St. Albert Gazette, Saturday, May 26, 2007

Comics tickle diners' funny bones

By Anna Borowhiecki

Riverside Bar & Grill offering aspiring comedians the chance to show their stuff on stage

Comedian Jeff Neeser knew he was having a bad night when one member of Tumbling Dice, a 60s-sounding rock band, shouted out the punch line before one of his jokes was even finished.

But getting heckled by a crowd is just par for the course when you're an apprentice comic and your shtick is depreciating, dead-pan humour. Zeroing in on the misadventures of dating, family squabbles and a jumbled heritage that is one-third Ukrainian, one-third Swill and one-third Polish has given the 1997 Paul Kane graduate a lot of comedic mileage. "I've been mistaken for a Jewish person, Spanish and Lebanese."

Neeser is honing his stage skills as one of the dozen regular comics at Wednesday Night Live, a weekly event at Riverside Bar and Grill. The comedy night is the brainchild of Barbara May, a comedian who has cut her teeth at Yuk Yuk's Komedy Cabarets, the Comedy Factory and the Comic Strip. Also a St. Albert resident, May started telling jokes back in 1998 as a way to bolster her motivational speaking business.

"As a speaker I was very good at touching hearts and emotions, but I didn't know how to bring them back up. Someone suggested I try comedy."

She hits the Edmonton stages and worked the out-of-town comedy circuit that included some potentially threatening situations when confronted by drunks.

A Changing art

Today she's interested in expanding her sphere of influence by hosting a weekly night of comedy that combines live music and stand-up comedy similar to the David Letterman Show.

"There are about 50 comedians in the area. We want to be an opportunity for new entertainers to develop their skills and the more experienced entertainers can work on new material," said May.

She hit on this format after attending an acoustic open stage on Whyte Avenue and heard Tumbling Dice sing The First Time That I saw You. May asked them to accompany her and they clicked.

"They're a nice hip group of guys that do original instrumentals," added Neeser.

The comedy format is simple. The three-piece band starts off the evening with music and introduces May. She warms up the audience and brings out the night's comics.

"Anyone who is interested in entertaining can be here by 7:30 p.m. and we can schedule them," May suggested.

The comedy nights started about 10 weeks ago. "We were lucky to have three comics. Now you have eight or nine giving it their all and giving their best stuff," said Neeser.

In addition to Neeser's unflagging support, comics James Wynters, Wendy De Mos, Tyler Hawkins, James Ball and Dan Brodribb are flexing their brand of biting humour.

May closed off by saying, "The intent is for the show to be fun. The comedians don't attack the audience and that makes it a nice friendly environment. It's a safe place."