The Year in Review: In comedy, one moment transcended the genre. : Fond Farewell, Hearty Laughter

When Robert Hartman, regional manager for the Improv chain, ganders back at the year that was, he doesn’t linger over its top shows, economic vagaries or the nascent shifting away from straight stand-up.

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Picking the scene’s defining moment comes easy. It was a moment that transcended comedy.

It was July 28, when Dennis Wolfberg was opening a three-night engagement at the Improv in Irvine. The shows would be his last. The two-time comedian of the year, ostensibly recovering from hip surgery, had tried to beg off, but Hartman was in a bind and pestered him into doing the shows.

“I’ll never forget Dennis coming to the club with an IV in his arm,� Hartman says. Wolfberg was suffering from melanoma that would kill him two months later, at age 48. “He just told me he had a hip replacement. I never thought it was life-threatening.� Still, “for 45 or 50 minutes he killed. That took a lot of courage. I felt like a heel afterward.�

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But those nights on stage were as beneficial to Wolfberg as they were to his fans and to Hartman. “He said it was the best medicine he’d had. He said he felt better after those three days than in the last three months. He was pumped when he walked off stage. He hung around and talked about comedy, how he loved doing it, being on stage, how he was bummed because he couldn’t play with his kids because he’s in bed all day because he couldn’t stand.�

And then Wolfberg reattached his IV and returned to his Culver City home.

No wonder the memory stands out. But other performers, and some trends, also deserve a year-end mention.

At the Brea and Irvine Improvs and Fullerton’s now defunct Standing Room Only (which died near summer’s end), more non-traditional acts than ever were given top billing, including comedian-ventriloquists Jeff Dunham and Dan Horn, duos O’Brien & Valdez and Mack & Jamie, and the Passing Zone, a comedy juggling team. Ritch Shydner, Jack Gallagher and Robert Dubac did extended one-man shows, and in Brea, Absolute Madness, a sketch-oriented, audience-participation revue, ran for several weeks.

“We’re mixing it up,� Hartman explains. “We’re definitely not sitting still. We’re trying to find the next thing to captivate audiences like stand-up did in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s.�

Economically, enigma seemed to be the key word. Or rollercoaster. “I wish I could put my finger on it,� Hartman says. “Up 20%, down 40%. Normally, I can come within $2,000 or $3,000 for the month, but I wasn’t even coming close.�

In October, Gino Michellini’s “Five O’Clock Funnies� left KLOS after keeping comedy out front during prime drive time, and “we noticed a big drop,� Hartman continues. “He was such an influence over the business.� But other reasons for a shake-up are hard to pinpoint. “I’ve been talking to other owners over the past six months, and we’re all trying to figure it out. We’re all experiencing the same things. Nothing’s consistent. But recently business has been great, and overall we’ve done OK.�

Audiences, meanwhile, have done better than OK. Orange County can be thankful for the two Improvs, consistently booking top acts with proven material. It was the rare show (Garry Shandling’s note-reading effort in Irvine comes to mind) that disappointed this year. The clunkers were outnumbered vastly by the gems.

Performers who stood out included Horn (when he could be pried away from his home in Arizona), Dunham, O’Brien & Valdez, Diana Jordan, Kathleen Madigan, Bill Engvall, Jack Coen and a slew of others (male headliners continued to outnumber their female counterparts).

At the grass-roots level, hearty thumbs-ups go to Tom Riehl and Bill Word. On Oct. 11, Word hosted the 100th show in his Tuesday night series that began at the Blue Marble Coffeehouse in Costa Mesa on Election Day ’92 and moved over to Totally Coffee in the same city when the Blue Marble was sold. “It’s a chance for local talent to develop,� Word notes. “For myself as host of the show, it’s a good grounding every week for me to get better.

“We developed a cult following. It’s pretty cheap entertainment, and we have comics who are funny. We make the audience feel like part of the family, a personal touch. In the summer, it’s really hot, averaging 30 to 40 a night. In a small coffeehouse, that’s pretty packed.�

For Riehl, Aug. 28 was the big day: The comedian-promoter celebrated one year of weekly shows at the Holiday Inn in Laguna Hills. He credits funny performers, appreciative audiences and an understanding wife. Next goal: Aug. 28 of ’95.

Other local shows also have taken hold as several coffeehouses and other venues host young and veteran comics weekly.

“It seems like I saw a glut, and it’s not stopping. It’s like they’re being manufactured,� says Claudia Paris, who produces a weekly show at Midnight Java in Huntington Beach. “In a way, it’s good. You have to be better because it’s so competitive. You have to have your own niche.�

She also sees a change in the type of comedy at local coffeehouses, hotel lounges, bars and elsewhere.

“The comedy is not so much jokes anymore. There’s a trend to real-life experiences and things everyone can relate to. There’s more heart getting into it.�

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THE YEAR’S BEST

Glenn Doggrell’s picks:

* Best Shows, in no particular order: Jack Coen (Aug. 23 at the Irvine Improv), comedian-ventriloquist Jeff Dunham (May 26 at the Brea Improv), Bill Engvall (Feb. 26 in Brea), comedian-ventriloquist Dan Horn (Feb. 12 in Brea), Richard Jeni (Nov. 25 in Irvine), the Passing Zone, a juggling team (March 5 in Irvine) and O’Brien & Valdez (Jan. 25 at the Centerfield Sports Bar & Grill in Huntington Beach).

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* Funniest Moment: When Horn attached puppet rods to a female volunteer and put words in her mouth. People fell out of their chairs.

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* Most Impressive Close: When onetime world-class juggler Chris Bliss combined juggling, strobes, black lights and the Beatles’ “A Day in the Life� for a jaw-dropping finale at the Irvine Improv on Dec. 15.

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* Always Worth Seeing: Henry Cho, Jack Gallagher, Jake Johannsen, Diana Jordan, Kathleen Madigan, comedian-hypnotist Flip Orley, Brian Regan, Margaret Smith, Ritch Shydner and Bobby Slayton.

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* If You’re Only Going to See One Show in ‘95: O’Brien & Valdez.

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* Guys Who Are Only Going to Get Better: Anthony Griffin, Van Gunther, Bob Kubota.

(This list is by no means 100% foolproof as it represents only the shows this reviewer attended. Word of mouth from club managers was not tabulated.--G.D.)