Reporter ISSAQUAH | SAMMAMISH
Friday, April 26, 2013
www.issaquahreporter.com
AROUND THE HORN Laughter is best medicine for Sammamish comedian
Adrianne Haslet-Davis and her husband Adam
BY KEVIN ENDEJAN
Local victim
KENDEJAN@ISSAQUAHREPORTER.COM
J
eremy Horn is well known for providing nutritional products and advice in Issaquah and Sammamish.
It’s what the 34-year-old owner of Good Health does after hours that surprises most people. For the last four-plus years, the Sammamish resident has performed hundreds of stand-up comedy acts around the country — something he said very few of the clients at his Pine Lake Village store are aware of. “This is something that I do after-hours, kind of a like Batman, just a whole different world people don’t know exists,” Horn said. In the world of stand-up, Horn has worked his way quickly up the ladder, opening for popular acts like Louie Anderson and Andy Kindler. He was recently named the host of the “Huge Comedy Show,” May 3 at the Kirkland Performance Center. The event is part of a promotional tour for the television show, “The 206,” and will feature headliners John Keister and Brooks McBeth of “Almost Live” fame. “You never know when you’re going to get your opportunity,” Horn said. “Everybody thinks life is like a PG-13 movie or American Idol where some agent hears about you from this or that.” Horn got his start in comedy a little later than some, but said it was always something near and dear to his heart. In high school, he and his father, Kevin, spent countless hours watching Comedy Central and HBO specials. “My dad was very cautious about violence on TV and movies and things like that, but had no problem with watching (George) Carlin and (Richard) Pryor,” Horn said. “In his mind, it was saying honest things that reflected on society and not gratuitous violence.” After his father died of cancer in 2003, Horn, who took over the family business, was inspired to take a chance. “For the first time I thought, nobody’s guaranteed tomorrow,” he said. Motivated to honor the bond he and his father shared through comedy, Horn started going to open-mic shows at Giggles in Seattle. He observed acts for months before finally taking the stage himself. “I basically went in fully expecting to fail,” he said. I fully expected to try it a couple of times and it wouldn’t work out, but on my death bed I would be able to tell my grandkids, ‘I tried it, it was horrifying.’”
Issaquah native loses foot, lower leg in Boston bombings BY LINDA BALL LBALL@ISSAQUAHREPORTER.COM
Jeremy Horn, owner of Good Health in Sammamish, surprises many of his patrons when he tells them about his after-hours career as a comedian. KEVIN ENDEJAN, Issaquah & Sammamish Reporter
WATCH JEREMY LIVE 8:30 p.m., May 2 at Laughs Comedy Spot, Kirkland w/ROBO. Tickets $10 8 p.m., May 3, at Kirkland Performance Center w/Brooks McBeth, John Keister and Jubal Flag. Tickets $20 The result was the exact opposite. Not only did Horn keep getting invited back to clubs, but established comedians wanted to bounce ideas off him. “That’s when I said, ‘well I guess I’ll invest in it and see how far I can go,’” he said. Horn said he has since lived out a life-long dream of performing at The Comedy Store, the world famous club in Hollywood. “I just remember thinking, this is exactly
what we worked for, this is the mission my dad trained me for,” he said. Along with rubbing shoulders of big-name acts, Horn also has written several jokes for some of the headliners he’s performed with. He admits he isn’t sure where comedy will eventually lead him. It could be a career in stand-up or one as a writer. For now, Horn said he’s just glad to spread joy through comedy — something that he knows from experience can heal the soul. “That’s the No. 1 most rewarding thing ... when somebody comes to me and says you have no idea how much I needed that,” he said. “Nothing gets you out of the darkness more than a laugh.” Assistant editor Kevin Endejan can be reached at 425-391-0363 ext. 5054 or kendejan@issaquahreporter.com.
A 1998 graduate of Issaquah High School, Adrianne HasletDavis, 32, remains hospitalized while she recovers from serious injuries resulting from the bombings at the Boston Marathon. Haslet-Davis, who now lives in Boston, was standing with her husband, Air Force Capt. Adam Davis, near where the second bomb went off, according to a phone interview with Seattle’s KOMO TV. Haslet, whose parents still live in Issaquah, is a professional dancer. “We heard the first bomb go off and we saw the smoke. I remember the impact of the air and the bomb hitting my chest and pulling me back,” she told the news organization. The couple were knocked off their feet. She said they didn’t feel heat, but her foot hurt. She said her husband held up her foot and they both started screaming “bloody murder.” She also lost the hearing in her right ear. The right side of her body was covered in shrapnel. Davis suffered broken bones in his left foot and his legs were lacerated with shrapnel. He had just returned safely from Afghanistan. SEE HASLET-DAVIS, 2