Poignant ‘Daddy?’ Addresses Comic’s Longing for Father

Craig Shoemaker was abandoned by his father at the age of 1 month, a formative betrayal that blighted his childhood and trickled poisonously into his adult life.

A comedian of 20 years’ standing, Shoemaker addresses his lifelong longing for a father figure and his own halting path to paternity in “Who’s Your Daddy?,” his autobiographical one-man show, directed by John Achorn, now at the Coronet’s new Studio Theatre space.

Perhaps best known for his signature character, the Lovemaster, an arch-seducer who croons outrageous pickup lines in a Barry White bass, Shoemaker is an appealingly antic performer who peppers his reminiscences with equal parts hilarity and poignancy.

Raised in an all-female household in South Philadelphia, Shoemaker was so desperate for a dad, he even wrote to Paul Lynde of “Hollywood Squares” fame and asked him to consider becoming his father. Another painful betrayal was in store when an admired family friend and father figure tried to molest him. That experience sent Shoemaker spiraling briefly into juvenile delinquency, until a humiliating football defeat gave Shoemaker his first taste of a crowd’s laughter--an epiphany that set the course of his life.

If true humor is based on misfortune, then Shoemaker is a born humorist who makes us laugh at his most painful personal recollections. He is savagely candid about the characters in his life, both past and present. But he is especially revealing about himself--his years of drunken womanizing, his failed early marriage, his career reverses and the challenges he faces as a husband and as the father of a 2-year-old boy.

Once or twice, Shoemaker slips into his resume, recapping his own achievements in obligatory fashion. And occasionally, the chain of anecdote gets a bit unwieldy. More often, however, he is insightful and amusing, an expert on paternal loss who has hard evidence of just how excruciating life without a father can be. When Shoemaker produces a yellowed greeting card with the legend “To a Wonderful Son”--which he bought for himself at age 7, then signed a plaintive “Dad,” backward Ds and all--we are moved beyond laughter to tears.

* “Who’s Your Daddy?,” Coronet Studio Theatre, 366 N. La Cienega Blvd., Los Angeles. Tuesdays-Wednesdays, 8 p.m. Ends Feb. 28. $15. (310) 657-7377. Running time: 1 hour, 20 minutes.