Peter Pitofsky throws himself around the comedy stage with the greatest of ease.
The former Ringling Bros. & Barnum and Bailey clown does flips, belly-flops, trips and other antics, sometimes landing so hard that it sounds as if he had to have broken some body part. He contorts his face and his body so convincingly, you’d think he’ll probably freeze himself into that shape.
It’s vaudeville 1990s style, according to Pitofsky, a comedian for about 16 years.
“It’s real slapstick lunacy,” Pitofsky explains. “It’s like I’m an oveactive 9-year-old on a date. It’s sweaty, just nuts . . . I’m just like a big kid up there, basically. If I was any more physical, I’d blow up.”
Pitofsky, performing through Sunday at K.J. Riddle’s Comedy Stop (15750 S. Harlem Ave.-Continental Shopping Center in Orland Park; call 708-614-6336), traces his attraction for that physical type of comedy back to one of the legends of the genre.
“When I was 2 years old, I saw Lou Costello fall down,” says Pitofsky, 35, a New York native. “And I said that’s what I wanted to be.” Counting Jerry Lewis, the Three Stooges, Charlie Chaplin and the Marx Brothers among his idols, Pitofsky notes that there were some hints of vaudeville in mostly all of them.
“I said to myself, what’s the closest thing to vaudeville that I could do this stuff? And that would be the circus, because vaudeville included circus-type acts,” Pitofsky says of joining Ringling Bros. when he was 18 years old.
After three years of making people laugh in the circus, Pitofsky headed to the Left Coast, spending 3 1/2 years on California’s Venice Beach, a mecca for street performers. He moved his act to the front of the Comedy Store for six months before performing on stage.
“It’s such an unpretentious thing,” says Pitofsky of his dives, jumps, flips and pratfalls. “It’s such an innocent and such a natural, organic type of thing.”
Pitofsky says his comedy relates closer to the audience than most of the wordsmiths out there, because “they’re saying stuff secondhand: `I was in a supermarket and you know what I saw today. . . .’ They’re kind of removed from it. But I’m the joke. I’m doing it live, and I’m creating it live in front of you.”
Pitofsky has appeared on mostly all of the standup comedy television shows (“Basically all the stuff that all the comics do, the only difference is I sweat and vibrate when I’m on”), and has done sketches with Jay Leno on “The Tonight Show.”
If you listen to Pitofsky, falling down isn’t as easy as it looks. The comic is in great shape, doing 1,500 pushups several times a week and generally taking good care of his body.
“The best faller that ever lived was Buster Keaton. And his specialty was after he fell, he wasn’t done. He kept spinning around on the ground like a top,” Pitofsky says. Falling is also Pitofsky’s specialty. “It’s very cartoon-like, the way I fly all over the ground and stuff.”
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The standup lineup
Here’s who’s working at the comedy clubs. Current sets are scheduled to run through Sunday; all new acts begin on Tuesday unless otherwise noted. Lineups are subject to change.
Funny Firm (318 W. Grand Ave.; 312-321-9500): Rich Jeni, one of the top comics on the circuit, is making special appearances Friday and Saturday. Jeni, who taped both HBO and Showtime specials at the Park West Theatre, will stick around on Sunday to give advice as part of a seminar for anyone interested in becoming a comic. Call the club, as space for that session is limited. Funny Andy Kindler steps in starting on Wednesday.
Zanies-Mount Prospect (2200 S. Elmhurst Rd.; 708-228-6166): WLUP’s Danny Bonaduce brings his comedy in for special appearances Friday and Saturday. At Zanies’ sister club in Vernon Hills this weekend (230 Hawthorn Village Commons, Vernon Hills; 708-549-6030) is Ross Bennett, who performed a one-man show at Zanies’ downtown club in November.
And . . . Let’s salute some local talent that will be soon making the jump to HBO’s popular “Def Comedy Jam.” Deon Cole and Tony Sculfield, both of whom appeared on Comedy Central’s “Comic Justice,” are expected to tape the raunchy Russell Simmon production at the end of January. And Mark Reedy, a longtime mark on the local comedy scene who has been on several standup television shows, is also going to be seen on “Def Jam” sometime soon. Word up, bros!