Doug Benson was asked what he remembered most about his prior gigs in Toledo. His answer was very … well, very Doug Benson.

“My last show in Toledo was at 4:20 in the afternoon, so all I remember is having a really good time,” Benson said in an interview with Toledo Free Press.

Such a response is par for the course for the popular comedian, filmmaker and — surprise! — marijuana legalization advocate. Known for appearances on Comedy Central, “Last Comic Standing” and his comic documentary “Super High Me,” Benson will appear on Aug. 4 and 5 at the Funny Bone at Fat Fish Blue in Levis Commons.

Doug Benson

“It’s a powerful feeling, being in control of a crowd. And it feels pretty bad when you lose them,” Benson said of his career choice. “Which is why most people don’t try stand-up comedy.”

Benson might not have taken a stab at stand-up himself — if he hadn’t been dared to, that is. Attending school in L.A., he and a couple friends challenged each other to perform onstage.

“Yeah, some friends said they’d try it if I tried it. They chickened out, and I went on. During my three minute set I got a few laughs, so I was hooked. Not sure what those two guys are doing today,” Benson wryly noted.

He’s performed ever since, carving out a niche in stand-up for more than a quarter of a century. Over time, Benson has refined his ability to work a crowd — he said he sees his audience as a collaborator, not an adversary.

“I work with the audience to make the best show together that we can. Sometimes one of us doesn’t hold up our end of the bargain,” he said.

Benson’s style of observational humor has much parentage — he cites legends like Bill Cosby, George Carlin and Steve Martin among his influences growing up. But he argues that no amount of influence or support is enough to do the job all by itself for someone once they’re under the lights.

“Once I started doing stand-up, several comics who I admired before I got into it said nice things about my act and that was super encouraging. But ultimately, stand-up is something you have to do on your own and no amount of advice can make you funny,” he said.

The environment can be a major factor as well. Between his appearances on Comedy Central and “Last Comic,” Benson has a great deal of experience in doing comedy for a television audience — an experience, he notes, that is wildly different from playing a club.

“When you do the jokes on TV, there’s several people who decide what you can and cannot say,” Benson noted. “So while I have bent to their wishes in order to gain more exposure, I prefer doing comedy in clubs and on podcasts, because I can say whatever I want and the only people I have to answer to is the audience.”

Benson’s also made his mark with comedy albums — after nearly two decades without a recording to his name, he’s released a new one every summer for the past five years. The recording session date, every year? April 20. Of course.

Benson has been a passionate spokesperson for the legalization of pot for many years, and has not been shy about his own use. His most recent comedy album, in fact, was a two-disc set — one disc featured a performance while clean, the other one while, ahem, “baked.”

Being so passionate about such a controversial issue is risky for a comedian trying to go “mainstream,” but such factors don’t trouble Benson much.

“As attitudes about marijuana loosen up, so do attitudes about me and my advocacy. Plus the mainstream is overrated. I like the little niche I’ve carved for myself,” he said.

And Benson said he plans to occupy that niche for as long as he can. “I will always be a stand-up. Telling jokes to a crowd and getting laughs is the goal. And so far, I’m succeeding.”

Tags: "Super High Me", Comedy, Doug Benson, Funny Bone, Jeff McGinnis, Last Comic Standing, marijuana

This entry was posted on Friday, August 3rd, 2012 at 12:00 pm and is filed under Arts and Life, Comedy, Comics.
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A lot of comedians like to take their time setting up bits, telling stories instead of jokes. Not so Dave Landau. The 30-year-old performer is known for his fast-paced delivery — a throwback to the days when comics assumed that their audience could keep up with them. It’s a style, Landau said, that rose out of his hatred of quiet times onstage.

“I do not like silence at all,” Landau said in an interview with Toledo Free Press Star. “Even if the audience was supposed to be kinda quiet at this point, I always just wanted the audience to be laughing. I think just at the beginning it was kind of a nerve thing, just to make sure the audience was laughing the whole time. Now, I do it because I think it’s fun.

“I’m not the guy who can keep the audience for a long period of time — for, like, four minutes to wait for a punch line. I don’t write that kind of thing. I’d say I’m more like Dangerfield, or more old school, in the sense of rapid-fire.”

Landau will bring his fast delivery and big laughs to Toledo from June 28-30, when he appears at Connxtions Comedy Club on Heatherdowns Boulevard. “I’ve done Connxtions many, many times, and every time I go it’s always a good time,” he said.

Comedy has always been in Landau’s blood. The Michigan native said he had long established himself as a class clown in high school before going to college to study acting.

Dave Landau

But his talent for getting laughs — and the intervention of at least one important person — steered him in a new direction.

“My wife now is one of the people who helped push me into stand-up at the time. And I just kinda got hooked into the stand-up side more instead of performing in a group or, like, an ensemble,” Landau said.

Landau spent time training at The Second City Training Center in Metro Detroit, which he credits with teaching him how to think and write jokes quickly. His comedic persona at the beginning, however, was almost 180 degrees removed from what he portrays on stage today.

“When I first started, I was extremely dry, and just extremely low-energy. Like, almost a Steven Wright. And I was, like, squeaky clean when I started. And not that I’m, like, immensely dirty or anything, but I’m not afraid to steer away from topics [like I was] when I first started. And I think, just now, I’ve lived more life and I’m just more confident as a human being,” he said.

“My life has evolved, and my stand-up has evolved, so I have more experiences for people to relate to.”

In recent years, Landau has seen his public exposure grow from a wide variety of sources, including appearances on Comedy Central’s “Live at Gotham” and NBC’s reality competition “Last Comic Standing.” But recently, Landau said most fans find him through his regular stints on the nationally syndicated radio program “The Bob and Tom Show.”

“My kind of humor seems to fit well to the demographic that they play to. And because I’m from the Midwest, I just think I fit the market better, and I tend to get a lot of fans because of that show. And ‘Last Comic’ is kinda dead now. Like, people don’t remember it, even though it was just a couple years ago. But things go so fast, so quickly, that stuff fades away really fast these days.”

Though many comedians have noted the difference between performing in a club versus having your act recorded for television, Landau said that, for him, the two experiences are basically identical.

“They’re both making an audience laugh. And a lot of the shows that I’ve done, actually — like ‘Live in Gotham’ or ‘Last Comic Standing’ — were shot in comedy clubs,” he noted.

“The only difference is, if they heckle you in the comedy club, you go at ’em and you rip ’em apart. If it happens when NBC is putting up millions of dollars, the studio and people in the room are gonna rip you apart for ruining the show. So there’s more of a safety net when you’re on television, without a doubt.”

Though the native Midwesterner is currently living in Los Angeles, a place where many comedians have parlayed their experience into work in movies and television, Landau said that stand-up remains his main passion.

“[I] have worked on a few pilots and stuff like that. I’ve taken a different route to kinda break more into the writing side and that sort of a thing,” he said. “And what I’m finding is, I really enjoy being a club comic. And it’s not that it’s not frustrating, and that I don’t enjoy the work out here, because I do enjoy the work out here. But, I really do find just being a stand-up comic the thing I enjoy the most.”

Tags: Connxtions, Dave Landau, Jeff McGinnis, Last Comic Standing, NBC, Pop Goes the Culture

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 26th, 2012 at 9:17 am and is filed under Comedy, Pop Goes the Culture, Star.
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Josh Blue will make his way back to the Funny Bone at Fat Fish Blue on April 26-29. Blue lives with cerebral palsy and his self-deprecating sense of humor has earned him many fans and helped him win the fourth season of “Last Comic Standing” in 2006. Six years later, he’s still touring heavily.

Blue has a 4-year-old son and a 2-year-old daughter.

“You should see me walking down the street with a stroller. People walk up to the stroller acting like they expected to see a bucket of door-knobs or something,” he said. “It’s like free material, two kids and one good arm. My boy is like me in a lot of ways, he’s such a joker. You should see him in public, walking around like he’s got palsy. I have to tell him, ‘Just because Daddy runs like that doesn’t mean you have to.’

“Being a dad is great. It’s the best thing I’ve ever done, the biggest accomplishment of my life. My wife actually just got me and my son matching bibs.”

Touring so much weighs heavy on the family man, but has its rewards.

“I really miss my kids when I’m on the road,” Blue said. However, as a result of his work ethic and the appeal of his comedy, Blue was able to land a coveted Showtime special. Filmed in 2011 in Minneapolis, Blue’s special, “Sticky Change,” premieres April 18.

Josh Blue

Blue began crashing open-mic nights intended for music and poetry as a college student and never looked back.

“My friends really encouraged me to do comedy,” Blue said. “They said, ‘You’re funny all the time, you should try it.’”

Less than a decade later, Blue has enjoyed great success. He has enjoyed numerous television specials and appearances, and was the first comedian to perform stand-up on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.” Blue doesn’t show any signs of slowing down.

“Pretty much, I don’t plan on quitting,” he said. “I love doing stand-up and I feel like this is a gift I’ve been given that not too many people have. It’s fun to be able to go up there and make a difference talking about disability. I feel like there are other things for me, like film or TV but I don’t think I’ll ever lose the dirty lust for stand-up.”

As Blue’s career has progressed, venues and audiences have grown. Blue said as headliner, he no longer gets to see too many other headlining comedians.

“When I was opening, I got to see a lot of other big-name comics. Now that I’m on the road I only see openers,” he said. “That’s why I bring Chuck Roy or Ben Roy with me; I have to bring my own friends.

“Ben Roy has been the only person I’ve been afraid to follow after I became famous. He crushes it. So what I did was took Ben Roy on the road with me so I could learn how to follow him. A lot of other people will bring weak talent with them. I want someone to crush it before me so I can take the handoff.”

Blue said he enjoys celebrity.

“It’s really cool now being onstage. People know who I am, I have less to explain to people,” he laughed. “If you don’t know about palsy and you come to my show, you’re like, what is going on here?”

Blue said much of his downtime in new cities is spent researching the town and enjoying nature.

“Right now I’m soaking in beautiful Idaho. As we’re doing this interview I’m drawing a picture. Before that I went for an hourlong run slash walk. I just wanted to get a vibe and see what I can make fun of. I’m pretty much a nature nutball too. I went out and watched birds for a little bit,” Blue said. “I’m also really into throwing knives and hatchets now. I just started throwing eight-inch circular saw blades. It’s awesome.”

Blue asked for one favor: “Could you make mention of my Twitter account? It’s been blowing up lately, but people should follow me because for every three-word tweet I write, it takes me five minutes to type.”

Favor granted: @JoshBlueComedy.

Tags: cerebral palsy, Funny Bone, Josh Blue, Last Comic Standing, Sticky Change

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 17th, 2012 at 11:27 am and is filed under Comics, Featured, Star.
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Comedian Ralphie May is coming to Northwest Ohio and he’s not pulling any punches. In fact, he may be giving a few unsuspecting folks some gut-wrenching shots of material that he promises will be politically incorrect, racially insensitive and culturally controversial. May makes his Sandusky debut May 15 at the Sandusky State Theatre. The event is a fundraiser for the Huron County Humane Society and the Humane Society of Erie County.

May first became a national name when he appeared on NBC-TV’s “Last Comic Standing” in 2003. From there, he has seemingly toured non-stop, released DVDs and grown his fans into the millions. Toledo Free Press Star talked to the funnyman about Sandusky, his pot bust in Guam last fall and his growing popularity.

Star: Have you ever been to Sandusky before?

Ralphie May: No, I never have. It’s like I’m stepping down, but really I’m stepping up.

Star: You never went to Cedar Point before?

RM: No, they don’t let fat guys on amusement park rides.

Star: What’s new in your world?

Ralphie May

RM: I’m doing two different shows entirely. I’m doing a real controversial one for Showtime and another special for Comedy Central called “Ralphie May 4-20.” The Comedy Central show will be taped in October. The Showtime special will tape a month later.

Star: Is it hard to have two acts at once?

RM: I don’t think so. I just tell stories about my life. My life is interesting. It should be a reality show. It really is pretty incredible. Like two weeks ago, Tony Bennett comes to one of my shows, stays the whole two-and-a-half hours, gives me a standing ovation and then leaves and asks for a finger-banging shirt. It’s hilarious to me. I have Bennett’s approval. I mean, if I wasn’t so much Irish I’d think I was made like Henry Hill.

Star: Which show is Sandusky going to get?

RM: Probably the Comedy Central show because it’s a benefit for the Humane Society. So you kind of have to talk about the time where you loved dogs so much that even though you had weed on you that you didn’t know you had, you walked 60 feet out of your way to go pet a drug dog. You pretty much have to talk about that, right? I’m also going to talk about me witnessing the miracle on the Hudson.

Star: So you saw Captain “Sully” Sullenberger’s greatest moment?

RM: Well, see, that’s one perspective. My perspective is that I almost got killed by an old guy who couldn’t miss some birds. I was only 500 yards away from where the plane crashed. Maybe I’m crazy, but geographically he barely missed me. It’s like I got shot at and grazed; that’s how close it was. And so it’s all a matter of perspective. I tell people I felt sorry for those survivors. Like not for nothing, they fly for four minutes, think they’re going to die for three, they crash into the dirty, frozen Hudson River. Great, now you got AIDS because there’s big chunky AIDS floating in that dirty Hudson. And then boom, they take you to North Hudson Hospital in New Jersey to check you out. It’s like after all that crap, you have to go to Jersey, too. I mean, when will it ever end for these people? I feel bad for them. If that happens to me, I’m telling them to throw me back in the river, son. They have pills for AIDS, but there ain’t no pill for New Jersey.

Star: As for the benefit, what makes you a good host for an animal fundraiser?

RM: I draw big numbers for them, I’ll sell some tickets for them and that’s what they really want. Last year we gave over $25,000 to various animal shelters around the country and the Humane Society. It’s something that’s close to my heart because both of my dogs are rescues. They’re the greatest animals in the world, and I think to stand idly by and not protect the weakest of us is kind of something that honestly we should do more of. We should actively help and fight for animals and stuff like that because we’re the stewards of them.

Star: You’re not going to soften up your set even though you’re playing a fundraiser.

RM: Yeah, I’m not going to soften it at all. It’s not what I do. When they hired me they knew I would probably be controversial. That’s great. I like to give people the whole show. Even though I’ve never been to Sandusky, I’ve been to Toledo and all over Northwest Ohio. I have to be honest, everyone up there needs to laugh. You’re at the end of a winter that was brutal this year. It was just horrific and what a better time to laugh to know that your money stays there in town — in the two counties — and protects animals that are there for the adoption. If I can help out, it’s my pleasure. It was just something I think I need to do. I need to help people out.

Ralphie May headlines the event to benefit the Huron County Humane Society and the Humane Society of Erie County at 7 p.m. May 15 at the Sandusky State Theatre, 107 Columbus Ave., Sandusky. Tickets are $27 to $100. Call (419) 626-1950 or (877) 626-1950, or visit sanduskystate.com.

Tags: Cedar Point, Humane Society, Last Comic Standing, Ralphie May, Sandusky, Sandusky State Theatre

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 12th, 2011 at 1:27 pm and is filed under Comedy, Fundraiser, Star.
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Comedian Roy Wood Jr. first came through the Toledo area about two years ago. To say a lot has happened in the interim is an understatement.

“I’ve been lucky to catch a couple of breaks where television is concerned every year,” he said in an interview with Toledo Free Press Star.

Wood, who will perform for four nights at Fat Fish Blue in Perrysburg starting  May 5, got perhaps his biggest break on NBC’s “Last Comic Standing.” His run as a top 10 finalist on last year’s edition of the hit show certainly garnered him more fans, but Wood said being on the show had positives and negatives.

“In hindsight, ‘Last Comic Standing’ was fun, but there was a damn pressure cooker, man. Every week, you have to be funnier. Next week, funnier. Week after that, funnier! I did ‘Conan’ a couple of weeks ago, and that was one of the most laid-back, relaxing experiences, because it wasn’t about funny-funny-funny-funny-funny now. I was able to relax a little bit, which changed the way I perform during that time.”

He also said that he’s somewhat dubious about how successful competitions like “Last Comic” are in cultivating new talent.

Roy Wood Jr.

“I don’t think the public as a whole benefits when there’s too many talent-based reality contest-type shows. ‘Last Comic Standing’ was, like, great, but do you wanna judge — I’m a believer that true talent rises to the top,” he said. “And the fact that you win or lose on a game show shouldn’t be the barometer by which the public measures you,” Wood said.

Wood had to work in comedy for more than  a decade before finding his way to the “Last Comic” spotlight. He was majoring in broadcast journalism at Florida A&M University, interning at a station in Tallahassee, Fla., when the chance to make a name comedically came up.

“I started doing comedy while I was a junior in college,” he said. “And the transition basically occurred because I was doing hard news as an intern, but the comedian for the morning show that I was interning for in Tallahassee, he got a job that he had to be there at 8 a.m.. So, from 8 to 10 a.m., I got to goof off as well. And that’s kinda where the love of telling jokes and getting the gift for running my mouth came from, and it just kinda bubbled up from there.”

Wood said the evolution of his stand-up persona came with time.

“Who I am comedically is nothing like who I was in 1998 when I started,” he said. “You know, I started in ’98, I was 19, I was just a college student who was sick of his roommates eating his food.And that has since grown into, I’m a guy who yells at Girl Scouts because he believes the cookie box has gotten shorter. I’m much more frustrated about simplistic stuff. So, for me, a lot of my act, in terms of where it comes from and how I develop it — I start with what makes me angry. And then I find the funny in that.”

His ability to find comedy in the petty annoyances that unite us all has led to a remarkable crossover audience. Wood has opened for comedians as diverse as D.L. Hughley and Ron White.

“The one thing in my comedy that I’ve always prided myself in doing is just being honest about who I was and talking about myself,” he said. “And as long as you’re talking about yourself, it doesn’t matter if you’re opening for Katt Williams or for Bill Engvall. All I’m doing is telling a story about the time my ex-girlfriend and I got into an argument — that’s just a base story we can all relate to.”

In addition, Wood has continued to work extensively in radio. His popular prank phone calls are syndicated to more than 50 stations nationwide. (Three CDs worth of the calls have already been released, and he said a fourth is in the works.) He is a regular on “The Bob and Tom Show” and Jamie Foxx’s show on Sirius XM.

“I also have my own morning show now in Birmingham, called ‘The Roy Wood, Jr. Show.’ And that’s definitely been getting a pretty good reaction. It’s definitely something new, it’s definitely a work in progress.”

And for Fat Fish Blue audiences, Wood promises an entertaining evening.

“If the people of Toledo come out to see me, they can expect to meet a guy that carries the same frustrations as them,” he said. “Somebody dinged your car in the parking lot when you weren’t looking? That person in front of you that is determined to write a check in line at the grocery store? Yeah. I’m your guy.”

Email Jeff at PopGoesJeff@gmail.com.

Tags: Fat Fish Blue, Jamie Foxx, Jeff McGinnis, Katt Williams, Last Comic Standing, Pop Goes the Culture, Ron White, Roy Wood Jr.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 3rd, 2011 at 8:09 pm and is filed under Comics, Pop Culture, Star.
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