Dick Gregory returned to standup comedy in 1995 after a 20-year self-imposed exile, performing a one-man show on Broadway after filling in at a gig for a friend. What Gregory found upon his return were more than a few comedians cursing up a storm, railing on about sex, denigrating women and not saying too much of substance.
Gregory places the blame squarely on the shoulders of one man:
“Richard Pryor messed up a whole generation,” says the 65-year-old Gregory, one of the first African-Americans to do socially relevant material on a comedy stage. (It was a brave man who did jokes in the ’60s about racism and the plight of black people so funny that white people laughed at them.)
Gregory, who left standup in 1973 because he had a serious problem with working in clubs that served liquor (“If you want to drink, that’s okay; I’m not preaching against alcohol, I just didn’t want to be in conflict with myself”), says that when the parents of some of today’s comedians were younger, they listened to Pryor’s records, arguably some of the funniest comedy recordings ever made.
“We played them in the family room, and we laughed,” says Gregory, who began his career in Chicago in the early 1960s. As most people know, Pryor’s routines were liberally sprinkled with language that was colorful, to say the least. Some of his subject matter wasn’t all sweetness and light, either.
But, according to Gregory, the fiery social-political activist and diet guru, as the parents listened and laughed at Pryor’s honest, biting and amazingly funny material, the kids were listening, too, even if they weren’t supposed to be. Kids being kids, the curse words and shocking material especially stayed with them.
Gregory says that when some of them grew older and decided they wanted to be comics, they remembered how Pryor cursed and how people laughed. And so they imitated that, without realizing there was meaning behind Pryor’s use of those words. As a result, those younger comics have become profane but not profound.
So don’t get mad when you hear some comedian using language so foul that it makes your eardrums melt. Get mad at Pryor. A master of the craft said it, so it must be true.
Dick Gregory will perform two shows Saturday, a senior citizen’s luncheon at 2:30 p.m. and a general performance at 6:30 p.m., and one on Sunday at 5:30 p.m., at Capt.’s Hard Time Diner, at 436 E. 79th St. For more information, call 773-487-2900.
The standup lineup
Here’s who’s making audiences give thanks for tickling their funny bone this weekend. Current sets are scheduled to run through Sunday, and new acts begin on Thursday, unless otherwise noted. Lineups are subject to change.
– Chicago’s Bernie Mac, who was a riot in a small role in the recent HBO movie based on the life story of boxing’s Don King, appears with the O’Jays and the Whispers Friday and Saturday at the Star Plaza Theatre in Merrillville, Ind. Call 219-769-6600 or 312-559-1212 for tickets.
– A longtime Chicago favorite, Tim Walkoe, who has appeared on various cable standup comedy shows, is working Friday and Saturday at the Funny Bone, 1504 Naper Blvd. in Naperville’s Tower Crossing Shopping Center; call 630-955-0500.
– Several performers will appear at a benefit for the Greenhouse Women’s Shelter Friday at the Double Door, 1572 N. Milwaukee Ave. For details, call 773-489-3160.
– Jay Lamont, a frequent visitor to All Jokes Aside (1000 S. Wabash Ave.; 312-922-0577), is spending the holiday weekend at the club. And on Wednesday All Jokes gives way to “Midtown Spice,” the monthly comedy-variety show.
Comic-friendly TV
It looks as if the WB network’s “The Tom Show” has become a comic’s haven for sitcom performances.
Tom Arnold, who stars as a producer of a morning talk show, cut his teeth on standup, and J.J. Wall, who is executive producer along with Arnold, is also a comic who used to appear at the Chicago Improv when the club was in operation during the early 1990s.
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The show (at 7:30 p.m. Sundays on WGN-Ch. 9) has had several comedians in guest roles since it has been on the air, including Bobby Slayton, Pat Bullard, Kevin Meaney and John Caponera, some of them appearing on more than one episode.
“They know we can deliver a line,” says Caponera, 41, whose recurring character is a cop who has known Arnold’s character for years. “That’s what sitcoms pretty much are (about) . . . the ability to deliver a joke.”
Caponera, a South Side native who got his start in 1979 while tending bar at Zanies, has a pretty busy schedule. He has a scene in “For Richer or Poorer,” a holiday release starring Tim Allen and Kirstie Alley. “My managers are producing the movie,” he cracks, “so that helped.”
And after his annual Thanksgiving homecoming gig this weekend at Zanies (1548 N. Wells St.; 312-337-4027), Caponera is expected to head back to the WB to pitch sitcom ideas. His managers have a comedy development deal with ABC, so if they come up with an idea, Caponera may get a shot as a supporting character.
Caponera is also busy with his standup. He laid low late summer and early fall to be around for the birth of his second son in September. Now he’s touring the Midwest, hitting spots he has never played before.
“It’s really cool to do Midwest rooms again, because I’m from here,” he explains. “It’s where my sensibilities lie.” And, he cracks, debuting at certain clubs means “I can do jokes that I haven’t done in a long time.”