The prolific Chili Challis finds outlet for his jokes

June 25, 2015 at 12:05a.m.

There aren’t too many touring comedians who can boast about being a comedy writer on “The Tonight Show.” Yet that’s exactly what comic Chili Challis did for a decade beginning in the early ’90s as one of Jay Leno’s staff writers.

Today, Leno is gone but Challis still has the itch to write topical jokes on a daily basis. The only difference now is instead of late-night television, the veteran funnyman uses social media (Facebook and Twitter) as his outlet.

“That’s what I do,” said Challis, calling from his home just outside of Detroit. “A long time ago I made a life choice to start doing it for free, just putting it out there so people enjoy it. It seems like it kicks it off for me. I do a Twitter thing; I write for @AbsrdNEWS.

“It’s actually been a good catch for me even though I never thought of it. People like it so much – I’m getting a lot of interesting people following me.”

Someone literally following in Challis’ footsteps is his son, Thaddeus Nathaniel, who years ago left behind his rock band to pursue comedy full time. Dad said his son’s jump from rock clubs to comedy clubs seemed natural considering that’s the atmosphere where he grew up.

In fact, over the years Thaddeus had many famous babysitters – such as Sinbad – watching over him while his dad was on stage.

“It’s definitely in his DNA,” Challis said. “He’s doing his homework; he’s a full comedian right now. It’s a good thing and an exciting thing. And it seems like the people love the shows like that. They love to see the father-son thing going on, and we play off each other, so when it’s all over, people seem to really get excited about it.”

Billed as the Damn Funny Tour, Challis and his son return to the area for performances Friday and Saturday at the Funny Farm in Austintown. As far as the tour name is concerned, Challis said years ago he was playing a set in Chicago when one of the original members of the classic doo-wop band The Drifters saw the show.

“He said, ‘You should just call your show The Damn Funny Show, because that’s what you are, – just damn funny,’” Challis said. “I thought that was kind of cool.”

Challis, who started doing stand-up comedy when his fifth-grade teacher allowed him to entertain his classmates, has been a working comedian for the better part of four decades. During that time he wrote for Pulitzer Prize-winning political cartoonist Mike Peters, as well as Ron White, Fred Willard, George Lopez, Steve Harvey, Drew Carey and Ellen Degeneres. Regarding his longevity, Challis said he’s most proud of the fact his material – albeit delivered live on stage or via the Internet – leaves people feeling inspired.

“There’s certain inspiration they get from my show and my material because I do a lot of things that are funny and creative,” Challis said. “I just got the lead singer of Spin Doctors to follow me on Twitter. I was like, ‘Wow, that’s amazing.’”

At this rate, Challis will have the Candlebox lead singer following in no time.

“That’s right – or somebody from Nickelback,” Challis said, laughing. “I can dream, man. I can dream.”