Laff Stop Comic Has Come Long Way, Including Name Change

There are probably some avid aficionados of stand-up comedy who would draw a blank at the name Monica Piper. But then there are probably some people who grew up with her that wouldn’t recognize the name either--since she was born Maylee Davis.

However, it won’t be long before folks in both categories become considerably more familiar with Piper, if her career continues to click the way it has lately. Just look at the last two weeks:

--She worked several days at Harrah’s in Reno, opening for Neil Sedaka and Glen Campbell.

--The 5-foot comedienne appeared last week on “Wil Shriner,” a nationally syndicated talk show, which that night was devoted to the theme “Good Things That Come in Small Packages.”

--She was on TV again Saturday, this time on Showtime’s initial airing of its “Comedy Club All-Stars” special. Piper was one of six All-Star funny folks selected from 92 comics who had participated in the “Showtime Comedy Club Network.”

Piper--who opens a five-night stand at the Laff Stop in Newport Beach tonight--has racked up other assorted TV credits, from a PBS special on finance for single people to George (“Laugh-In”) Schlatter’s stand-up showcase, “Comedy Club.”

She even performed comedy on television before she had actually started her stand-up career eight years ago. She was working as a singing waitress at an Encino restaurant and, during the late-night blues segment, had begun incorporating a bit on selling the male patrons, like, used cars.

“While I was there doing that selling-the-men thing, Merv Griffin happened to come in one night,” Piper recalled after a recent performance at the Montclair Laff Stop. “He saw me do that bit and said, ‘I’m producing this Jerry Van Dyke special, I think that’s a very funny bit, and I’d like you to (perform it on the special).’ ”

Shortly after that she auditioned at the Comedy Store and began doing spots three nights a week at the Hollywood club. She also waitressed at the now-defunct Encino Laff Stop three nights a week. And, to help make ends meet, she sold bagels and cream cheese each weekend at Venice Beach.

She has obviously come a long way since then, though she came most of that way as Maylee Davis. Explaining the earliest round of her name game, she said: “First, I changed it to May Lee --two words instead of one--because one word came out Marylee everywhere I went.”

OK, but why the much more drastic change to the Monica moniker? “”Monica Piper sounds like a name destined for daytime TV. But I don’t care. I like it. . . . I wanted a normal name where a guy could ask my name and wouldn’t have to say ‘What? What kind of name is that?’ ”

But in simplifying things socially, wasn’t she complicating things professionally--abandoning the name she had performed under for five years in a business where forging name recognition is critical? She didn’t, and still doesn’t, think so.

Her rationale at the time was, although she had made some TV appearances as Davis, “I haven’t done Carson yet, I haven’t done Letterman--I haven’t made it yet. . . . I haven’t gotten to where I want to be yet. So I think (the name change) is what I need, and I know I want to do it.”

And as for those who might question the wisdom of the move, she is not only having the last laugh, but getting laughs with her name. On stage, she quickly develops a running hook, asking the crowd if they do (or say or feel) the same thing she does--and when there is no response she follows up: “ No, Monica--just you .”

The rest of her act is a freewheeling romp through an assortment of conventional stand-up themes, from jokes about cats and dogs to jokes about male/female differences and relationships.

She explores a lot of very common topics and premises, occasionally ending up with jokes that are virtually identical to other comics’.

But she has an enormously animated, expressive way of delivering the material, suggesting she is someone who could--and should --parlay her stand-up success into acting roles.

She thinks so too. “Oh yeah, I’m really a comedic actress--I could just walk into a sitcom,” she said. “I have no idea what the part would be. But I could easily have seen myself as ‘Rhoda’ or as (Carla) on ‘Cheers,’ or even as the receptionist on ‘Moonlighting’--you know what I mean? There’s going to be a part that I’m going to be perfect for

“I’m never going to be a leading lady. I’m a character actress, which is fine. That’s all I want to be: A quality, working, respected character actress.”

And one presumably named Monica Piper.