Thank You Zanies

Thursday March 19th, 2009 - Lake Villa, IL

Today is Rick Uchwat’s birthday. Rick is the owner of the three Zanies Comedy Clubs in the Chicago area and also one in Nashville. There have been partnership arrangements in some of those clubs which aren’t my business so I won’t even try to make a guess as to how they work. All I know is Rick has been the big cheese as long as I’ve been around.

Zanies has been my lifesaver in comedy for more than twenty years now. I have become one of their favorites and I’ve gotten steady work from them any time I need or want it. If it weren’t for them I may not have been able to make a living at this for as long as I have. Year in and year out I’ve been able to pay my bills with the money I’ve earned from there.

It all happened by chance too. Bert Haas was the manager of the Chicago club way back in the ‘80s and he called the Funny Bone in Milwaukee needing an opening act at the last minute. Jeff Schneider was the owner of the Bone and he suggested me because out of all the locals he said he felt I had the most potential. Thanks Jeff and Bert. I owe you both.

I remember being scared to death the first time I worked for Zanies. That was where I’d seen my first real comedy show when I started doing it. I was an open miker but I went all the way to Chicago from Milwaukee to see what the whole business was about and that’s where I ended up going. To be working there myself years later was a very big milestone.

I wasn’t very good at the time and I didn’t have a solid week at all. I was in and out and I never felt like I got a strong groove going. I don’t even remember who I worked with for the week but I do remember thinking how I needed to improve before coming back again.

I was almost relieved when the week was over but I was also excited to have had the gig.
As luck would have it there was an opening the following week at the Zanies out in the suburb of Mt. Prospect. Bert Haas sent me out there and the manager and I hit it off right from the start and he said ‘You can send that kid out here anytime. He’s got some balls.’

Thank goodness I had balls because I sure didn’t have very many jokes. I was pretty raw but that was the big boom for comedy and nobody cared. Zanies always booked good acts to close the shows and I was just window dressing while I paid my dues and learned what comedy was all about. Zanies offered me a chance to develop my skills and I’m grateful.

There were a lot of other clubs in Chicago at the time and at the peak there were 19 full time clubs. Wow. That’s a lot of comedy for one town but Detroit probably had as many as Chicago did back then as well. Those were the big years but then it all came to an end. There was no way all those clubs could keep providing top notch shows week after week.

Clubs started closing left and right in the ‘90s and before long Chicago would be down to a few rooms but Zanies managed to survive. I happened to stay with them and now all these years later I’m one of their main acts to the point of being like family. I’ve spent my comedy lifetime being loyal to them and they’ve been loyal to me too. I’m a Zanies lifer.

When I had my car accident in 1993 and almost died Rick Uchwat had a check for me a day later that paid my bills for several months. It was a loan and I had to pay it back but it couldn’t have come at a better time and I still appreciate it to this day. It saved my life at a time when my father or mother weren’t there for me. Neither one of them came to see me.

Rick sent a check and then called Bert Haas to book me so I could pay it back. They had me work as a regular ‘house emcee’ so I could stay local and heal up and get my comedy chops back in addition to paying back what I owed them. It was a win/win for everybody.

In my life as a dented can I haven’t had very many people in my corner. Those few who were are very precious memories for me now and I would fight for them to the death. My grandfather was one. He was the only reason that I made it through my childhood at all.

His wisdom and encouragement stay with me to this day and I know he must have been really proud wherever he might be as I finally did my first national TV spot last week. It’s a thrill to be able to do it if only for the fact it made him proud. He would have loved this.

C. Cardell Willis was another one who was a huge influence and mentor to me. He is in that rare group of people who gave of himself more than he took and I also thought of his kindness and generosity as I was doing my set in front of the camera. Cardell would be as proud as Gramps would have and those two had a lot to do with me getting there at all.

Rick Uchwat and Bert Haas and Zanies Comedy Clubs were more of my middle school years of influence. Gramps and Cardell were there at the beginning and trained me well. It was a little later that I got involved with Zanies but they have been with me for a lifetime.

I can’t see myself not working for them and even though some people call me a kiss ass and worse they weren’t there for me when I was in intensive care with tubes in every hole in my body. Where was their check? Their phone call? Zanies was there when I needed it.

I will always be grateful for those major influences in my life and I hope I can be one to a few people along the way myself. I surely try to be that way any time I can. I try to point young comics in a positive direction and I couldn’t do that if someone didn’t do it for me.

I called Rick and wished him a happy birthday and I could hear his voice light up on the phone when he realized someone remembered. If nobody else did I did and I told him that I appreciate all he’s done for me and how I wanted to be able to pay him back someday.

And I totally do. My ultimate dream is to be a big draw and come back to sell out shows in and around Chicago so I can pay Rick and Bert and all the Zanies people back for those years when they were keeping me alive. Literally. If it weren’t for them I would’ve had to quit comedy and get a day job and no way would my future look as bright as it does now.

Rick told me how he was proud of me and all I’ve accomplished and how nobody gave me a shot but I did it anyway. Hearing that made me feel like I finally earned my stripes.