RALPHIE MAY Despite failing to win 1st place, popular comic is still standing

May has a number of big events coming up -- a USO tour, the recording of his first CD, a Las Vegas stand and gastric bypass surgery.
By DEBORA SHAULIS
ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR
Always a bridesmaid, never a bride? That adage doesn't apply to supersize comedian Ralphie May.
True, he was runner-up to Dat Phan on NBC's summer reality series "Last Comic Standing." May has one thing in common with vocalist Clay Aiken, who lost to Ruben Studdard last spring on the Fox reality show "American Idol": Their popularity has exploded anyway.
"My public appearances have gone through the roof," says May, who will perform next Thursday at Funny Farm Comedy Club in Liberty. "It's ridiculous what's happening to me."
May was contacted in Richmond, Va., a week after Hurricane Isabel caused flooding and long power outages along the East Coast. Trees were blocking roads, and people's homes were damaged, but a Wednesday night show still sold out, he said.
In the works
More club dates are just the beginning of May's good fortune. Next month, when he performs at The Laugh Factory in Los Angeles, two shows will be taped for his first CD and DVD on DreamWorks Records. May says he has a six-figure deal with DreamWorks.
After that, May has been booked for four weeks at the Sahara Hotel & amp; Casino in Las Vegas. He recently sold a cartoon he calls "Supperman" to the studio that produces "The Simpsons" and "King of the Hill." He'll contribute man-on-the-street style reports to an upcoming syndicated show, starring "Idol" host Ryan Secrest, that is a combination of MTV's "Total Request Live," the celeb show "Entertainment Tonight" and "Late Night With David Letterman," he said.
May had been in talks with Paramount for more than a year about being in a TV show. Paramount couldn't sell it then because "they couldn't find a network that wanted me because I'm fat," said May, who weighs more than 400 pounds.
Now everybody wants Ralphie May.
"America accepted me," said the 31-year-old working-class comic from Clarksville, Ark. "America loves me. I think I've done better because I didn't win. I'm the family that gets robbed at Christmas and loses $800 of gifts, and the community comes together to build them a house.
"I am in awe every day of what America is doing for me."
USO tour
May's gratitude is likely to spill over while he's entertaining U.S. troops this week in Iraq and Afghanistan. The invitation to join the USO tour also was a result of his participation in "Last Comic Standing."
One night during the finals, May went on a "Ralphie rant" about rising gas prices in the aftermath of U.S. attacks on Iraq. "I said in the show that if gas hit $2.50 [per gallon] I was going over," May recalled, labeling his performance as "controversial and political."
The next day, the White House called. "It's very strange to see it on your caller ID," May said. He talked to an aide who said President Bush had enjoyed May's performance, and would he be willing to perform sometime at the White House? The next question was about the USO tour. Two hours later, it was a done deal.
Entering Iraq at such a dangerous time is comic fodder for May, of course. "My Mom is really nervous. ... She says, 'They could shoot you, you're an easy target.' [I said] the bullet will get halfway in and say 'screw it'."
Then May sobered up. "I'm a little nervous but more excited about the opportunity to entertain people I believe in," he said. "The cause was just" -- referring to the ouster of Saddam Hussein -- and "I think it should have been done 12 years ago when we had him right there."
As for those who opposed the war, "You wanna 'Hakuna Matata' them to death?" he asked, referring to the no-worries song from Disney's "The Lion King." "A man who sponsors terrorism should not be in charge of a country. ... I'm tired of being afraid. I want to go and support the guys who are making things happen."
Not that the president gets a total rave from May. "I didn't vote for Bush," he said, "but his choice is something I would never envy. To be honest, I would have made the same choice but had a better plan of action after we took over the country" as far as building roads, putting Iraqi people to work and preventing looting.
Weight issue
After the USO tour, the CD taping, the Las Vegas run and the club tour, May will get serious again. He's scheduled to have gastric bypass surgery Nov. 18.
May was 16 when he was in a car accident. He suffered 42 broken bones and began to put on weight during his recovery. He weighed 800 pounds when he had his stomach stapled several years ago, losing 350 pounds as a result of that procedure. His goal is to weigh 200 pounds.
"My comedy really doesn't depend on me being fat," May said. "It depends on my point of view. My first year and a half in the business, I was doing a lot of fat jokes and killing with 'em. I was pulled aside by a few big comics [who] said what do you want to be, a fat comic or a comic who happens to be fat?
"I want to be a comic that changes people's minds. ... I want to be the Eminem of comedy." And he's no bridesmaid among rappers.
shaulis@vindy.com