Richard Pryor, David Letterman, Billy Crystal, Robin Williams, Andy Kaufman, Michael Keaton . . . to name six. The list of people I learned from was endless. Still is. To this day, I’ll drop by a club late at night to meet a stand-up friend and stare at the stage in awe watching a super-talented new guy or girl who just “has something.” And some of the time it’s on their lip.
In the early eighties I also learned from people who were less known—comedians who remain undiscovered today, who are only appreciated by true “comedyphiles” and by those who knew them back when. There are some comics who were and still are gut funny—who everyone thought were going to “pop” as the newest comedy stars but for some reason didn’t. They took chances onstage and for whatever reason, their path didn’t get to be realized in the way it deserved. Many were self-destructive and some just had a bout of bad luck. They say luck is when opportunity and preparedness meet. They also say, “Your lucky numbers are 2, 7, 13, 44 . . . 66 . . .” Jeff Ross. Just felt like writing his name here. He’s a buddy of mine. He loves Chinese food, yoga, and changing his hairstyle as often as he changes his underwear. Once a month.
Comedians are obsessed with their bodies, no matter what shape they are in. I knew several comedians over the years who would come out onstage completely nude. Maybe they did it for shock value or just to show they didn’t give a shit. Going onstage nude is a public act that can work for or against you. I am certain it would work against me.
A guy named Ollie Joe Prater did it once. Ollie was a likable, rotund, Yosemite Sam–type guy who wanted to take the stage once while Richard Pryor and Robin Williams were on simultaneously in the Main Room of the Comedy Store. The only way to upstage the two of them was to come out with his cowboy hat and boots on—and nothing else. It worked on some level. I mean, I’m mentioning it in this book, so it stayed with me.
But I wasn’t sure exactly how it happened so I called my friend director/writer Mike Binder to get my facts straight. His response was calming for me: “I remember it as if it were yesterday. It sure did happen. I was there.” I asked Mike, “So Ollie came out naked except for cowboy boots and a hat completely nude and stood between Robin and Pryor on the Main Room stage?” Mike responded, “Yep. With his dick tucked in between his legs to make it look like a vagina.” So it is written, and so it was done.
Another comedian I’d come up with at the time who came out nude was the brilliant Jim Carrey. Jim’s reason was much simpler. A bunch of us had performed on the Comedy Store’s twentieth-anniversary special and during the curtain call Jim came out naked and stood right next to me with just a sock over his dick. Part of my instinct was to pull it off, and the other part was to move away.
What I remember most is wondering if he’d attached double-stick tape to it, or was his penis just that wide. The man to this day has a genius’s balls. In retrospect, they must have been shoved into the sock along with his dick. In any case, it was funny and memorable, and as soon as tape stopped rolling, I ran away. I could’ve run away the moment he did it, but then I guess I thought I’d have looked like I had a televised moment of gay panic, so I waited until they were done filming. So I could have a moment of gay panic not on tape. Another conundrum had presented itself. It’s hard to upstage a naked person. Then again, if you’ve ever watched a porn film, your eyes will sometimes focus on the only person who’s dressed.
Starting out in stand-up requires a vivid imagination. You need one to actually go up onstage and think you have something to share that people would even want to hear and could find compelling and amusing. And you have to be in the zone to perform whatever that is and enjoy being there. Lots of things have
In the early eighties I also learned from people who were less known—comedians who remain undiscovered today, who are only appreciated by true “comedyphiles” and by those who knew them back when. There are some comics who were and still are gut funny—who everyone thought were going to “pop” as the newest comedy stars but for some reason didn’t. They took chances onstage and for whatever reason, their path didn’t get to be realized in the way it deserved. Many were self-destructive and some just had a bout of bad luck. They say luck is when opportunity and preparedness meet. They also say, “Your lucky numbers are 2, 7, 13, 44 . . . 66 . . .” Jeff Ross. Just felt like writing his name here. He’s a buddy of mine. He loves Chinese food, yoga, and changing his hairstyle as often as he changes his underwear. Once a month.
Comedians are obsessed with their bodies, no matter what shape they are in. I knew several comedians over the years who would come out onstage completely nude. Maybe they did it for shock value or just to show they didn’t give a shit. Going onstage nude is a public act that can work for or against you. I am certain it would work against me.
A guy named Ollie Joe Prater did it once. Ollie was a likable, rotund, Yosemite Sam–type guy who wanted to take the stage once while Richard Pryor and Robin Williams were on simultaneously in the Main Room of the Comedy Store. The only way to upstage the two of them was to come out with his cowboy hat and boots on—and nothing else. It worked on some level. I mean, I’m mentioning it in this book, so it stayed with me.
But I wasn’t sure exactly how it happened so I called my friend director/writer Mike Binder to get my facts straight. His response was calming for me: “I remember it as if it were yesterday. It sure did happen. I was there.” I asked Mike, “So Ollie came out naked except for cowboy boots and a hat completely nude and stood between Robin and Pryor on the Main Room stage?” Mike responded, “Yep. With his dick tucked in between his legs to make it look like a vagina.” So it is written, and so it was done.
Another comedian I’d come up with at the time who came out nude was the brilliant Jim Carrey. Jim’s reason was much simpler. A bunch of us had performed on the Comedy Store’s twentieth-anniversary special and during the curtain call Jim came out naked and stood right next to me with just a sock over his dick. Part of my instinct was to pull it off, and the other part was to move away.
What I remember most is wondering if he’d attached double-stick tape to it, or was his penis just that wide. The man to this day has a genius’s balls. In retrospect, they must have been shoved into the sock along with his dick. In any case, it was funny and memorable, and as soon as tape stopped rolling, I ran away. I could’ve run away the moment he did it, but then I guess I thought I’d have looked like I had a televised moment of gay panic, so I waited until they were done filming. So I could have a moment of gay panic not on tape. Another conundrum had presented itself. It’s hard to upstage a naked person. Then again, if you’ve ever watched a porn film, your eyes will sometimes focus on the only person who’s dressed.
Starting out in stand-up requires a vivid imagination. You need one to actually go up onstage and think you have something to share that people would even want to hear and could find compelling and amusing. And you have to be in the zone to perform whatever that is and enjoy being there. Lots of things have
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