From regular characters like Obieyoyo, Duffy the Dog and Freddie Forefinger and His Phalangic Friends to skits featuring Lester Fern’s Disco Dance Studio or the Flamboyant Frankenstein, viewers were always given some of the most deranged and off the wall comedy available on television. 

Dr. Creep And Vampire Friend

“One of the things we did was, I decided to have them tell me what movie they were going to show, and I would write a skit about it. Like, we showed The Valley of the Gwangi, which is about a bunch of cowboys ropin’ and ridin’ dinosaurs and Gwangi is the Tyrannosaurus Rex.” Dow Thomas related. “There’s an old man in it who plays the professor (Laurence Naismith), so I put on my old man mask and a pith helmet and played him, and I’d say things like, ‘I think I have recording of old dinosaur sounds’ and I’d start playing a woman singing and everyone would go, ‘Those aren’t dinosaur sounds! Those are Dinah Shore sounds!’” 

Dow’s recollection of this particular episode brought up one of the other key players in the calamitous comedy of Shock Theatre, John Riggi. Riggi has since gone on to write for such comedies as The Dennis Miller Show, The Dana Carvey Show and, most recently, 30 Rock. 

“I don’t know if you remember, but the first thing they find in The Valley of the Gwangi is a little horse…eohippus I think is what the professor says it is…it’s a prehistoric animal. Well, they put it into their rodeo act and everyone would come to see this little tiny horse…it’s a weird film. So, they would go from the movie to us doing all of this stupid stuff and it all matched.” Dow went on, saying, “There’s one point where one of the Mexicans in the movie says, ‘Hey gringo! I want my little horse back!’ John Riggi played one of the Mexicans in a skit and I had a big sombrero that Wiley (original owner of Wiley’s Comedy Niteclub) had given me and we put it on John’s head, and then we cut to Riggi in this sombrero saying, ‘I want my little horsey back!’ Dr. Creep finally goes, ‘Okay.’ So here’s Dr. Creep on all fours and John Riggi riding on his back around the studio. I mean, just think about what a good sport Dr. Creep was to get down on all fours and have John Riggi ride on his back like he was a horse.” 

There were countless times when the powers that be and the rag tag members of the Shock Theatre brigade locked horns. Sometimes it was a disagreement about a skit’s content, like an incident where they wanted to show a headless Duffy the Dog on an operating table with four sets of feet, one set which would be where his head should have been. Other times it had nothing to do with the crazy house that the show had become, per se, but more to do with the types of personalities that ran the asylum… 

“I remember John Riggi and I getting yelled at because we changed the weather map one time. We got up there and started putting a bunch of tornados around Xenia…they were just little magnetized things back in those days.” To sum up the tensions, Dow simply said, “We were hippies in a studio that had rules.” 

John Higgins, who acted as producer of Shock Theatre as well as its puppeteer, filled in some of the blanks as far as Hobart’s other duties at the station. 

“I love how his friends and colleagues at work almost always called him ‘Creep’…whether Barry was in costume or not.  Anyway, Creep was the person who usually taught the new people how to operate the on-air master control. He was patient, calm, and quite adept at this nerve-racking task…and a great teacher.” Higgins went on to remember an amusing incident. “I remember sitting with him in training early one Sunday morning.  We were running the Jimmy Swaggart religious show, a program Swaggart paid the station to put on the air. Creep  looked at the clock, then said ‘Okay, the tears start in 3 minutes.’  Sure enough, at exactly 22 minutes after the hour, Jimmy Swaggart started crying, asking for contributions from the audience.  Apparently it happened each program at exactly the same time; Creep knew the on-air job so well he could have run the station on-air with his eyes closed.” 

Trilogy of Terror

Over the years, I have run into Barry Hobart in different locations. Sometimes he was in Dr. Creep’s full regalia, other times he was just simply Barry. I never expected him to remember from one meeting to the next, as each one was separated by a chasm of years. We spoke of different things at each meeting, but an underlying sense of connectivity to the community seemed to prevail over each conversation. In recent years, I had heard and read about his failing health and difficulty in keeping up with his related health care bills. The last time I saw him, he was attending a benefit in his honor at Wiley’s Comedy Niteclub. This was one of several benefits held to aid Barry Hobart with his mounting health care bills. Everybody was more than willing to help someone out in their time of need, especially someone who had given so much over the years, even if it was just a moment of laughter, fending off, for a moment, the darkness of this scary movie that we find ourselves extras in. 

That is probably the most important thing that Dr. Creep gave to the community: an alternative to fear. While some may have jumped and cowered with a throw pillow clenched to their face when the voodoo doll came to life in Trilogy of Terror and began chasing Karen Black down the hallway with a knife, soon there would be a respite from the nameless dread, a halo of hilarity to make us feel safe, to make us feel not alone. Barry Hobart was not only an integral part of our community, he created an alternative community populated by people from all walks of life who shared in his skewed embrace of horror shows and campy comedy. 

On the afternoon of Friday, January 14th, 2011, Barry Hobart passed away in a hospice facility. I had just logged onto my computer when I received the phone call telling me of his passing. After I hung up, I held my thoughts in a moment of silence and as I looked upwards, my eyes fell on a photograph of myself and Dr. Creep that was taken at the Wiley’s benefit, which sits upon the top of the armoire that houses my computer. As I looked at it, I became aware of all the other trinkets and other knick-knacks that have collected up there over the years. Books of photographs. A riot helmet from one of my old security jobs. An ashtray full of cigar tubes and bands, the cigars long gone, smoked with some of my closest friends and family. It struck me that all the other items represented momentary epochs in my life. Periods of the past that I have collected totems of so as to remember them clearly. While this may seem silly, the picture of Barry Hobart represents the constants in my life, from the present all the way back to when I was a seven year old boy sitting rapt, wrapped in a heavy quilt in a darkened room…learning a lesson that the darkness can be fended off by the light of one’s compassion. 

Dow-Town Dayton

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Dow Thomas And The Cult Of Comedy

Part horror show hippy, part amusing musician, part imaginative genius. Dow Thomas is truly one of the Dayton originals, having performed comedy locally before there was even a venue dedicated to the genre. He has stepped so far outside of the box, finding himself still in the forefront of comedic inspiration, twisting the mundane into a bizarrely fascinating funhouse that moves so quickly, it’s hard for the average person to keep up. From playing Led Zeppelin’s Whole Lotta Love on the banjo to a stirring rendition of Sailcats, which prompts a Rocky Horror-esque melee of paper plate flinging, Dow Thomas is one of the most original and entertaining comedians around.

I was recently able to talk to Dow from his Florida home as he readied himself for his trek North to Dayton. I asked him to describe his unique brand of humor…because I sure as hell couldn’t.

“What I do is I write stupid songs…a lot of stupid songs…and that makes stupid routines that you’re not going to hear them from anybody else because they’re mine.” Dow went on to describe his dedication to creeping his material fresh, “If you write new routines and jokes all the time, they are going to be thirty seconds at the most. You can’t get up there and be Bill Cosby anymore. People have short attention spans, so what I do is write a strings of songs or jokes.”

In the late seventies, Dow showed up on a local television show that aired at various times on Channel 22 which was then titled Saturday Night Dead, a play on words to contrast the show’s spot directly following Saturday Night Live. It featured B-rated horror films and boasted one of the most good-humored hosts by the name of Barry Hobart who played the part of Dr. Creep. Dow, along with his girlfriend at the time, Astrid Socrates, played an original song titled The Ballad of Dr. Creep, which signaled one of the funniest collaborations, along with a host of other comedians, a puppeteer, John Riggi (who went on to write for 30 Rock) and a flamingly gay Frankenstein. Dow has never given up his penchant for the peculiar, having appeared in several movies, most within the genre of the B-rated horror flick. Dow spoke briefly about his most recent foray into film.

“It’s called The Psycho Dish. The director actually has gotten me in a part of another film he’s getting the rights to which is a Civil War movie. They want me to play a legless, one armed guy in a wheelchair. It’s called Bats Out Of Hell. I’ve got a couple of irons in the fire with the acting thing, but they’re all going to be independent films, and you never know where that’s going to go.” In relating what type of roles he has played in the past, a common theme begins to emerge. “I played the Devil in a movie and I played…it’s always like I’m playing some grave robber or something like that. People actually call me up and say, ‘Somebody said that you be great at playing the creepy old man downstairs.’ For me, it just keeps your chops up when you try to do everything.”

Our conversation meandered on for over an hour. Dow related stories about the roots of Dayton’s comedy scene which, at that time, was virtually nonexistent, at least from our modern perspective.

“I didn’t originally come from Dayton. I just kind of adopted the city in 1971. I moved to the area to go to Wright State and I just stayed and I ended up living in downtown Dayton. I started my shows at the Upper Krust on North Main Street for ten dollars a day.” Dow went on reminiscing, saying, “I liked being up on North Main because I liked to go to shows and Gilly’s used to be up on North Main. There was also The Tropics and Suttmiller’s, which was fun for me to go see supper club type comedians like Jerry Van Dyke or Pete Barbutti and those kind of guys.”

In the seventies, comedy was not the mainstream draw that it would soon become in the eighties, so Dow would camouflage his true comedic intentions under the cover of his music. He would get hired in as a musician and then add in little comedy bits here and there until they became his entire set. Back in those days, a set might be five hours, not the tight twenty or the solid hour that has become an industry standard. Dow found himself at many local bars, like The Bar, Clancy’s and the Iron Boar, which was to become legendary Wiley’s Comedy Niteclub.

“We used to do a Gong Show at the Iron Boar and it was fun because we’d have some guy come up and go, ‘I’m going to do my imitation of a lobster’ and we’d go, ‘Good!’ So he’d put claws on and hop around like a freak…it was just so stupid! I used to do a thing called Punt The Fish and I’d yell out, ‘It’s time to…’ the audience would scream, ‘Punt the Fish!’ I had this rubber fish and audience members would come up and kick this fish and we’d measure it off with toilet paper and the one who kicked it the farthest won.” Dow went on to tell about, “One night, I had this woman up on stage and she kicked the fish and it went into the propeller of the ceiling fan and came back and smacked me in the face. Everybody was just laughing and I stood up and screamed, ‘Disqualified!’ It was all just so stupid, but you’ll never be able to have a moment like that ever again.”

Hearing the stories about the way things used to be, it made the current state of comedy seem somewhat stale and staid. It just seemd like there used to be so much more than the emcee, the feature act, the headliner and then, “Thanks a lot! Don’t forget to tip the wait staff!”

“Right!”Dow agreed, before going into another story about the way things were. “There were these guys, Rich Purpura, who was a comedy/magician, and Tim Walko, a guitarist, and they were both from Chicago. We’d do a show, just packing the place, but at the end, we’d just get up there and jam and kept the show going and clown around with each other. By then, we were just trying to make each other laugh, and that’s what the audience liked. It was kind of like. It was kind of like having the Rat Pack or something. It was that kind of feel, where everybody’s in the groove.”

In speaking about the origins of Wiley’s, I asked Dow how he came to have such a following there (that is still quite fervent even to this day), but also how he came to meet the current owner of Wiley’s, comedian Rob Haney.

“Rob came up to me one time and said, ‘Can I get up and do some time? I just got back from The Comedy Store.’ He had just done some showcasing there…which surprised me because Rob was a bouncer in a bar I used to work at…”

I was quick to learn that almost every story that Dow told led into another story, with sequels and prequels thrown in just to keep things interesting. Backtracking, I finally found out about the first time he had met Rob Haney.

“When I first met him, he was a doorman at a place called The Bar in West Carrollton. It was a rough little joint that ended up being Omar’s for a while and then Fricker’s. It was an old basement bar and the family that owned it was pretty rugged. I actually had guns pulled on me in that bar. It was rough and there were a lot of biker guys in there, but I was playing in there for a while.” Dow said, before getting back on tack. “Rob and I started talking at the bar and then, all of a sudden, he realized that when he was at Wright State he had seen me in a theater production and we talked about that for a while. Anyway, at that time, Rob had like shoulder length hair, so it was a different Rob Haney that came up to me some time later with short hair and asked if he could do like a twenty minute set. I said, ‘Sure!’ I let him up onstage at the Trolley Stop…”

And the rest, as they say, is history. Dow appears at Wiley’s two times a year, bringing with him his bag of masks, his banjo, a balanced mix of new material and old favorites. If you have never seen Dow onstage, do yourself a favor and check him out this week at Wiley’s. He will be appearing Thursday, December 16th at 8:00 pm, Friday December 17th at 9:00 pm, Saturday December 18th at 8:00 pm and 10:30 pm and Sunday December 19th at 8:00 pm. Tickets range from $5 to $12. For more information or to make reservations, call (937) 224-JOKE or go online to www.wileyscomedyclub.com.

The Theater Of The Strange

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Comedian Dow Thomas Reminisces About The Dayton Comedy Scene

12/15/10

            It’s very rare for someone to be able to meet any of the people that were instrumental in warping the needle on their moral compass. For example, in the future, the odds are astronomically against my kids ever meeting up with Snooki, the creator of Grand Theft Auto or any or the Real Housewives of Poughkeepsie. I, however, was able to talk with one of the people who were instrumental in changing my vision and giving me the ability to see the world through laughing eyes: Dow Thomas. Dow is a musician, comedian and actor, who was, at one time, a script writer and musician for the notoriously wonderful local program shown on channel 22 and hosted by Dr. Creep called Shock Theater…a show that I was an avid fan of when I was a kid.

I was able to speak with Dow recently from his Floridahome. The first question I asked was whether or not Shock Theater was his introduction into the world of comedy.

“No. I was actually doing comedy in 1972, but at that time there weren’t any comedy clubs, so I was just doing comedy along with my music. I got with Dr. Creep in the late seventies when it was called Saturday Night Dead because they had him on after Saturday Night Live, so it was kind of a neat spot.” Dow reflected on the first time he was on Dr. Creep’s show, saying, “I wrote The Ballad of Dr. Creep and went on there with my girlfriend at the time, Astrid Socrates. I remember some of the early stuff. It was juvenile jokes and stuff, but that was what they (the television station) wanted because they wanted everything clean, stupid and quick.”

If there were no comedy clubs, what venues did he perform in? Dow told me that he would just play in the local bars, places like the Trolley Stop, The Bar and The Iron Boar.

“I would get hired as a musician/entertainer and just add in the comedy in between songs. I would always put on masks and stuff…I just can’t help myself from clowning around. I’d have the gig and eventually I had bands, but when I clowned around, everyone clowned around with me. What was always part of the show was me being stupid.” Dow said. “Sailcats was one of the early comedy songs I wrote which got people to throwing plates at me and that just started it all. We used to sing The Wonderful World of Toilet Paper and we used to TP all the clubs like Clancy’s and the old Wiley’s, which was The Iron Boar originally. But comedy was always a thing with me.”

Since this was predating the eighties comedy boom, I wondered how the comedy scene evolved inDayton. After talking with Dow over an hour, I got a sense of how paradoxically brutal and liberating the process was.

“I was doing The Iron Boar only on Sundays and Wiley had hired me to do it by myself and so I basically got rid of the band…but I still had jam sessions. I was primarily a single act and that’s when I went almost strictly comedy. Back then, I had to do five hours, like from nine to two in the morning, so you had to have a lot of material.” Dow added a couple of memories from the early days ofDaytoncomedy, saying, “We had a comedy night on Tuesdays…and people still bitched about the dollar door charge! It was just crazy. I remember D.L. Stewart came in and did a little bit one night and then wrote an article about the experience.”

Since he had seen the whole evolution of the comedy scene, I wondered whether he felt that it had become too rigid, too structured.

“Yeah…yeah I do. Back then I could have Emo Philips come in and do twenty minutes and then I’d get a chance to go to the bathroom. Then maybe Judy Tenuta would come in and do twenty to thirty minutes…and then I’d get a chance to go to the bathroom.” Dow related that, “For me, I thought it should go on all night because I had been out to the Comedy Store and all of these places. I mean, I had moved out toL.A.in 1983 and I spent a couple of years out there going to different clubs. Back then, nobody closed their bar after the show. A lot of times, we’d all be up doing improv.”

Dow was not a native resident of Dayton, having moved here to attend Wright State, but he quickly adopted the city as his own. He became a habitué of the Arcade, the local bars and the dinner clubs ofDayton. I asked when he had moved from Dayton to his current residence inFlorida.

“Uh…let’s see (yelling to his wife)…Kay! When did we move down here? What year was that? 1997.” Dow the related a funny anecdote. “After we moved, aDaytonnewspaper im

 

mediately voted me the funniest man inDayton…then they did it again the next year. They voted me the funniest man inDaytonfor two straight years and I wasn’t even living there!”

The paper in question used to be called The Dayton Voice…then Impact Weekly…and now it is known as the Dayton City Paper. Maybe we were just still pretending that our Uncle Dow hadn’t left our fair city.

[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llpMWbmXDY0&list=PLC369CAD7BFD06170&index=1&feature=plpp_video’]

Jimmy Pardo: The Jazz Zinger

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From Comedy Clubs To Conan, This Comedian Is Never Not Funny

After studying for a year at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Pasadena, California, Jimmy Pardo decided to go back to his home state of Illinois and entered the comedy scene during the halcyon days of the eighties. Coming up through the ranks, Jimmy went on to become a headliner, appearing in his own Comedy Central half-hour special and making guest appearances on television shows like That Seventies Show and Becker. Always casting a nervous eye on the future, Jimmy has taken a practical approach to his career, creating opportunities for himself instead of waiting for that ephemeral big break. By doing so, Jimmy has created several shows of his own, such as Running Your Trap, You Bet Your Life and a very successful one man show, understatedly titled Attention Must Be Paid: The Jimmy Pardo Story. Not satisfied with becoming stale or behind the times, Pardo hosts a critically acclaimed and wildly successful podcast, Never Not Funny, which is an unscripted talk with various guests from the world of comedy as well as Pardo’s unique humor.

What follows is an (almost) unedited transcript of my most recent interview with the acerbically witty comedian as he was in transit to the world’s best day job…

J.T.: How are you doing?
Jimmy: Good! Jimmy Pardo calling…but obviously you know that.

J.T.: See? I was editing pictures from a pole fitness class. That’s where you rate with me. ‘Pictures of hot, nubile women exercising on stripper poles…what? Jimmy Pardo is on the phone? Well, let me just put these away then!’
Jimmy: Well good for you! And those are ladies you know, right?

J.T.: Yeah.
Jimmy: That makes it hotter, doesn’t it?

J.T.: Yeah, it has that ‘girl next door’ quality to it.
Jimmy: Yeah! Right! I like it. I love the idea of it.

J.T.: Well, how is everything in your world?
Jimmy: Everything is good. As we speak, I am driving to go to work with Conan.

J.T.: That was going to be my first question. I was wondering where that was going to lead because you were there right when the Jay Leno hammer fell.
Jimmy: I was. I was there for the whole seven months of the Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien and, luckily, I got picked up to go to work again. Today is our first test show and, as I said, I’m heading there right now.

J.T.: That is just ultra-cool.
Jimmy: Yeah! I’m really excited about it. I don’t…and if I’m repeating myself, I apologize… this is a great group of people to work with and Conan is just a terrific guy and I’m honored to be part of such a terrific team. I know that sounds like a press release, but I mean it.

J.T.: Oh, well yeah. You know, the way that Conan has handled this whole situation, from beginning to end, has just been classy and funny at the same time. I think that it has boosted his image in a  lot of people’s eyes.
Jimmy: It really has. It’s made him sort of like this underdog/folk hero too. People are like, here’s this guy who, for no reason, got shit on, basically. He was putting on and doing a great show, he was being funny and he was getting the ratings in the demographics that they had told him that they had wanted him to do, and then they went, ‘Yeah, you know what? That’s not what we want after all *click*’ It’s just ridiculous.

J.T.: Yeah, and things went the other way for Leno as well.
Jimmy: Oh, absolutely.

J.T.: On many different levels.
Jimmy: You know, (Leno) didn’t come off well in any of those interviews that he gave, during and post, in my opinion.

J.T.: Well, switching gears, Never Not Funny is doing really well…
Jimmy: We are doing very well and I’m proud to be a part of that as well. I’ve never been prouder of anything than I am about the podcast.

J.T.: Well, I read a while back that it even got a write up in GQ Magazine…
Jimmy: Yeah! They were nice enough to mention us as their Number One Relatively Obscure Thing To be Paid Attention To and hopefully that got us a few more listeners.

J.T.: Well, that’s kind of a left handed compliment, isn’t it?
Jimmy: (Laughing) Yeah, right! Well, you know how everything needs to be snarky, right?

J.T.: Yeah, but it’s like, ‘Should I say thank you or smack the fuck out of someone?’
Jimmy: Yeah, well, you read Entertainment Weekly and everything has to be some backhanded compliment. It just can’t be, ‘Hey! This is great!’ Everything just has to have that subtext of snarkiness to it.

J.T.: Right! You know, when people have asked me to describe your show, I always say…and you might disagree with this…but there seems to be different styles of stage presence and types of delivery, so I put it into musical terms which is to say that there are those whose performance is more like grunge and some that are more like classical jazz. I’ve always describe your act as being like watching classical jazz. It’s almost got that Catskills quality to it.
Jimmy: I don’t, uh…I don’t disagree with anything you have said. In fact, I’m very flattered when people refer to my delivery as jazz because I do think it has some of those elements, if you are trying to compare it to music because it’s got that rhythm and it can take off into another rhythm. No, I one hundred percent agree with you and I appreciate the compliment and I take it as such.

J.T.: Well, how would you describe your act to someone who hasn’t seen you perform?
Jimmy: You know what? I’ve been trying to figure that out for twenty years. How do you put into words the nonsense I do? You know, I used to call it ‘high energy sarcasm,’ or somebody once described it as that in a review of my show and, at the time, I thought it summed up what I do. I still think it does, but when people think of sarcasm, they picture some dour guy, like a guy that just stands there and is mean, bitter and angry…and that is certainly not what I am. But when they said ‘high energy sarcasm’ I thought, ‘Well, that makes sense because I’m also not Dane Cook or Steve Byrne, who are both fine comics. I’m not one of these guys that shits on those guys. But, they are these high energy kind of guys, but they aren’t really sarcastic. So, for me, high energy sarcasm worked, but I do so much improvisation on stage these days that if there was a way to figure out something like, ‘high energy improvisational sarcasm’…but boy, doesn’t that sound like a shit show? (laughing) I don’t know. I really don’t know how to describe it.

J.T.: That’s what I mean. I have a hard time describing your show because you can go from an egocentric dictator at one point directly into some self deprecating rant about yourself.
Jimmy: It’s, uh…you know what? I mean, that’s exactly it too.

J.T.: Maybe highly energetic schizophrenia.
Jimmy: You know, I want to say that somebody used that term to describe my show once before too. A woman in Ann Arbor called me that. But, I don’t disagree with that either. You’re right…I mean the egocentric dictator is kind of rough…but yeah, I turn it around and then I’m the stooge, which I think is necessary because if you’re just up there yelling, you’re just an a-hole, don’t you think? I mean, you have to turn it on yourself at some point. I think some of these young comics don’t realize that part of it. I apologize J.T., but at zero with this question. It’s odd to try and describe what it is that I do. It’s just funny and…I don’t know. I’m a failure. (laughs)

J.T.: Let’s talk about the Never Not Funny podcasts for a minute then. What do you have coming up with that? Any interesting interviews slated?
Jimmy: You know, we have Scott Aukerman makes his return (October 27th) and next week my beautiful wife Danielle Koenig will be on the show. We’re coming to the end of this season, and we’ve had a lot of new guests this season and added some new faces to the show and I already have a lot of new faces lined up for season eight, but I don’t want to give those away because it won’t be a surprise when we do it.

J.T.: That and you’ll jinx yourself and they’ll pull out at the last minute the moment you utter their names.
Jimmy: Oh, of course. The minute you printed their name, that guy would cancel. We also have the Podcast-o-thon coming up the day after Thanksgiving. This year we’re going to go for twelve hours where last year we only went for nine. We raised over twenty-one thousand bucks last year. We’re hoping to best that, but I don’t see that being possible, but I would should love it if it happened. Starting today, as a matter of fact, we began to book the people for that event. I sent out a bunch of invitations to appear for it and hopefully soon they will start to come back to me, so there will be that as well as well as the regulars from the show and we will have a great twelve hour marathon.

J.T.: What is the charity that you are raising money for?
Jimmy: It goes to Smile Train. That’s the charity that goes to Third World countries and fixes cleft palates.

J.T.: Oh yeah!
Jimmy: Yeah, you’ve probably seen the ads like in the back of Parade Magazine.

J.T.: Yeah, some of the most horrific pictures in those ads.
Jimmy: They really are. I picked up Parade Magazine and I saw this ad and it says, ‘Each surgery only costs $250.’ So, I immediately donated…not because I’m this big money guy…I don’t have money to donate, but I was so moved by those horrific pictures that I thought, ‘Jesus Christ! For $250 bucks you can fix this kid’s face? Why not donate?’ Then when it came time last year for the end of the season, we said, ‘Hey, let’s do a marathon podcast just for the fun of it!’ and then I thought, ‘You know what? Let’s do it for this charity.’ So, when we raised this much money…I never…I never felt like I had done something better for the world in my life than giving this much money to save this many kids. It really felt great and hopefully we can do the same this year.

J.T.: Well, I sincerely hope it does as well. With the podcasts getting more popular, are people seeking you out asking to be a guest instead of visa versa?
Jimmy: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah! People…uh…not so much calling, but if I’m like out at a show, (comedians) are like, ‘Yeah, I’d sure like to show up on that podcast!’ Nine times out of ten, I go, ‘Yeah!’ and walk away and hope they never bring it up again. With the one out of ten, I’ll go back to my co-host producer Matt (Belknap) and tell him, ‘Hey! Kevin Pollak wants to do our show!’ and so it’s like, ‘Great! Let’s book him!’ and we definitely get him on as quickly as we can. But, with all of the requests, sadly, there’s a reason you haven’t been asked my friend. By the way, some of those are really funny people, but not funny in conversation. You know, I used to hear Steve Dahl and Garry Meier do radio out of Chicago and they interviewed Jerry Seinfeld who, at the time my…you know…and man, he was awful!

J.T.: Oh yeah, I’ve seen a ton of interviews where you would have gotten better reactions out of coma patients.
Jimmy: Don’t you think?

J.T.: Yeah, he always just gave really short, deadpan answers.
Jimmy: Just horrible! Not even funny! You’re not promoting your show! You just…showed up! So, again, it’s not an insult to these people when I don’t want to have them on, it’s just I know that they are not going to be right for that format.

J.T.: I’ve always thought that about some of these morning radio shows. There are some absolutely hysterical people that have been on there, but the format kills them.
Jimmy: Right!

J.T.: Ron Shock is a perfect example because he is a brilliantly funny man, but his long drawling type of storytelling does not survive on that ADHD programming format. I mean, before he is 1/16th through a story, someone has already interrupted him and derailed the whole thing…
Jimmy: Exactly! Boy! You’re not kidding either. You’re just derailed and, like in Ron’s case, with that Southern drawl, how do you go back like, ‘Anyhow, what Ah wuz sayin’ wuz…’ It would make you sound like a dick, so you drop it and you’re done. So, instead of coming off with this really funny story, people listening are like, ‘Well, that made no sense! Thank God someone interrupted it!’ Yeah, I agree with you. I one hundred percent agree.

J.T.: By the same token, there are people that are absolutely hysterical on radio, and you would think that their stage show would utilize that improvisation, but after four or five years, it’s the same routine.
Jimmy: (laughing) Right!

J.T.: Well, that’s like that air bass thing you do on Bob and Tom. At least since their program has been picked up for television broadcast by WGN, you can get the more subtle nuances of the air bass performance.
Jimmy: Definitely. You know, as much as I want exposure, the downside is that anytime I go to a Bob and Tom market, there’s always at least one guy that yells out, ‘Air bass!’ It’s like, ‘Okay, there’s no music playing sir. It doesn’t apply to what we are doing currently.’ And by the way, and you know this: They don’t yell out when it’s quiet…they yell it out one word before the punchline. ‘Air bass!’ Yeah, thanks.

J.T.: Well, have you picked up any other air instruments like the accordion?
Jimmy: I have not. I stick strictly with the bass. You know, when you perfect an instrument like that, you don’t want to take away from its uniqueness. How’s that for a ridiculous answer (laughing).

J.T.: What you should do is if someone yells out for air bass, you should just stop what you’re doing and do like a three minute solo without any music or noise whatsoever and then, when you’re done, remind everyone to thank the gentleman after the show for suggesting that encore performance.
Jimmy: Right! I mean, obviously I do other nonsense, like I tap dance for no reason…you know, I’m doing this Cajun character who just shows up out of nowhere now, for no reason.

J.T.: (laughing) I haven’t seen that yet.
Jimmy: Oh, it is the dumbest thing you will see in your entire life. I’m not going to lie to you: I’ve never, in my entire career in comedy, I’ve never heard an audience laugh harder than when I do this dumb Cajun guy. It doesn’t last more than two minutes, because it can’t because it is so ridiculous, but when I do it, I still get spit-takes. I mean, Jesus Christ, I’ve worked my ass off for twenty years and, as it turns out, I do this dumb Cajun guy and he gets the biggest laugh. Fair enough.

J.T.: You caught the Larry the Cable Guy syndrome.
Jimmy: Yeah, right. But I never go more than two minutes because I don’t want to be that guy…you know, with all of his billions of dollars. I don’t want that. No.

J.T.: That’s funny because I just watched the roast of Larry the Cable Guy and Greg Giraldo just tore into him.
Jimmy: He was great, Greg. Everybody says Jeff Ross, they call him the ‘master of the roast,’ but I think Greg was. Don’t you think?

J.T.: Greg’s stuff was brilliant.
Jimmy: Nobody was writing sharper material than Greg.

J.T.: Oh, I mean, Greg Giraldo doing the Flavor Flav roast with, ‘You look like Idi Amin after a three year crack binge on the sun!’ That is an elegant reference.
Jimmy: (laughing) Gorgeous!

J.T.: I got to meet Greg once when he middled for Colin Quinn. I was very surprised. He was a very subdued guy off stage.
Jimmy: You know, it surprised me to. I met him a couple of times at the Montreal Comedy Festival and he’s one of those guys that, like when you see him, with what he does on stage, which is so quick and sarcastic, but off stage, it’s like, ‘Hey man, I’m Greg.’ And it’s like, ‘Oh! Oh good! We’re just people.’

J.T.: If you ever get a chance to, look up Greg’s interview in Psychology Today…it definitely gives some insight into what happened.
Jimmy: Okay. I will definitely look that up when I get home tonight.

J.T.: So, your role on Conan: are you doing the warm up only or are you going to be getting into the writing as well?
Jimmy: You know, I’ll still be just the opening act, but I’m hoping to get in some more sketches this go-round. I did a few for the Tonight Show (with Conan O’Brien) that, due to time constraints, never aired. I am hoping to get in some more sketches and to be a little more involved, but for the most part right now, I’m happy to just go out and be the warm up act and have, quite frankly, the greatest day job in the world.

J.T.: That would be fantastic. Have you been told to keep things in check?
Jimmy: You know what, the only notes that I was ever given, to be honest with you, is just ‘don’t swear.’ That was it.

J.T.: I interviewed Archbishop Schnurr and the whole way to the interview, I’m smoking like a freight train telling myself, ‘Don’t say fuck, don’t say fuck and for fuck’s sake, don’t say goddamn.’ Then I got worried that I had hyped myself up so much that the first words out of my mouth were going to be, ‘Fuck, fuck, fucking, fuckity fuck!’…and then I would go straight to hell.
Jimmy: (laughing) Of course! You know, it’s funny, I did a private gig once, which I can’t stand doing, by the way, and before I went on, the guy goes, ‘The only thing I ask is just  don’t say fuck.’ So I said, ‘Oh, okay.’ So I decided to replace every ‘fuck’ in my act with ‘goddamn.’ As it turns out, that might be a little more offensive to some people. Turns out that saying, ‘This goddamn thing and that goddamn thing’…some people truly get offended by that. Okay, good enough.

J.T.: Now, you’ve played Wiley’s a few times…
Jimmy: This will be my third time there. I used to play Joker’s way back in the day, so when that kind of went down, Rob (Haney) was kind enough to call me up, so I went over there and I love it.

J.T.: Do you think it’s a good room for you?
Jimmy: You know what? I’m a guy that speaks so positively about comedy clubs as opposed to venues, and you have one of each in Dayton. I love Wiley’s and while he might not get the numbers that the other club gets, in my opinion, you’re getting comedy fans as opposed to people who just want a night out. I like a nice 150-200 seat room with the stage right there and the people are right there with you, so you can communicate as opposed to perform. That’s the problem…well, I guess it’s not a problem…well, I kind of think it’s a problem…I think that having the stage and the audience so separated has made some comedians go in the direction of, ‘I should perform! I need to kill!’ as opposed to just worrying about being funny. That’s what I love about Wiley’s…even back in the day when Joker’s was there. There were many years when Joker’s drew tremendous crowds. Then, sadly, it became a place for bachelorette parties and you end up wanting to slam your head against a wall.

J.T.: There’s no competing with a bachelorette party.
Jimmy: The day that someone puts a rule out across the country that bachelorette parties are not allowed at comedy clubs, that guy will be my hero.

J.T.: Speaking of Rob, when he told me he sent you an email warning you that I wanted an interview, he said, ‘Oh, I told him that a local writer wanted to interview him and that you were a big fan of his iPod.’ Rob and technology equals a bad mix.
Jimmy: You know, Rob will send me an email and if it takes me more than one word to respond, he’ll write back, ‘Can you just pick up the phone!’ He’s like a dad in that way. Like a dad…if you picture the stereotypical dad…that’s Rob. ‘I don’t understand this future!’

J.T.: When he said I loved your iPod instead of Podcast, I was like, ‘Yeah, I love how Jimmy’s playlist jumps from Marilyn Manson to Air Supply…it’s such an eclectic mix.’
Jimmy: You know, there’s a good chance that might happen. Yeah, you’ve seen my iPod. You like the way I handle it. You like the case and the clear plastic I put over it to prevent scratches.

J.T.: Well, let’s wrap this up. Is there anything that you want out there that we haven’t covered?
Jimmy: Nah, I think that covers it. In fact, I’m going to be pulling into a garage and I’m probably going to lose you. I sure do appreciate you taking the time to do a story.

J.T.: And I surely appreciate you taking the time to talk with me. I will definitely see you when you get to Wiley’s then.
Jimmy: Fantastic! I look forward to it. Thank you so much and I appreciate it J.T.

You can catch the sweetly sardonic humor of Jimmy Pardo for a limited engagement at Wiley’s Comedy Niteclub (101 Pine St. in the Oregon District) on Friday November 5th at 9:00 pm and for two shows on Saturday, November 6th at 8:00 pm and 10:30 pm. Tickets range from $10 to $12 and, since this is a special show, no coupons, passes or offers can be accepted. Call (937) 224-JOKE to make reservations and for more information, check out Wiley’s website at www.wileyscomedyclub.com or become friends with them on Facebook.

Heywood Holds A Hootenanny

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The Insane Genius Of Heywood Banks

The first time I saw Heywood Banks (aka Stuart Mitchell), it was in the late eighties at Wiley’s Comedy Club at it’s original location on Patterson Rd. right next to The Pony Keg. I had no clue who he was…I just had free tickets. I can’t remember anything about the opening act, but when Heywood appeared on the stage, I knew that things were going to be different. Not different as in “life changing” or radically cutting edge. More like the way one might describe that weird cousin that never leaves his room, is continually clothed in dirty sweatpants and a Transformers T-shirt and keeps a collection of flies that he has caught because they’re his “friends.”

Heywood bounded up onstage in a glaringly mismatched outfit that would make a 1970’s used car salesman jealous. His horn rimmed glasses glinted in the spotlight and across his iridescent green and yellow plaid sport coat. He held within his hand a well worn, yet shiny guitar and a moment of mild trepidation filled my soul as I wondered what form of musical yodeling I would have to endure. Remember; this was the time of Weird Al and Dr. Gonzo and everyone that could play four chords and did not possess the sex appeal and/or impenetrable liver needed to become a rock star fancied themselves a comedian instead.

Luckily, my fears quickly melted away as Heywood launched into a blurred performance that was absolutely relentless. The comedic hits rained down so fast that your brain couldn’t keep up. You found yourself laughing at a subtle play on words or a particularly astute cultural reference from two songs back and ended up kicking your brain and ears into overdrive, feverishly attempting to catch up with Heywood’s maniacal pace.

Heywood Banks and Emmi Rehmert ~ May 2010

Years later, at Wiley’s new location in the Oregon District, I was standing outside smoking when I noticed a disheveled man extricating himself from behind the wheel of his car, which was loaded floor to ceiling with boxes, junk and a precariously placed toaster that was inexplicably jammed against the back window. The man fumbled about with this box and then that one, his hair a wild, untamed gray banner blowing in the wind. As he stood up and pulled at his goatee, I was struck by the fact that if you slammed a Confederate uniform onto his thin frame, he would make a perfect performer for a Civil War reenactment. I felt a pang of shame as I stood there, entertaining such thoughts about someone who clearly had to be homeless. I looked on with pity as he dove into the car, burrowing towards the back to retrieve, of all things, the toaster!

All things became clear as he wrenched his way out of the car and yelled to Rob Haney, the current owner of Wiley’s Comedy Niteclub, “Do you have two forks?”

A musical genius does require his instrument.

Heywood’s last tenure at Wiley’s Comedy Niteclub was a largely sold out affair, with night after night of wall to wall people crowding Wiley’s walls laughing hysterically at Heywood’s musical musings and quick comedic wit. Offstage, Heywood possesses a very amiable personality and has an interest in a wide variety of subjects, including history and prognostications of future events. Night after night, throngs of fans would line up to get an autograph or just to get their picture taken with the uniquely clothed comedian, taking with them a token of a perfect evening of comedy.

To be able to witness for yourself the frenzied freestyle comedy of Heywood Banks, Wiley’s Comedy Niteclub will be hosting a series of special shows featuring the comedian on  Thursday October 28th at 7:30 pm  and for two shows on Friday October 29th at 7:00 pm and 9:30 pm. Admission is $15 on Thursday and $20 for Friday’s shows. Since this is a special show, no passes, coupons or offers will be accpted. Heywood is best known for his songs Toast!, Big Butter Jesus as well as a score of other tunes, which you can check out on his website at www.heywoodbanks.com .

Queer As Funny

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Poppy Champlin Brings The Queer Queens Of Qomedy To Wiley’s

The Queer Queens Of Qomedy are Qumming! Not only is that poor grammar, but it sounds more than a bit dirty as well. Poppy Champlin, creator of the Queer Queens of Qomedy, has been a staple of the comedy scene, appearing on Comic’s Unleashed with Byron Allen, Rosie O’Donnell’s Stand-up Spotlight and has recently unveiled a new show on Showtime called Pride: The Gay and Lesbian Comedy Slam. Having spoken with Poppy several times over the years, one thing that she has stated over and over was that the show was not strictly geared towards the LGBT crowd as well as her love of Wiley’s Comedy Niteclub itself.

Appearing with Poppy this time around are comedians Dana Austin, who hails from Cleveland, and Shann Carr, who has published a hilarious book called, You’re Going To Be Gay! The Queer Queens will reign over Wiley’s on Thursday September 9th at 8:00 pm, Friday at 9:00 pm, Saturday at 8:00 pm and 10:30 pm and then on Sunday at 8:00 pm. Tickets range from $10 to $20, so either call (937) 224-JOKE (5653) for more information or to make reservations or go to Wiley’s website at www.wileyscomedyclub.com.

J.T.: Since the name of the tour is The Queer Queens of Qomedy, I’m going let you give me an overview of what people can expect.
Poppy: Well, this is something new that we’re doing in Dayton that we’ve never done before, which I’m looking forward to seeing how it goes. Usually we just do one night wherever we go. Like in Chicago, we did one night and we had a good show. Now, this will be different because we’ll be at Wiley’s from Thursday through Sunday. The two other comics that I’m bringing are really, really, really good and they’re really well known in the queer comedy world, so it’s giving people more of an opportunity to see them over a longer amount of time. These two comics…Shann Carr is a story teller comedian and weaves a story and then slams you with a great punchline. Dana Austin is a African American comic who tells it like it is, so pay attention. They’re more mainstream, so hopefully the people in the area that are used to great comedy, because I know Wiley’s gets great comics, they can also come and enjoy this without feeling like they’re going to be inundated with gay this and gay that. It’s really more great comedy than it is queer comedy…but, it is queer. We are all gay.

J.T.: You have made Wiley’s a regular stop on your yearly tours. What is it about the club that you like?
Poppy: I like Wileys because it is an old comedy club and there is plenty of comedy chi in the room and I am a part of the old guard of comics and belong in that room.

J.T.: Are you going to have to change up the act a little bit to accommodate playing at Wiley’s?
Poppy: Yeah, I’ll change it a little. I mean, I used to play there all the time. I used to do Wiley’s back in 92’-93’…and I think even 91’…and I used to have a blast!

J.T.: …and you will find that it hasn’t changed since then.
Poppy: (Laughs) Yeah, it was a blast and I always used to just have so much fun there. I remember that I was the one who had broken the record there for being the longest on stage. I mean, since then, it’s been broken many times, but I remember being up there for like two hours one time. You know, I was just sitting up there just drinking and buying people shots and they’re buying me shots and we were just having a good time. I just know that Wiley’s is a fun place and when people go there, they always have a good time. This time around, I would probably bring out more of my drinking material versus some feminist material or something like that, so, more towards blue collar material and whatever works in the area.
J.T.: Do you feel that your shows kind of bridge the gap between the LGBT communities and “mainstream” communities?
Poppy: They sure could bridge the gap if the straight community would be daring enough to check us out…

J.T.: Do you think that the Queer Queens of Qomedy Tour challenges people’s perceptions?
Poppy: Yes it is tough to get past the name sometimes and those that are scared by the name do not show up and those that are not scared by the name come out and don’t even consider the name for the next one or one like it.

J.T.: Do you have a large following of fans in the Dayton and Miami Valley area?
Poppy: This is the 3rd year so when the word goes out that we are coming the LGBT community rallies and puts it out on the net and since it is a relatively small community, so the peeps should come out to support and enjoy!

“So A Dyslexic Walks Into A Bra…”

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…and Other Tales From the Fringe of Dayton’s Comedy Scene.

The only sound cutting through the sea of silence is a slight feedback whine as the flop sweat pours from your forehead, reflecting chromatic prisms from the glaring, white-hot spotlight. You clench the microphone with sweat-slicked hands, as your mind becomes an echoing chamber of panic. You can’t even make out the faces in the crowd, the piercing light obliterates their features, changing the warmth of humanity into an amorphous blob of judgment. How could this have happened? Your mom told you that you were funny. The clerk at UDF always laughed at your jokes. Your shadow, nailed against the faux brick wall by the merciless spotlight, seems to shrink as your confidence bids you a fond adieu, leaving you for climes that are more hospitable. You either recover quickly, raining down a torrent of bon mots to cover your previous gaffe, or you walk the longest walk ever made under the glaring reproach of the unamused.
Stand up comedy is one of the least understood and surely one of the most minimally regarded of the performing arts, yet it is one of the most difficult crafts to hone, execute and endure. The constant pressure to produce and perform is unrelenting. Development of a single joke’s precision, synthesis and rhythm is always evolving. The eternal search for material, the sharpening of lines, the shaping of words and the final development of delivery is exhaustive. Ironically, just as perfection is almost within reach, the material is usually scrapped because it is no longer topical or has become tired and mawkish and now, all new material must be captured and crafted.
In an attempt to check out the local comedy scene with an eye for how they all got started, I interviewed several local comics. Some of them are fairly new to the landscape, appearing at open mic nights for very little or no compensation, while others are national road veterans, having amassed quite an impressive resume’. The first question that arises would have to be why anyone would want to pursue a career in comedy in the first place.
A seasoned comedian, Mark Fradl, started his career in 1992 and ran hard until 1999, before abruptly leaving the stage completely for various reasons, including being burnt out on the road and its day to day hustle. He returned to stand up several years ago because the desire for performing live was re-ignited within him. When I asked him recently why anyone would get into comedy, he said, “I think you’ll find most comics have the same story: people told them they were funny. They somehow got up the courage to go up that first time at an open mic night (still the hardest thing I’ve ever done) and they just kept doing it. The dream starts huge – Tonight Show, Letterman, sitcom – but quickly narrows down to more immediate goals – get a strong five minutes, get a strong fifteen minutes, get ANY work, get good work, and then the Holy Grail of goals: quit the day job. I think that’s what keeps people in it, there’s always another little rung to climb. Step-by-step you’re deeper into the life.”
Ryan Singer, who used to be a schoolteacher for Dayton Public Schools and is now on national tours stated candidly, “I just had to. It is that simple. As a kid I remember seeing standup comedians on television and thinking to myself, ‘that is the best job ever!'”
A recent college graduate as well as a fairly current addition to the local comedy scene, Mat Thornburg took a slightly different route to the stage. “I was really involved in theater in high school” he wrote me, “and I always ended up getting cast as the comic relief. People kept telling me that I should try standup comedy, but I had no idea how to get started. Then when I was in college they had a comedy contest to win tickets to see Dane Cook. So I guess you could say the reason I got on stage the first time was because I wanted to see Dane Cook, but really it was something that I was going to do sooner or later and the contest was just an easy way to make that first step.”
Jeff Bang, nicknamed, quite unimaginatively ‘Banger’, is a butcher by day and does stand up locally as well as working at Wiley’s comedy club as a…well…I’m not really sure what Banger does, keeping me company while I stand outside and smoke, I guess. Anyway, when I asked him why he kept doing stand up, he answered my question with a question.
“Why do I keep doing it? Do you know what it’s like to get a good high? A big rush?” To which I replied that not only had I never imbibed in any illicit drugs in the past, I would eschew all illegal substances in the future if in fact any illegal substances were presented to me. He did not believe me, informing me that I was full of bovine fecal matter and continued onto his point. “There is no bigger rush than standing on a stage and making people laugh. There is no bigger rush. You get up there and do it and you have however many people are there, a hundred, a thousand, however many, and they’re in the palm of your hand and they are just hanging on every word. There is no bigger rush than that.”
Mark Fradl echoed Banger’s reasoning with, “…the good shows are great enough to get you through the bad ones. There’s still the insane rush of coming up with an idea and doing it on stage that night and honing it show after show. And there’s still a thrill in seeing how you’re bringing some pure laughter into someone’s life.”
“You’ve got to have that burning desire like 24/7 that makes you want to go out… just want to go out. You’re scared and nervous, but you want to go out there.” remarks James Earl Tompkins from Springfield. Originally from the East Side of Chicago, he landed at Wilberforce and Central State in his mid-twenties. His inspiration actually came from a speech class where he learned how to debate and discuss topics. He saw that he could apply those concepts to comedy and began trying to hone the mechanics at open mic events. His first forays did not always go as planned. “I felt so small on a lot of those days. I just wanted to hide. Hide out for weeks.” He sought solace in books that showed him the pitfalls of failure and how to strike back and overcome over adversity.
Egyptian born Sherif Hedeyat, who lives in a three-bedroom sleeper cell in Centerville and is one of the members of the Axis of Evil Comedy Tour, started in much the same way. While attending Wright State University, he tried out an open mic night at the now defunct Joker’s Comedy Café.
“I remember I was in the lounge at Wright State,” Sherif recalls, “and I remember somebody saying, ‘Hey, you’re pretty funny. You should try doing comedy at Joker’s.’ I went in there one night and just ate it bad. Literally it was like a year between my first and second time on stage because I was sitting there going, ‘Man! That was a painful experience!’ Then the second time on stage…well, it’s kind of like a drug. You start once, then you go back a while later and then you start to want it and you get better and you want it more, and it progressed.”
With ego crushing moments, little or no pay and the constant reworking of material, why would some partially sane person keep subjecting themselves to this potentially abusive mistress? The rush and the possibility of fame and fortune are motivating forces, but definitely not one that ranks the highest in most of the comedians’ minds that I interviewed.
“I keep doing it because there’s nothing else that provides the same thrill or satisfaction.” says Mat Thornburg. “Standup is great because you know instantly how you’re doing. That can be bad when you’re not doing well, but when you are doing well it’s great to hear it in the audience’s laughter. I think another reason I keep doing it is that there’s always room for improvement. There’s always something I can get better at or something I can make funnier and every performance is an opportunity to learn something new about standup and what works for you as a performer.”
I wondered if the national headliners looked down upon the aspiring comedian with disdain. Having already slogged up the mountain, did they view the local comics as untalented plebes or would they remember the arduous journey that they themselves had made and offer some assistance. I asked Banger this question, because he has a unique perspective, hanging out at Wiley’s, doing whatever it is he does there.
“A good headliner will look at an open mic guy that’s ‘got it’, especially the ones who’ve ‘got it’, and encourage them and they’ll give them little tips here and there.” Jeff said, “The ones (headliners) who are stuck on themselves, and they’re not usually the best headliner in the world, those are the ones that look down on the open mic guys.”
Ryan Singer had a slightly differing view, stating, “I think headliners don’t spend much time thinking about the local comedians one way or the other. I think headliners have their own careers to worry about and especially in the business nowadays, it can be brutal because there are so many comedians out there trying to work the same rooms. It is a tough business and when you do find a headliner that wants to help you, it is truly a random act of kindness. There are those that enjoy seeing the local comedians and offer good advice about building a career. Most young comedians don’t want to hear the advice because is all about patience and hard work. It takes a long time to become an overnight success in comedy.”
The Dayton and surrounding area has nurtured many nationally known humorists and comedians. Jonathan Winters, Erma Bombeck, Dave Chappelle, Drew Hastings, Dave Zage, Kenny Smith, Jesse Joyce, Gary Owen, Rob Haney…the list goes on and on. Is the Dayton comedy scene still a vibrant and living player on the national stage?
“Actually, I see a lot of good, up and coming comedians.” said Sherif. “There was a time for several years when we (local comedians) weren’t working ‘together’. I mean, when I came up, Cincinnati had Josh Sneed, Greg Warren and those guys, they were all hanging out together, they were writing together, they were in the clubs hanging out, they were creating that scene. In Dayton, it was almost like everyone was just doing their own thing or they were going to Cincinnati or Columbus to hang out. It seems like ever since the Funnybone opened (in Beavercreek) we got a whole new clientele and audience and we’ve got a whole new crop of comedians.”
To stand at a microphone alone, captured by the spotlight in front of a group of strangers with the intent of making them laugh is a daunting task unto itself. A classically trained actor performing a one man show does not have to carefully gauge the spectators and change up lines in midstream or alter the dialogue to please his audience. If an audience came to see Hamlet, then Hamlet they shall see. Yet how do you please a group that just shows up with the expectation of being made to laugh? Everyone’s sensibilities and sense of humor are truly not the same. The ability to have a rural farmer sitting next to a office worker who is seated near a college student and having them all succumbing to the least understood of all human reactions, that of laughter…well, one is truly encountering art at its most refined.
You can check out some of the best that the area has to offer almost any given Sunday at Wiley’s Comedy Niteclub (check website for details). This coming month, from July 1st through the 4th, Wiley’s will be holding a comedy contest, which I would like to think of as a Comedic Thunderdome-esque Cage Match of Epic Proportions, but Rob Haney just tells me to shut up when I say things like that. Anyway, you can come down and watch the best of the best compete for comedic glory or, since there is enough time, stand in front of a mirror, your dog and your family for a month, spitting the best anecdotes and one liners you can think of, honing your skills for the Big Time! The winner will receive $1,000 in American currency and forever secure their place in the Dayton’s Hall of Humor…well, if we had one of those here in Dayton, I’m sure that you would be secured there. Check out the open mic nights, and especially come out and support the local talent for the Wiley’s Comedy Contest on Thursday, July 1st at 8:30 pm, Friday, July 2nd at 9:00 pm, Saturday July 3rd at 8:00 pm and 10:30 pm and Sunday, July 4th at 8:30 pm. Tickets are a mere $2. To enter the contest yourself, contact via e-mail Jack Wilson funnymayor@aol.com.

Droopy Drew Donisi: El Dago Diablo

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“Droopy” Drew Discusses Donnie Baker, Motor Boatin’ And Fun

Hailing from the deep south (somewhere around the Franklin, Ohio area), “Droopy” Drew Donisi takes the stage brandishing a guitar to play his own originally warped southern rock tinged tunes. Drew’s approach to comedy is open, engaging the audience with his sincere bouts of storytelling interspersed with original melodies.

“I don’t want to complain and I don’t want to get on stage and bitch about anything.” Drew said during a recent interview. “I just want to tell a story that I may have made up, but it’s going to be a funny ass story.”

Headlining at Wiley’s brings this local comedian full circle as he had originally started his comedic career performing open mic sessions there.

“I did the open mic thing there on Sunday nights, trying out new material and ideas that I had and that’s where I came up with all my songs.” Drew reflected. “You know those open mic nights were just having fun.”

Fun seems to be the watchword of Drew’s performances. He seems to be more concerned about giving the audience a brief respite from their daily concerns and allow them the just let loose, have fun and possibly sing along to one of his many original songs. Some of his could be seen as purely sophomoric, but again, they are purely just for fun. I asked him about the process of writing the songs, whether the melody comes first and the words are hung upon it or if the tune is written around the words…and where did he come up with the ideas for the songs?

            “Well, like that Motor Boatin’ song.” he said. “I saw somebody with big (globular mounds of flesh found on the chests of females)…I know you can’t write that in the article, but…and I was like, ‘Holy smokes!’ and I just started thinking that there are a lot of things that I like to do, but that is one of the things that I love to do, so I just made the whole song about things that I like to do, but the one thing I love to do is motor boatin’.”

And no, if you don’t know what motor boating is, I’m not going to tell you. That’s what the Internet is for. While this and some of Drew’s other songs are riddled with sexual innuendos, a lot of his material is extremely accessible by all audiences. His humor and prowess with the guitar even caught the eye of the Bob and Tom camp. Drew has opened for Donnie Baker on several occasion (the most recently being in Indianapolis in April) and has appeared on the Bob and Tom Show. I asked Drew to fill in the details on how he came to meet Donnie Baker.

“I featured for Dwight York at Wiley’s last year and Donnie came in and did two shows. Dwight moved down to feature and I moved down to opener.” he related, “which, as you know, when they bring somebody big in, the opener usually gets dropped. So Rob (Haney, owner of Wiley’s) kept me in the rotation. So, I hit it off with the band and Donnie was really easy to work with.”

            Drew’s direct approach and unpretentious acceptance of what he wants his comedy to convey has made him a favorite son of not only Wiley’s, but many other venues around the country. His good natured demeanor reflects in the honest answer that he gave me pertaining to what he wanted audiences to take away from his shows:

“All I’m trying to do when I’m doing my comedy is to give the audience the chance to forget about the crap outside the doors.” he said. “When they come in, it’s just stupid humor. It’s nothing that you have to think about. It’s nothing that you really have to know any politics. It’s just a good time out with your friends and a guy that will make you laugh.”

(Writer’s Note: Sadly, Drew passed away suddenly on March 10th, 2012. You will be missed by many “Droopy.”)

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