T-150 seats down for stand-up guys
By Kelly Feser Eells

Laugh, and the whole world laughs with you. Cry, and - well, you could be on your own, especially if the urge strikes on June 14 "Comedy Night" at the St. Thomas Aquinas Center.

This evening of mirth, a Theater 150 benefit, is guaranteed to put smiles on even the saddest of faces. That is because three of the funniest performers working in television, film, and the stand-up circuit will be there: No kidding.

Veteran sitcom actor Blake Clark, whose longtime, recurring roles on both "Boy Meets World" and "Home Improvement" (he was Harry the hardware store owner) make him one of TV-Land's most familiar faces.
Between his TV work - which also includes running gigs on "The Drew Carey Show" and "The Jamie Foxx Show" - and stand-up jobs, Clark somehow finds time to film comedies for the big screen. In fact, he just flew back from a six-week shoot in Hawaii, filming "50 First Kisses" with Adam Sandler, Drew Barrymore, and Rob Schneider. And boy, were his arms...

Tired. So tired, that wife Sharon graciously answers a few questions on his behalf, even though it was the couple's thirty-first wedding anniversary and she herself was making plans to celebrate their youngest son's graduation.

"My whole family's funny," said Sharon, referring to Blake and their two children. "It's always fun around here."

Blake, she says, still "can't get over how many kids recognize him" from his work on "Boy Meets World," where he played the father of the lead boy's best friend.

"I was visiting him in Hawaii for a week, and we were on this flight to the big island with a group of kids on a field trip to an orchid farm. When they saw him, they all started going, 'You're Sean's dad! Can we have your autograph?' but they didn't have anything for Blake to sign, so he just signed (the plane's) barf bags for them all."

The show's fans, Sharon adds, "are everywhere. Even at nightclubs, where the ones who grew up watching the show will always want to stop and say hello to 'Sean's dad.'"

Cary Odes, another "Comedy Night" performer, and Clark go way back.
"We met at the Comedy Store about a hundred years ago," says Odes, who has been making a living - "But not an honest one, as far as my mom's concerned," he chuckles - in comedy since 1980.
In addition to Odes' seven-year stint as "Home Improvement's" warm-up comedian ("He kept the studio audience awake and alive," said Sharon Clark. "And he was really good at it, too!") he's made countless appearances on television's top sitcoms; warmed up "Mad About You's" studio audiences; and written award-winning short film scripts, one of which was optioned by Steven Spielberg.

But the project closest to Odes' heart is The Tracking Project, an education al organization "... connecting individuals to the natural world and indigenous peoples to their cultures and traditions."
Odes, who has worked with The Tracking Project since 1989 and is billed as its "on-call professional comedian and in-house mortician," jokes that project founder John Stokes "is a demented cult leader. I don't know why I'm here."

"Here" being Hawaii, where he and 20 TTP educators (Odes has taught stand-up in high schools and to gang members in prison) were having "hands-on fun teaching Hawaiian schoolteachers" cultural awareness. His work with the non-profit organization has taken Odes everywhere from New Mexico, where it is based, to the Philippines, Sweden, Brazil, and, of course, Hawaii. He met Stokes at a men's conference, and shortly thereafter, "...was called upon to mock all the elders and mentors that pass through the project's workshops." Stokes is a firm believer in humor, "one of the most vital survival skills."
Retta (no last name), another "Comedy Night" performer, has been doing stand-up since 1996; she started touring the college circuit "and earning money" in 1998.

While Retta is not beholden to any one, particular kind of comedy ("black humor," "blue material," etc.) she does enjoy a good joke now and then. "My new favorite," she said, "is one by Jeffrey Ross. He told this at Hugh Hefner's Friar's Club roast on Comedy Central Ross said Hugh had introduced him to an adult film actress, a nice and very attractive girl. So, he said, he asked her out. The actress said she was working Tuesday and Wednesday, so 'how about Thursday?' His response was, 'ooh, how 'bout Monday?'"

Does Retta ever get nervous just before a show?

"I used to get really nauseous," she confides, "but that doesn't happen anymore. I might get nervous, but I'm pretty used to the nerves these days."

The worst gig Retta ever had was an outdoor campus carnival, held at a community college. "There was all this activity going on, games, food, sales, etc., and I had to perform for people who really didn't care. Worse, the front two rows were kids, who kept shouting back everything I said."

Though Retta has done a number of televised shows, few have ever had a Green Room - the place where performers wait before "they're on." But of all the shows she's done where there was a Green Room, "I'd have to say Comedy Central's 'Premium Blend' has the best food."
Does she ever laugh in inappropriate places, something many "in the business" are accused of doing?

"Well, comics tend to laugh more at jokes the general public doesn't get right away. They also tend to find it humorous when another comedian is dying a horrible death (on stage.) So, I guess those are some of the 'inappropriate' moments that I sometimes find myself laughing at."

Please call 805-646-4300 to purchase tickets to "Comedy Night." The event begins at 6:30 p.m., June 14; comedians will be taking the stage at 7:30 p.m.

© 2003 The Ojai Valley News

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