Laughing With Your Neighbors

Because it's more common to see a comic on television than at the supermarket, most people don't think of comedians as regular folks, but the regional stand-up circuit is full of "working class" comics – guys who get on stage every night to entertain crowds in smaller towns.

On Saturday night, Feb. 19, three of those guys performed at the Whitehall Borough Recreation Board's 4th Annual Winter Blues Comedy Cure at on Curry Road.

"This is wild," Chuck Krieger, a comedian who grew up in Brentwood and boroughs and did regular gigs at The Funny Bone in Pittsburgh in the early 1990s, said. "This is like a home game for me."

Nowadays, Krieger performs at comedy clubs across the Northeast and Midwest, though he runs into Western Pennsylvanians everywhere he goes.

"They've got a Steelers coat. Or a Crosby hat. Never a Pirates hat," he said, finding laughs in the Pirates' 18 straight losing seasons. "The season hasn't started yet, and they're already mathematically eliminated."

Although over 40 years old, Krieger comes across much younger on stage, wearing an untucked black dress shirt over faded blue jeans and sporting slightly graying sideburns. He has wild eyes and holds the microphone in both hands as he tells jokes in a constricted yelp.

Krieger's routine jumped from Gabriel Brothers to his nonagenarian grandmother to "the list."

Here's how "the list" works: He and his wife each chose three people, anyone in the world, that they could break the vows of marriage with, guilt-free. His wife chose Brad Pitt, Freddie Prinze Jr. and Patrick Dempsey.

"All these Hollywood hunks," Krieger said. "But we live in Pittsburgh. So I chose my neighbors on both sides and Julie Bologna."

The Winter Blues Comedy Cure is the biggest fundraising event of the year for Whitehall Borough's Recreation Board. Saturday night was the fourth annual event of its kind, and the evening brought 250 people out for a dinner buffet, a bar, prizes and a comedy show.

"This is definitely our biggest year," Kelly Joyce, Whitehall's recreation director, said.

Still, the recreation board hosts other large events in the summer, like Community Day in late August and a weekly farmer's market on Monday afternoons from June through October. The board also organizes pool parties, water aerobics, tennis lessons, art classes and other events.

The Winter Blues Comedy Cure's talent comes from Slapsticks Comedy Productions, the brainchild of local comedian and actor David Kaye.

Kaye grew up in Gibsonia, Pa., as the son of a steelworker. He also performed Saturday night.

"My entire family has a great sense of humor," he said. "We were always laughing."

Kaye traces his stage persona – half zany, half smart aleck – to his parents. His mother is sarcastic, and his father is very physical. A famous Kaye-family photograph shows his father standing over a kiddie pool holding a hose between his legs, while his mother is standing in the background laughing.

Kaye holds a degree in mechanical drafting and engineering, but in his early 20s, he decided to pursue his love of comedy. He started out performing at open-mic nights around Western Pennsylvania and eventually landed paying gigs at clubs.

Kaye acted in summer stock theater and worked as an extra in movies. He ran the Slapsticks Comedy Loft in Crafton Borough, featuring local and national talent, before starting Slapsticks Comedy Productions.

The idea is simple but very practical: comedy fundraisers. Rather than hold another bake sale, organizations can now hire Slapsticks.

Kaye brings the set-up, the speaker system and the comics, and sponsoring organizations (like the Whitehall Rec Board) come away with some funds.

"I think my entrepreneurial side comes out of necessity," Kaye said.

"Pittsburgh people tend to have a pretty strong work ethic. We're always scratching to find a way to make life better. I always say, 'I love my art, but I don't want to be a starving artist.'"

The only out-of-towner on the set list was headliner Mike Eagan, a 30-year veteran of the comedy business. Eagan, a Philadelphia native, launched his performing career in an unlikely place, doing comedy bits over the air as a morning deejay in Germany while he was serving in the military.

Eagan returned to the United States in the late 1970s just as the American comedy scene began to take off. After a few years in Philadelphia, he moved to New York and spent decades brushing shoulders with greats like Chris Rock, Jerry Seinfeld and Paul Reiser.

While those guys all ended up on television and in the movies, Eagan said that he prefers the lifestyle of stand-up comedy to the business of stand-up comedy. He gets his satisfaction from performing original material before live audiences.

"Every word that I say is my own words," he said. "Every move that I make is my stage direction. I have autonomy."

And for the folks who saw Eagan and others perform on Saturday night, they have a few memories to share now, not to mention a few sore cheek muscles.

For more information on the Whitehall Borough Recreation Board, visit its website here.