SO MANY COMICS AND SO LITTLE TIME

Published: Thursday, August 30, 1990
Section: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON , page 14
Type of story: AFTER HOURS

Source: Roberta Thisdell

© 1990 Landmark Communications Inc.

How much amateur comedy can one city stand? Well, apparently both would-be jokesters and audiences want more, and the Thoroughgood Inn Comedy Club is willing to oblige.

Dennis Dewey Dinger - known as Triple D to the comedy crowd - said the Thursday open-mike nights have been almost too successful, with more audience and more comedians than can reasonably fit.

Plenty of gluttons for punishment out there; the emcee said the amateur night workshops have been playing to standing-room-only crowds. He's hustling up to 20 amateur comedians on and off the stage at the weekly events.

``It's just way too many comedians for people to see in one night,'' Triple D said. ``There's only so much you can watch.''

To meet the demand, a Wednesday evening show will be added beginning Sept. 12. Admission to the open-mike nights is free, which may explain the demand. Actually, it's a mixed bag of talent - you take your chances, and if it's bad, just hope that the allotted seven-minute routine is mercifully cut short by a sudden natural disaster. Perhaps a small flood or a minor earth tremor.

To ease the evenings along, Triple D will be conducting a class for comedians, instructing them in emcee etiquette. The classes will be held four nights - Sept. 6, 12, 19 and 26 - and cost $10 each.

The curriculum contains some common sense info, like being sure to know the comics' names and credits, and when to make that most important of announcements: ``Don't forget to tip your waitress.'' Plus, Triple D will be passing along some of his own insights on being funny while running the show.

Triple D himself will be heading on the road in January, traveling the comedy circuit as a featured co-headliner.

``I've been doing this for 10 years, and I've finally got my break,'' he said.

BLUES MOVES The blues make a move this week at Larkin's, with promoter Mike Rau switching his Sunday afternoon blues shows to Thursday evenings. Starting the new lineup will be Carey Bell on Sept. 6, followed by local favorites Mojo Collins and the Cheap Blues Revue on Sept. 13.

Rau's other concern, the Friends of Progressive and Alternative Music (FOPAR), got a boost this week with the addition of a telephone hotline. By dialing the electronic mailbox service (459-3525), those with touch-tone phones can listen to an information hotline and concert calendar.

Plus, callers can leave messages for FOPAR folks, and offer information on their own bands' whereabouts for the concert listing.

Lest anyone forget, FOPAR formed from the loyal remnants of the late great WOFM, with the goal of finding another radio station here to pick up alternative programming.

MORE SUPPORT Local musicians may soon have another type of support group, sort of a really cool networking deal being worked out by Laurie Nason. Nason, who managed the band Steel Rage until it headed back home to California, is working out a non-profit group to help musicians working on original music.

The point being that members could help one another out, instead of treating the local music scene as one big, messy contest for the almighty dollar.

``There's so much competition in the music field,'' Nason said. ``There are so many young bands out there being forced to open for bands with no pay involved.''

Bands would use the organization to keep one another up to date, and to give established bands a way to help deserving newcomers.

``If we can't get ahead through record companies and producers,'' Nason said, ``maybe we can help each other to get ahead.''

There would be no fee for the service, she said. More details later.

On the personal side, Nason is forming a new group, Crystal Rain, with guitarist Mike West and bassist David Night. The group is now seeking a lead singer and drummer.

TUNING UP AGAIN Jodie Woodward and Linda Ausch are turning up the tunes at Reisner's Delicatessen this weekend, offering live music for the first time since January. Lewis McGehee will be playing Friday and Saturday at the Janaf Plaza deli, just across the Norfolk line.

Woodward and Ausch, sisters and deli co-managers, ended the entertainment after the birth of Woodward's second child left her reconsidering the potential fun factor of a 2 a.m. quitting time.

``We miss the entertainment, me and my sister both,'' Woodward said, ``but physically, coming home to a 2 a.m. feeding, smelling like beer, just wasn't working.''

It's only a musical interlude, though. The McGehee shows are a one-shot deal, Woodward said.

The sisters' parents, Eddie and Erica Ausch, opened the traditional deli 25 years ago.