NO KIDDING : John Fox Seriously Enjoys the Kind of ‘T’ and ‘A’ Humor That Brands His Adult-Oriented Shows
He may look like Capt. Kangaroo--”after a rough weekend”--but John Fox’s comedy act is no kid show. In fact, the Laff Stop, where Fox is headlining this week, warns prospective customers: ADULTS ONLY PLEASE.
The raspy-voiced comedian says he doesn’t mind the “adult” humor label--”as long you don’t say rated X. Then the audience comes picturing you slobbering around the mouth.”
But, he acknowledges, his act “ is for adults. If you look at the top 10 comics in the country, they’re all working off-color, with the exception of (Jay) Leno and (Jerry) Seinfeld.”
Fox, a former house painter who made his stage debut at amateur night at the Comedy Store in Hollywood 14 years ago, said he didn’t start out doing off-color material.
“When I first started I was working a lot cleaner and then you start getting your TV spots and after you get in, you start evolving into what you want to be, I guess,” he said, adding that he always wanted to be a comic (“I used to try out my jokes on other painters all the time”) and the off-color jokes were always what made him laugh.
“I like the Benny Hill type of comics,” he said. “I’m more into the (T) and (A) type of comedy. Those people make me laugh. I’d rather go for the big laugh. There’s nothing wrong with working off-color as long as it’s done cleverly.
“I just work adult humor, but it’s the way I do it. One review said, ‘he’s sort of like the wacked out, weirded, next-door neighbor who drops by to borrow a beer and you can’t get rid of him type.’ I really don’t come off as that offensive.”
With a laugh, he added: “I’m probably the cleanest off-color comic” around.
In fact, Fox said, the majority of his act is not even dirty. “Maybe 15 minutes of 45 is off-color and the rest is fine for TV. You pretty much let the audience take you where they want to go. If the audience isn’t buying off-color, you just don’t work that way.”
In one bit he talks about the dangers of sitting too close to the screen at a theater showing pornographic 3-D movies. He also talks about going to a hotel that offered X-rated movies on closed-circuit TV. (“I was so scared,” he says. “I was afraid if I was watching a movie in room six how do I know I’m not the movie in room seven?”)
In addition to appearing in two Rodney Dangerfield HBO specials, Fox’s credits include the stand-up videos “Truly Tasteless Jokes”’ (taped in the mid-’80s with a relatively unknown Andrew Dice Clay and others) and “Comedy’s Dirtiest Dozen.” He was also the voice of a pig in the animated feature film “Rover Dangerfield” (Fox says Dangerfield called it “type casting”).
An animated performer with a face made for mugging, Fox said his body “is my prop. I’m not afraid at all of making myself look ugly.” That might entail sticking his stomach out, doing funny things with his hair--or doing an impression of his dad waking up in the morning:
“Sunday mornings are hell,” Fox says. “He’ll eat a pickle for breakfast, drink a beer and find something to scratch.”
Overall, Fox has a fast-paced, keep-’em-laughing style of delivery. “I go 100 m.p.h.,” he said. “It’s not for the weak of heart.”
A sampling of some of the tamer parts of Fox’s repertoire:
* “I was fired from McDonalds . . . My pimples weren’t big enough.”
* “I bought a camouflage shirt last week, put it in the closet, now I can’t find it.”
* “I broke up with my girlfriend. I was at that stage of the relationship where you know it’s over but you hate to lose the stereo. . . . She wasn’t so bright. She called me up one day. She said, ‘John, the light bulb in the bathroom burned out and I don’t know how to change it.’ I said, ‘First, you fill the tub with water.’ . . . I called today. There was no answer.”
Fox said he would never consider slowing down the pace of his routines.
“I just don’t like hearing silence out there. These guys that tell long stories with a joke at the end, that’s too much silence for me. I like to have it like bombs exploding. It makes me nervous when I don’t hear laughs up there.”
Which reminds Fox that “the No. 1 fear of humans is to speak in front of a large audience. The No. 2 fear is to die. . . . And the No. 1 fear of a stand-up comic is to die when he’s speaking to a large audience.”
Who: John Fox.
When: Friday, Nov. 27, and Sunday, Nov. 29, at 8:30 p.m.; Saturday, Nov. 28, at 8, 10 and 11:45 p.m.
Where: The Laff Stop, 2122 S.E. Bristol St., Newport Beach.
Whereabouts: From the Corona del Mar (73) Freeway, take the Irvine Avenue/Campus Drive exit onto Bristol Street and go south one block.
Wherewithal: $7 to $10.
Where to call: (714) 852-8762.
