The Stand-Up Chronicles

Heywood Banks is on the show this week. He’s been on “HBO’s Young Comedians Special”, “Bob and Tom”, and he’s had one of his songs sung on American Idol. We talk about an incident that happened on stage this past weekend that hasn’t happened in his 30 years of doing comedy.

Here’s more on Heywood:

Heywood Banks is simply one-of-a-kind, almost impossible to describe, with a style his very own. Equal parts genius and buffoon, this songwriter-comic-singer-poet-musician has become a cult hero and a pop icon, with a show that appeals to college students, stoners, businessmen, yuppies, rednecks, punks, kids or your grandmother.

Heywood intersperses his humorous observations of life with twisted, inventive, bizarre songs, sung and played in a variety of styles, from folk, to country to rock to pop, and way beyond.

You have to be pretty smart to get Heywood at his deepest level (he demands a high level of pop culture literacy), but you can also enjoy him just for his vocal style impersonations, expert musicianship and just plain silliness.

Heywood has been featured in “Rolling Stone Magazine” and “People Magazine.” He won First Place in the Johnnie Walker Comedy Search Contest.

Heywood Banks has appeared on A&E’s “Evening at the Improv,” MTV’s “1/2 Hour Comedy Hour,” CNN’s “Hollywood Minute,” “Caroline’s Comedy Hour,” “Entertainment Tonight,” “Showtime Comedy Club Network,” “Dr. Demento Show,” “12th Annual HBO Young Comedians Special with Paul Rodriguez” and is a frequent guest on the national Bob and Tom radio show.

Stuart Mitchell, the creator of Heywood Banks, tells us that his character was born on a mountaintop in Tennessee and lived for many many years in a log trailer. Heywood’s biological parents, Hank and Heyena Banks were killed in a freak revolving restaurant accident back in the sixties - someone had hit the Puree Button by mistake…grisly! Eventually raised by mathematical parents, Heywood was working in a Kroger bagging groceries when he was hit in the head with a can of lunchmeat, giving him spamnesia. This caused him problems for years as he became afraid of the dark, but couldn’t sleep with the light on. “Did that ever happen to you???”

For more on Heywood, check out his website… www.heywoodbanks.com

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It’s the Halloween edition of The Stand-Up Chronicles with our guest Greg Lausch. In honor of Halloween, we talk comedy horror stories, rituals, superstitions, and Bruce Springsteen (even though he has nothing to do with Halloween). Greg is a nationally touring stand-up comedian. He’s performed at comedy clubs, colleges, bars, frat houses, living rooms, hotels, restaurants, and probably every bowling alley with a liquor license in the continental United States.

Here’s more on Greg:

At the tender age of 21, disillusioned with college, ‘regular life,’ and doing things the way he always thought they were ’supposed’ to be done, Greg decided to follow a long-held dream and hop on a comedy stage to see what would happen. What happened changed his life forever. That was the beginning. Greg never looked back after that first night. Working two lousy jobs to keep afloat, he got on any comedy stage he could find for three years, working to build an act that would take him on the road.

“I remember it like it was yesterday. I went down to the best club in Baltimore and got a spot on their ‘open mike’ night. I didn’t have any idea how it all worked or what I was doing, but it was something I wanted to do. It was something I thought I might be able to do. Honestly, it was something I had to do.”

For the past ten years, Greg Lausch has been delighting audiences all across the United States with his unique brand of stand-up comedy, rugged good looks, and dashing charm. Well ok, mostly with his stand-up comedy. Ten years out on the road have served Greg well. His live show is something to see. His high energy act and inviting personality take his audience on a ride that guarantees to please. On stage Greg talks about the things that are important to him - things that define him. Greg Lausch is a real guy. He’s got a unique outlook on life and the world around him. He knows who he is. He knows where he fits. And he’s just plain funny.

“I’m not one of those comics who thinks I’m any better than my audience. I don’t pretend to know more than they do. I don’t preach or try to change anybody’s mind about anything. I just get up there and let them know what’s going on with me. I want to connect with the audience, let them get to know me, and have fun with them.”

And he does it all effortlessly with an exuberance and an edge that set him apart from the rest.

Check out Greg’s website: http://www.greglausch.com

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Comedian Mike Armstrong sits down for an interview with us this week. You’ve heard and seen him on “Bob and Tom”, HBO, Comedy Central, CMT, and BET. He’s a former police officer. We talk about transitioning from being a full-time cop to a full-time comic. We also talk about the business side of comedy and why he’s never been scared on stage.

Here’s more on Mike:

Raised by loving parents in the conservative mid-west in a small town near Louisville, Kentucky, Mike Armstrong enjoyed a fairly normal childhood. So, what went wrong?

He’s an ex-cop - the kind of cop that most people hope for when they get pulled over. “I’d stop cars and warn the speeding drivers about the speed traps up ahead.”

“I think that when I quit the police department three other cops lost their jobs. They simply didn’t need that many internal affairs officers anymore!” “I’ve been married so long, I don’t even look both ways when I cross the street.”

Mike and his wife have a small herd of children (five). The kids are clones of their father. They’ll say and do just about anything to get attention.

When a teacher asked son Christopher “…is that a lucky rabbits foot?” He responded, “…it was the only thing left in the trap… pretty lucky huh?” When the teacher called Dad to complain about the youngster’s behavior, Mike offered his true feelings… “Shut up! I’m not married to you!”

Check www.mikearmstrong.com for more information on Mike.

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Our guest this week is Dan Conlin, the owner of the Jukebox Comedy Club. The Jukebox has been open for nearly 20 years and Dan has run the club for almost 10 years. We discuss his career in radio, what he looks for when booking headliner and feature comics, and he tells the tale of the time he got into a fist fight with a customer.

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Tim Bedore joins us on this week to discuss working in radio, moving out of LA, and discovering animal conspiracies. You’ve heard Tim on “Bob and Tom” and NPR and you’ve seen him on HBO, Comedy Central and NBC.

Here’s more on Tim:

Over the past 20 years Tim Bedore has spent thousands of hours entertaining audiences, first on the radio and then as a comedian, headlining comedy clubs across the country. One of the few young comics to have combined the disciplines of stand-up comedy and broadcasting, Tim knows the rigors of working within demanding parameters.

Tim has kept his hand in the radio business through his radio commentary feature Vague But True®, which is heard (since 1997) regularly on public radio’s prestigious Marketplace program by over six-million people. Tim has written and recorded over two hundred-fifty installments of Vague But True. Producing these weekly commentaries for the radio keeps Tim’s stand-up comedy material fresh and topical.

Unlike many comedians whose material is only appropriate for night-clubs, Tim has been able to work very successfully in many different situations, including charity and corporate events as an entertainer and host.

Tim Bedore is a stand-up comedian whose unique background has produced a very professional entertainer who knows how to cut across the boundaries of individual attitudes and get an audience to enjoy his way of looking at the world.

For more on Tim, check out his website www.vaguebuttrue.com

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Costaki Economopoulos joins us on the show this week. You know him from the weekly Economonologue segment on “Bob and Tom”. He’s also performed at the Montreal Comedy Festival. We talk about poker, writing the Economonologue segment for “Bob and Tom”, and balancing hobbies and babies.

Here’s more on Costaki:

In the spring of 1993 Costaki was doing graduate work at the University of Georgia. He spent most of his time hammering out a thesis on the influence of political satire on our feelings about government. His off time was spent honing his stand-up skills in pizza joints and bars around town. When he had to turn down a couple of gigs to work on the paper, it made his stomach hurt. He hung in there, finished the thesis, got his master’s degree, and within a year was a full-time comic on the road. He has been creating funniness for audiences all over the country 40+ weeks a year ever since.

His humor has been described as smart, pointed, hip, sharp, insightful, socially relevant, and gut-laugh funny. A fellow comic once referred to Costaki as a “casually brilliant joke philosopher.” His take on politics and religion will leave you thinking and laughing. And his light swagger, playful squint, and wry smile tell you that perhaps there’s more to this multi-layered joke than you first recognized.

Costaki began to make some noise in the business by reaching the finals of the Seattle Comedy Competition, where he was discovered and invited to the prestigious Montreal Comedy Festival. He was just one of ten finalists in Comedy Central’s Laugh Riots national talent search. Over the years, Costaki has performed in 47 states, covering the country’s best clubs, dozens of colleges and private shows, and some of the worst bars in America.

Also a talented writer, Costaki’s jokes have appeared on The Tonight Show, The Late Late Show, and Best Damn Sports Show Period. He was a writer for BET, where he was staffed on two of their hit shows. He wrote jokes for Bette Midler’s Kiss My Brass tour. Costaki spent Spring Break one year in Cancun writing on the MTV show Parental Approval. He also wrote daily for The Complete Sheet, a DJ prep service that goes out to almost 500 stations worldwide.

But he is easily best known for “The Economonologue,” a weekly segment on the syndicated Bob & Tom Radio Show that reaches some 5 and half million people in 150 markets. This national exposure has opened the door to Costaki’s dream: people coming to see his live performances “on purpose.”

After a recent performance with Jake Johannsen, Costaki’s mother said, “You were better than that other guy.” And really, is there anything more to say after that?

For more on Costaki, check out his website: www.costaki.com

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Tom Segura joins us this week to discuss luck in comedy, the difficulties of starting your comedy career in LA, and finding feature work. Tom has been on Comedy Central’s “Live at Gotham” and can be seen in the short film “Cutman”. You can see “Cutman” at atom.com.

Here’s more on Tom:

Born in Cincinnati, Tom Segura has never stayed long in one place. After fleeing Ohio at an early age, Segura soon followed his parents fledgling business ventures and volunteer work to 12 U.S. states and 6 foreign countries. Segura eventually settled in Los Angeles to pursue a career on stage and television. You may have recently seen him sharing the stage with some of the biggest names in comedy: Dave Attell, Jay Mohr, Robert Schimmel, Charlie Murphy, and Sarah Silverman, just to name a few. Tom continues to tour the country performing for audiences with his unique perspective and filthy charm.

Check out his website: www.tomsegura.com

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Jake Johannsen joins us this week to talk about being on the “Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson” and “Dr. Katz: Professional Therapist”. We also talk about his writing process and the strangest places he’s ever done comedy. Jake has been on Letterman 38 times and had his own HBO special called, “This Will Take About An Hour”.

For more on Jake, check out his website: http://www.jakethis.com

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Our guest this week is Dale Jones. You’ve seen him on “Last Comic Standing” and heard him on “Bob and Tom”. He just performed at the Just for Laughs Festival in Chicago. He joins us this week to discuss starting his comedy career in Nashville, his comedy influences, and his experience on “Last Comic Standing”.

Here’s more on Dale:

Since 1993 Dale Jones has been perfecting his craft and has become one of the most wild and energetic comics in the country. He has entertained audiences at comedy clubs throughout the United States and Canada. His zany on-stage character always sends club patrons to the exits with lots of questions but no disappointments.

His machine gun style of delivery and animated facial contortions combined with quick improvisations and non-stop physical comedy leave the audience wishing they had his energy. Forget “high energy”– this is frantic! His shows are always a most memorable comedy experience. Club owners and managers have gotten used to fielding questions about when Dale will be returning.

Dale has had numerous television appearances including NBC - Last Comic Standing Season Six, Fox Television’s 30 seconds to Fame and The Comedy Network in Canada. He also appeared briefly in the 2003 MGM movie “Out Of Time” with Denzel Washington.

Dale started his career in Nashville, Tennessee. While working (mostly wasting) his days away in a factory, his co-workers dared him to try his hand at his life long dream, making people laugh. He stepped on stage for the first time at a Zanies Comedy Club’s open mike night. Two years later, Dale turned a dream into a reality and started doing stand-up full time.

Dale has worked hard to develop an act that’s truly original and non- stop funny, Dale has fashioned a show that reminds his audience of the great comedians that have influenced him. Abbott and Costello, Buster Keaton, Jerry Lewis, Tim Conway and Don Knotts.

These influences along with Dale’s unusual observations, only enhance his unique gift for physical comedy and animated facial expressions.

He can be heard on 2 nationally syndicated radio shows; THE BOB AND TOM SHOW and The BOB AND SHERI SHOW. He was one of 8 finalists in “The Great Canadian Laugh Off and he was invited to perform at THE BOSTON COMEDY FESTIVAL, which is a great honor for any working comedian.

Check out his website: www.dalejonescomic.com

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