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Easter basket case: comedian David Kaye
By John Benson
Pittsburgh-based comedian David Kaye is sorry.
He apologizes for the fact that even though he supposedly loves playing Youngstown, he’s somehow managed to keep his Northeast Ohio gigs off his r sum , which boasts more than 20 venues from coast to coast.
“I think there are some other clubs that might seem cooler than the one in Youngstown, or maybe I ran out of room,” said Kaye, calling from his Steel City home. “I thought I needed to take Youngstown off there and instead list some place I played more recently. Sorry about that.”
To be fair, the last time Kaye rolled through the area was (if the calendar is correct) just over 90 days ago, with a New Year’s Eve show at The Funny Farm. Over the past two decades, the funnyman, described as an “intelligent Jim Breuer,” has shared the stage with Weird Al Yankovic, Richard Jeni, David Brenner and Drew Carey. He’s also appeared on Comedy Central, in feature film “Creep” as the important role of Hipster and in dozens of commercials and industrial films.
“My comedy show is all about me; it really is,” Kaye said. “You’d be surprised how many things I do that everybody else does. I just don’t think people see them quite the way I do.”
Kaye said he’s more of a storyteller than a joke teller, but he admits sticking to the truth isn’t always easy. That’s right — he’s a big fan of hyperbole.
“Do you eat mashed potatoes and take your spoon and make a hole in your potatoes?” Kaye said. “It’s like everybody has their own word for it. Some people don’t have a word for it. I call it the lakebed. I had one woman who called it the nest because she put her peas in it, and they looked like little eggs, but she’s just crazy. That’s what she was. I know somebody who called it the reservoir, the damn, the well. And then there’s one guy from Boardman who called it the butter hole. I’m not getting near the butter hole. I’m sorry. It just doesn’t sound very appetizing.”
Kaye also talked about accidentally locking himself inside his van, which he said he discovered is a perfect predator vehicle due to its utility cage being padlocked, its sliding door being child-proofed and its back doors lacking handles. These are just a few of the stories show goers can expect to hear when the funnyman returns to the area this weekend.
“I’m coming in for Good Friday and Saturday before Easter to Youngstown,” Kaye said. “We’re going to start out by not eating meat. Then on Saturday, we’ll have the Easter-egg hunt because that’s what you do as a Christian — look for eggs upon Jesus’ resurrection.”
He added, “I hope people come out because they’ll leave feeling better about themselves. They’ll be glad they don’t live my life.”