COMIC RELIEF
What's So Funny About Following Your Dreams by Bari Alyse Rudin
Besides being a comedian myself for over 20 years, I have spent much of my career scouting fellow comedians for late night network TV shows and for programming on Network and cable television. My love of comedy runs deep and I still get the same excitement and enthusiasm when I see a great comedian for the first time. When I was 22, I worked as a talent scout for the Vice President of late night programming at NBC. My boss was in charge of high-profile shows like Saturday Night Live, and the David Letterman Show. Years later, at the tender age of 28, I was the comedy producer for the Keenan Ivory Wayan’s Late Night talk show where I was regularly looking for comedians ready to make their national television debut. The rush and exhilaration of being the one to find exceptional new talent was, and as I found out last fall during some workshops I took in the city, still is, one of the most incredibly fulfilling experiences of my career. Here I was honing my own material and comedic timing and I found myself enamored with this comic who was attending the same fall workshops. I saw him several times and each time found his new jokes – and even ones I had heard before – to be fresh, clever, cute, and endearingly funny without being dirty. Being able to pull that off in comedy is the true art. Whenever I‘ve witnessed that kind of talent and the comic is not yet a known, household name, I time travel back to the days when that was my job and become incredibly excited about letting the world, or at least our national audience, know about this new act. I really feel like it would be keeping an unfair secret to not spread the word about a talent that would bring joy and laughter to people’s lives. Plus, who doesn’t like feeling like they’re in their twenties again. Meet Mike Jacobs. Is he a twentysomething comic I’m about to introduce you to? No, one of the things you’ll notice about Mike is that he may be one of the more mature comics you’ve seen, and not just because he’s not doing beginner, potty humor jokes. He’s distinguished with silver hair, and you will learn from one of his jokes that he recently celebrated his sixtieth birthday. When I saw him first performing
material about growing up poor in Hartford, Connecticut and the hilarious stories he told about his parents, it was a breath of fresh air which reminded me of the kind of comedy I grew up listening to both commercially and in my own family. There was a familiarity, an engaging, endearing quality about this comic that set him apart from the thousands I’ve seen. How do I describe that to you? He tells jokes about his childhood, neighborhood, and growing up. You can tell that they come right from the heart and they remind you of your own funny and crazy family stories. He doesn’t go for the shock value or the easy laugh with cursing and blue material –that’s always refreshing because there’s nothing new or clever about that kind of material. Instead, he has you laughing at the simplest moments of humanity we’ve all encountered and when he’s done, you want to hang out and laugh with him some more as well as give him a hug.
Mike studied philosophy in college and his material shows that he is as much a philosopher as a comic. While he’s not talking about Aristotle on stage in his standup, what does come through is someone who has a depth of understanding about life and ideas and why and what is funny, beyond the obvious of his own life and childhood stories. After college Mike began his very successful career, not in stand-up comedy, but on Wall Street, spending 40 years as a stockbroker with a well-known firm. Clearly, Mike knows a little something about working under pressure and balancing many different things at once. Maybe that’s part of what makes his timing, delivery and writing as a comic so impeccable. He always loved comedy and never stopped dreaming of making it on stage, even though he was a successful Wall Street guy with a busy career, life and family. It wasn’t until his youngest daughter, Aly Shira, a morning show host on “The Jack Diamond Radio Show in DC”, asked her dad if he thought he could put together five minutes of standup for a comedy show her radio station was putting together with professional comics. She knew how funny her dad was and how much performing stand-up comedy was a dream for him. Mike said at the time he really only had one joke, but leave it to a stockbroker to recognize an opportunity and timing. Mike put it together in about five minutes and hopped on a plane to DC where he had a killer first set. He was hooked. He soon became a regular at New York City and Connecticut comedy clubs and worked non-stop on his act. Today, just four years after he tapped into his amazing talents for that radio show in DC, he is a regular at Caroline’s and other Broadway Comedy Clubs. He also performs regularly at Joker’s Wild, The Brew Ha Ha and Treehouse Comedy Clubs in Connecticut, casinos, theaters and fundraisers. A recent highlight for Mike was opening at the Fidelity Theater for two of Blood, Sweat and Tears concerts. During his first year as a stand-up, he placed second in New York’s Funniest Jewish Comedian contest. Last year, he performed in the Boston Comedy Festival showcases and was just recently selected by NACA to perform on the college circuit. It just goes to show that you’re never too old to follow your dreams. Do yourself a favor and catch one of his shows. I can virtually guarantee that you will find yourself laughing and joyfully remembering your own family and childhood. He is my new favorite and, in my opinion, the best comedian performing in Connecticut today. You can also say you “discovered him before he was famous” because I am sure you will be hearing more about him as he makes his way on to the national stage. Check out Mike at MikeJacobsComedy.com for shows and schedules. As always, get in touch with me and follow me on Twitter@BariAlyse.
CONTEMPORARY CULTURE//MAGAZINE
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