Telling Jokes for Fun and Profit
Aspiring comics join forces for Boone Saloon show last week

By Jeff Eason

If you’ve ever watched the popular talent contest/reality show Last Comic Standing, you have an inkling as to how neurotic and cutthroat aspiring comedians can be. The difference between performing on tour in half-filled smoky comedy clubs and having one’s own standup TV special on Comedy Central is often a matter of luck and timing.

“That’s what happened to Stephen Wright,” said Chris Fox, comedian and host of last week’s Boone Saloon Comedy Blowout. “He was part of the Boston comedy scene years ago. One night the Tonight Show booking agent was in the audience at a show where all the Boston comedians performed. After the show, Wright was the only person who didn’t come up to the booking agent to ask about appearing on the Tonight Show. That impressed the agent so much that Wright ended up being the only comedian asked to appear on the show. Remember, that was in the days when the Tonight Show was one of the only places where a comedian could get that kind of national attention.”

Fox and the four other comedians who appeared at the Boone Saloon last Wednesday take their comedy seriously, although you would never know it from watching their outrageous stage performances. With professional standup experience ranging from six months to five years, all five of the young comedians are taking their first steps toward careers in comedy, and all five supplement their meager stage incomes with full-time day jobs.

Taking the stage with Fox last week were Mary Kate Wise, Mike Hannon, Tom Keller and Mello Mike.

“I graduated from Appalachian in May and moved to Raleigh to pursue comedy,” said Wise. “Right now I’m working as a code enforcement officer marking graves to pay the bills. I’ve done standup at Charlie Goodnight’s in Raleigh, The Fuse in Chapel Hill, the Dirty South in Carrboro and LOL in Clayton. Sometimes I get paid in nachos.”

90 minutes before the show starts, Fox is nervously looking at the Boone Saloon crowd. The place is moderately packed, but many are there to watch the college basketball game between Duke and Wake Forest. To add to Fox’s concerns, he has just learned that the Wailers concert at Legends that night is sold out, possibly drawing a number of ASU students away from the comedy show.

On the plus side, both Fox and comedian Wise are recent Appalachian graduates and have spread the word about the show to their Boone area friends, many of whom arrived early to nab tables close to the stage.

“I’d rather have a crowd of strangers than friends,” said Fox. “You get better feedback that way. Regardless, I think there’s an audience for comedy here in Boone. I compare it to being in a band. Bands are easier to book and promote. You really have to sell venues on booking a comedy show. Bands can work together while comedians tend to work alone. That’s why we’re banding together tonight.

“You hear about backstabbing among comedians in bigger markets. My experience with the comedy scene in North Carolina has been really positive. I’ve met some awesome people. We’re competitive, but in a healthy way. We push each other to be funnier.”

All five standup comedians have worked their way up from open mic nights in comedy clubs to paying gigs. They met each other at the Ultimate Comedy Challenge at the Idiot Box in Greensboro. After forming a comedic camaraderie, Fox recruited the others for the group show in Boone.

Around 10 p.m., all five comedians are going over last minute preparations to their routines. Hannon, the first to go on, is checking his guitar’s tuning and levels for the song that will be the last part of his act.

“It’s about 20 degrees outside,” said Hannon. “Trying to keep a guitar in tune in a cold car is nearly impossible.”

All five of the comedians size up the audience as a college crowd and the show’s material veers strongly toward dating, sex, the Internet, sex, bad jobs and sex. The bluer, or racier, material gets a rise out of the audience as the people sense they are hearing jokes that they wouldn’t hear on television.

Midway through the event, the Boone Saloon is packed, with many of the audience members having drifted over from the Wailers show. By the time Mello Mike takes the stage, he has to pause between one-liners just to let the deafening laughter subside.

“The show was a raging success and I can’t wait to come back,” said Fox from his home in Greensboro a couple of days after the Boone Saloon event. “I can’t count the number of people who approached me and the other comics after the show to thank us for coming up there. It was just an unreal, awesome night all the way around.”