Comedy

“Comedy has to be based on truth. You take the truth and you put a little curlicue at the end.” – Sid Caesar

I love that quote from Sid. It’s so TRUE. Comedy has to have some element of truth in it. When I did stand-up, I would always look for routines that took a subject that had some element of truth/fact to it, and take it in a different direction. Some of my favorite comedians – Brian Regan and Jim Gaffigan – do this all the time. They take everyday activities and add a humorous spin to it. That makes for great comedy.

Stand-up was ok but I was never really good at it. Why? I suffer horribly from stage fright. I know, that’s an odd thing to say for a person who has performed in front of thousands of people. Yet, it’s true. When I’m on stage and it’s just me – I start to get nervous, sweat, my voice cracks, etc. I’m horrified. However, when I’m in a character – be it serious or comedic in nature – I’m ok. I guess the way I see it, when I’m playing someone else, the pressure is off. If something goes wrong, it’s the character’s fault – not mine.

Over the years I’ve played many a ridiculous character. I guess I was typecast early on and whenever someone needed a jovial goofball type – they’d call on me. Writing has always been my first love but a close second is performing comedy. I just love to make people laugh. It’s one of my favorite things. And, I don’t need a stage to do that. I often post ridiculous things on social media and enjoy when people laugh at that – even though I can’t hear them. I also enjoy being spontaneous with humor. That is, I like to interject humor in everyday activities, whether it be a conversation, meeting or lunch/dinner date. I like to stay quick on my feet – so to speak – and I get a lot of satisfaction doing that.

The character I’ve played most over the years is “Buck Foley”. Buck is the second cousin thrice removed from one Matt Foley, immortalized by the great Chris Farley. I’ve done this character hundreds of times over the years and have even performed live on TV/Radio. In fact, one time I was bleeped on the Weather Channel – not because I say something inappropriate – but because the editors thought I was going to say something inappropriate. As I recall, I was giving a weather report and said “Holy shnikees it’s cold!” and they bleeped out the “shnikees”. Too funny.

I still do this character occasionally and if you’d like to have “Buck” pay your company a visit, please get in touch. As I mentioned, I’ve done hundreds of performances as Buck and typically will do a customized 30-45 minute show, mostly around the holidays. As odd as it sounds, I take comedy very seriously – and if you hire me to do a show, you will not be disappointed! I tend to put a lot into my shows, both physically and with regard to the material I do.

Here are a few photos of Buck:

  • Tim Hawkins and Buck
  • Dallas Clark and Buck
  • Buck’s new jacket rocks!

Here’s a few clips of Buck in action:

If you or your company could use some motivation from Buck, let me know… or you may find as you go through this life… that you’re not going to amount to JACK SQUAT!