Up and Coming Talent / Joy's Comedy School / Joy's Show

MAY 5, 2005
20 Years and Still Laughing

BY DAVE WEINTHAL

Dave Weinthal

A radio personality looking for a place to land Michael Alfano and his wife Cheryl landed in Chattanooga roughly 20 years ago. The New Jersey native fell in love with Chattanooga after a brief stint in radio in Louisiana, and has never left. The Comedy Catch opened 20 years ago on the top of the old Holiday Inn in the Golden Gateway, a building now occupied by Blue Cross Blue Shield. Founded by local comics Ken Sonns and Les McCurdy, the club moved to its present location where it’s grown and expanded to become of the premiere comedy clubs in the country.

Your name is synonymous with comedy in this town. Were you always into humor? I think I was vicariously a comedian. I was in radio, and sort of always wanted to be in the entertainment business. When I was younger my parents owned a neighborhood bar in New Jersey, so I was kind of around bars. Being in radio, and hosting contests, things like that, I was in entertainment. I’m kind of an interesting mix. The opportunity arose, and I thought it was perfect for me.

Was there a specific comic figure that had you lean towards comedy? As far as getting into the business I don’t think I was motivated by any comedy or comedian. One that stick out in my mind growing up of course, is Richard Pryor. I’d have to put him at number one. George Carlin. On the cleaner side, Jerry Seinfeld is one of the best. Pretty much the same people growing up in the late Seventies/early Eighties - everybody got to watch. I didn’t really have any favorites. It wasn’t necessarily a comedian that led me into getting into the business, but a business based around entertainment, and food and beverages, which I kind of knew growing up. It was a great meld.

At that time did you think standup would become such a big part of our cultural landscape as it has? At that time, I thought it was, not like disco was. I knew I could see it would be extremely popular. To answer your question, I always thought it would be a venue for entertainment and I still would like it to be standup comedy as long as Chattanooga will support it. To answer that is, I never knew it was something I wanted to do, and hoped with the popularity of TV and TV comedy at the time that it would grow into something. We make fun of discotheques, but they’re still around. They just have another name – dance clubs. It’s just like comedy, it may not be as popular as it was in the late Eighties, but they’re still there – and it’s called karaoke! (laughs) I‘ve never looked at it in that big of a picture.

What was the initial reception that you noticed having a comedy club in Chattanooga? I think it was very positive. It’s one of the reasons that motivated us to buy. It had a good image, a good projection of a place to come and enjoy some entertainment that was live, but wasn’t squeaky clean. I think my biggest problem when we took over that we’ve tried to change throughout the years is when it first opened it was considered quite pricey. At times, some of the tickets can be pricey, but you’re seeing big names who are that price. We tried to keep our prices in line with the other restaurants/bars. Keeping it not too pricey kept it to the level where Chattanoogans can come on a regular basis. Instead of it being a night out once a year that they had to save up for, or make sure they had their money put aside for, it’s now actually where you can have something to eat and entertainment at less than a full meal at a three or four star restaurant.

Of course it’s different dining, but you can at least eat and have entertainment. Was it difficult booking the acts initially? It wasn’t difficult booking the acts as far as finding them, it was picking the ones that were right for Chattanooga and that I liked to work with because egos and arrogance, and entourages can get in the way. It was really picking and choosing what Chattanooga thought was funny, and who I thought people would pay again to see. I’ve brought at lot of comics through here one time. And it’s the ones I think fit this market I bring back. Sometimes I bring it back time and time again until Chattanooga says, “Oh, he is funny.” We have a list of comedians like that that I’ve worked and nobody came out to see, and now they’re a major star. People say, “Why can’t you get this guy?” A guy off the top of my head would be Dave Attell. I worked Dave Attell - one of the first clubs in the south to work Dave Atell. He was nervous coming down here. And he was a little bit of a fish out of water – but a funny fish. He did a great job. After he gets his show, everyone is “Why don’t you get Dave Attell?” If you’ll pay $37 I can bring in Dave Attell. But I can’t get enough people – well, I probably could now. He’s very popular. Rodney Carrington. People could have seen Rodney Carrington for five bucks, but now it’s $33.

What are one or two more success stories you’ve had here at the Comedy Catch? There’s quite a bit – quite a few when I sit back and thing about them. The biggest success story, who was already on his way up when he worked here was Jerry Seinfeld. Then you have to say Jeff Foxworthy probably number two. Parallel to the story we’re talking about, the value of some concert growing up – Ron White worked here for years. People paid five or eight dollars to see Ron White, and I worked him for four years. A very great comic, and I kept bringing him back, but he never really hit. He never exploded because his style at that time – which is still the same, wasn’t real trendy. His style is slow, kind of monotonous if you stick with me in the end there’s going to be a punch – there’s going to be a payoff – which is not real popular in nightclubs. Ron, now after the Blue Collar Comedy Tour is selling out the Memorial Auditorium. That’s one of the keys – people need to come see them while they’re on their way up. Have you ever had any “big name” acts that didn’t go over like you thought? Yes! Tracy Morgan was a big, big flop, from Saturday Night Live. Horrible act. (laughs) I gave people free passes to come back and see other acts. I couldn’t give them their money back because Tracy got 90 percent of the money. I had to take money that I made and pay for other expenditures. Tracy Morgan was my biggest flop. I didn’t have to think about that one. (laughs)

Do you remember what the first act was that played here? The first act to play the Comedy Catch – of course that was before I was involved, but it was a gentleman – a man downtown by the name of Kenny Rogers, who I believe is still in the business. The first guy to play here (Brainerd Road) at this building was a comic by the name of Brad Sanders. Brad, I think is writing for some sit-coms now. Kenny, I think still does standup. Of course Ken and Les were probably the first, because they opened it as emcees.

Do you see any up and coming talent locally? Yeah, there’s quite a few, actually that appear off the top of my head. Ricky Peardon, I think is very, very funny. Big Eddie Caylor from Ooltewah. There’s a gentleman who is out on the road working the Blue Collar Comedy Tour who is from Athens, Pat Dixon, who has picked up management. Roger Keiss is local and doing very well. Then we have the young lady, Joy Cashin, who is really out of Atlanta who runs a comedy school – which is how all these guys have learned. And then they just have to continue to break their teeth – not only at her comedy school, but after you graduate the comedy school you work out on Thursday night in the Grill, which is our second stage.

On Thursday we have two shows going on – an amateur show and a professional show. You can go back and forth and see either one. The amateur show isn’t always amateur. It’s more of an open mic. A lot of those locals that are pros, when they’re home come and work on new material over there. It’s more like a New York or LA club where you never know who will show up. Sometimes you get people from Atlanta or Knoxville. As far as the local comedy scene is concerned, that’s the way to do it.

Go through the comedy school, because you learn such an amount in such a quick period of time that you go from somebody that knows totally nothing to somebody who can at least pull off the stage requirements of being a standup comedian. Then they basically have to be funny and have to write.

We had America’s Funniest Mom Competition with Nickelodeon, which is a great event. I discovered three or four funny women, whom I’m hoping will continue to pursue and do more. What kind of research do you do when recruiting talent for the club? Most of it comes from a newsgroup I belong to online. Club owners and comics talk about each other essentially. (laughs) Other club owners’ references are the big thing. If I work somebody, like when Dave Attell came here – I worked him. All of the other southern clubs were afraid to use him. He was extremely professional and funny. It’s not always funny. To work a guy they’ve got to have everything. It’s got to be a complete package. We call each other, we kind of network. We have a meeting once a year. Most of it is through club owner or highly respected comedian’s references. Other than that, no club owner had to tell me too book Kevin Pollak. He’s a marquee name that I knew would go over, and would be very funny. On the other side there’s the Tracy Morgans where we’re bringing that big name that cost me. That caused me to do a little more research on their ability on stage.

In your opinion what makes for a good joke? Relateability. Something somebody knows or does from a different angle. Like Jerry Seinfeld, “There’s one sock missing. Where does the other sock go.” At the time it was creative and original. It was challenging. It was something everybody does. “Where the hell do these socks go?” They can relate to that. That’s just an angle “Where do they go? Is there a lost home?” Take it that stretch that nobody has said before. Originality and relateability. You’ve literally seen hundreds of acts.

 Is there maybe a common mistake you see a lot of the newer comics especially make on stage? There are two mistakes. The newer comics always try to be dirty. They really are just sophomoric, like being in a locker room or cafeteria middle school or junior high school. Being dirty too quick. It’s a progression where you should be clean, and then as you become seasoned you can throw in more blue material. The other thing is done by a lot of touring professionals, is highly religious material. I think when they try to challenge Christianity they flop, and I don’t think it’s appropriate. I don’t think they should be on that soapbox on stage anyway. One is for seasoned guys and the other a common mistake of new performers.

Which do you see the audiences here taking more to the traditional joke teller, or the prop comic like a Carrot Top? The latter. They really like bells and whistles. (laughs) And shiny objects. But if you give them too much of it, then you water down what is standup comedy. So I try to mix it in, and try to use guys that have a little bit of both. Going straight to and just the props, I work some of them, but not as much. I try to mix it in and get good balance. But we do like bells, whistles, and shiny objects. (laughs)

How has the club grown over the years? You’ve undergone a number of expansions over the years. The upstairs (the original showroom) is now a boutique. My wife opened the Ya Ya Boutique. We were using it for banquets and basically whoever wanted to use it to hire bands, or doing some comedy shows up there. But we decided to shove another business up there to try and help the neighborhood, and take advantage of hopefully Marti Rutherford and Ron Littlefield doing something for this neighborhood. Essentially we went from what Ken and Les originally set up. We expanded to the left over where we are right now. We had to raise the ceiling to expand the showroom once four years ago. This building next door came up for sale and we bought it, and expanded into that. At this point after 20 years I believe we reached a point where there’s not much more growth needed. I think the showroom is the perfect size for this market. Our growth probably will be in new and exciting acts, and trying to do what we do well and present it a little bit better. Physically I don’t think we’re going to do much more.

In the 20 years is one of your most memorable experiences? Paula Poundstone making fun of me on the “Tonight Show”. That was actually 20 seconds of my claim to fame. Cheryl, what can you think of?

Cheryl Alfano: Getting to go to the comedy awards with Etta May. She asked us to go with her. We got to walk down the red carpet.

MA: That was cool.

CA: Because she worked here so much, she considered this (the Comedy Catch) her home club.

MA: Anybody invited to that show, it’s like a mini Academy Awards.

CA: And then her winning.

MA: That and working with some of the great people in the business.

CA: Working with them before they got real famous.

MA: And guys that are on the top of their game who are like well-oiled machines, to sit back and watch them perform, and handle the crowd, or even handle the crowd afterwards by shaking the crowd’s hands afterwards. I think that’s the memorable big experience, we probably have on a yearly basis. Opening the other showroom was big for me. Opening it and succeeding there according to plan, getting a little bit bigger was memorable.

SUGGESTED LINKS http://www.thecomedycatch.com

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