Comedian Tom Foss has found his sea legs

May 17, 2012 at 12:00a.m.

For your average touring comedian, the road can be tough. In this economic climate, the money isn’t what it used to be, so making ends meet can be a challenge.

One outlet more and more comics are exploring is working the cruise-ship circuit. For Cleveland-based funnyman Tom Foss, out to sea is all he’s been for the better part of this year.

“The travel is easy — everything is taken care of; all you have to do is shower and tell jokes,” said Foss, calling from the Port of Jacksonville, Fla., as he waits to embark on yet another cruise ship bound for the Caribbean. “That works out pretty good. Everyone is on vacation, everyone is happy. Every show is packed to the limit with standing-room only in the back, so it’s a good way to go.”

Basically how it works is Foss has to perform five different shows a week. The veteran comedian said he has a handful of 30-minute sets that often delve into funny ship-living humor.

There’s a joke about the noise made by the cruise ship’s powerful toilets, as well as the fact each cabin is so small one can shower, shave, urinate and watch the television without moving.

Considering it’s a consistent gig with solid pay, the cruise-ship job is highly sought after, but as Foss learned early on, it’s not for everybody.

“I tried it about 10 years ago, and I don’t think I was ready,” Foss said. “It’s just the maturity now in my lifestyle because people on the cruise ships are pretty well off. I’m at a different place in my life now than I was 10 or 15 years ago. I just didn’t have that wealth of material, and I wasn’t comfortable around the people. I would be talking to a guy who owned three drug stores in Chicago, and I was sitting there needing tires on my car. I guess a better explanation is back then I lived week-to-week, paycheck-to-paycheck, and now I’m not that way.”

In fact, Foss said his comedy has evolved to the point where when he’s performing on land, as he will this Friday and Saturday at the Funny Farm’s Youngstown rooms, he has no fear about taking the stage and just winging it.

His style has been compared to Robin Williams and Mitch Hedberg, which delivery-wise couldn’t be more different. The former is a rapid-fire, train-of-thought funnyman, while the latter, who is deceased, was more laid back.

Material-wise, Foss said audiences will get the story of his life with tales of sports, drinking and failed relationships.

“I hate to brag, but this year on this ship, I had seven standing ovations, and no other comics got one,” Foss said.

So does that mean if he doesn’t get a standing ovation this weekend at the Funny Farm he’ll consider his work a failure?

“Well, they’re hard-working people in Youngstown,” Foss said, laughing. “Maybe they just want to sit down.”