The year 2024 is just showing off Tucson’s comedy scene this week. There is something for everyone, across a range of tastes and span of geography. We bet you can’t see it all.
Bert Kreischer bares all
Bert Kreischer is a gleeful avatar of the shirtless — the grandpop in earbuds mowing the grass with a cigar dangling; the dad pridefully slinging his secret-recipe sauce on the barbecue, the guys chugging beers and shooting the bull while the hood is up in the garage.
Rolling Stone was the first to recognize Kreischer’s iconic, brash, bare-breasted style. In 1997, his sixth year in college, the magazine said he was the No. 1 party animal at Florida State University, the institution that The Princeton Review had just named the top party school in the country.
That article led to his eventual immortalization as the inspiration for Ryan Reynolds’ character in the 2002 film, “National Lampoon’s Van Wilder.”
Kreischer has partied those assets hard in the intervening years, leveraging his broad humor, hi-jinks and affability into a host of podcasts, videos, acting credits, guest appearances, standup tours, a reality TV show, a cooking show and a book.
Expect Kreischer to perform shirtless, but his storytelling will be draped in rich details of tales almost too good to be true. With luck, his Tucson show will include the one about wrestling a bear, and especially the one about accidentally assisting a Russian mafia mob in a train robbery.
Bert Kreischer: “Tops Off World Tour,” 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 18, Tucson Arena, 260 S. Church Street, Tucson, tickets start at $22,
www.tucsonarena.com
Find law and order at Marana Laughs
Just like things play out in courtrooms everywhere, attorney Bob Howard opens for former police officer Jim Perry. In this case, though, the audience is the judge, and the verdict will be rounds of laughter.
Perry, also a Persian Gulf veteran, tries to make a difference by making people laugh, sharing stories that humanize police officers and military people in relatable ways. His stand-up comedy and sketch videos have earned more than a million views, and thousands follow his social media accounts.
Bob Howard got hooked on comedy in 1993, when, at the age of 42, he took a comedy class on a whim. Now 72, with 100 professional shows behind him, his comedy focuses on the lighter side of the law and the promise that we’re never too old to be funny.
Jim Perry with Bob Howard, Marana Laughs Clean Comedy, 7:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 12, Coyote Trail Stage, 8000 N. Silverbell Road, Tucson, tickets start at $10, www.maranalaughs.com
Patrick DeGuire sees the light side
“Optic Neuritis” is nothing to laugh at, yet in coping with a related devastating loss of vision, Patrick DeGuire found therapy in comedy. The more he recognized humor in his dilemma, the more relatable comedy he found in everyday life. DeGuire began working stages and word spread. Then he entered, and won, the Improv/Harrah’s National Comedy Club Talent Search.
What followed were a dozen or more appearances on national outlets, including Comedy Central, Galavisión’s “Que Loco,” the nationally syndicated radio show “‘The Bob and Tom Show” and NPR.
DeGuire has toured with Paul Rodriguez and George Lopez, and, in addition to headlining in comedy clubs nationwide, he’s performed for U.S. troops in South America and the Far East.
Patrick DeGuire, 8 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 12, and 7 p.m. a.nd 9:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 13, Laff’s Comedy Caffe, 2900 E. Broadway Boulevard, Tucson, tickets start at $15,
www.laffstucson.com
Allen Strickland Williams will chuckle
The comedy world fell in love with Allen Strickland Williams when they were named one of Comedy Central’s “Comics to Watch.” They have since twice guested on Conan O’Brien’s late-night talk show, “Conan,” and have featured on the Netflix show “Cooki ng on High,” Adult Swim’s “The Last Open Mic at the End of the World” and Viceland’s “Flophouse.”
They’ve also been welcomed to perform at South by Southwest and Funny or Die’s “Oddball Comedy and Riot Fest” among other invitational festivals, and have frequently turned up on published lists of “Top Ten Comedians.” They claim to have once inspired a standing ovation with a single joke.
Allen Strickland Williams, 8:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 12, Chuckleheads, 41 Brewery Avenue, Bisbee, $15,
www.chuckleheadsaz.com
Catherine Cohen: “The Twist? She’s Gorgeous”
Catherine Cohen’s Netflix comedy special, “The Twist? She’s Gorgeous” not only put her on the map but also took her across the ocean, where the set earned her the “Best Newcomer” award at the distinguished Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2019.
An actress and author as well as a comedian, she’s won roles in the Paramount + feature “At Midnight” and the Hulu series, “While You Were Breeding.” In 2021, she published a collection of comedic poetry, “God I Feel Modern Tonight.”
Based in New York City, Cohen has earned several other screen credits for shows made in her hometown, including on HBO, Comedy Central, IFC and Disney+, the latter for a reboot of “Home Alone.”
She regards herself as “a self-obsessed millennial on the prowl” with “English major dreams.” The jokes might write themselves, but they’re much funnier with her unique “twist.”
Catherine Cohen w/Mo Urban and Priscilla Fernandez, 7 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 18, Hotel Congress, 311 E. Congress Street, Tucson, $37,
www.hotelcongress.com
Other shows this week
Screwbean Brewing, 103 N. Park Avenue, Tucson, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 20, $5, Brass Chuckles Comedy presents “Screwballs the Comedy Show” with Tony Bruhn, Kasey Caruso, Mitchell Marroquin, Tamale Sepp, Nicole Riesgo and Lux ShRee
Tucson Improv Movement/TIM Comedy Theatre, 414 E. Ninth Street, Tucson, www.tucsonimprov.com, prices vary from $5 to $9, free jam. 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 11, “Cage Match;” 6:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 12, Improv Jam; 7:30 p.m. “The Soapbox” with Kelsea Cordero; 9 p.m. Standup Comedy Show; 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 13, “Your Favorite Movie Improvised” and “The Meeting;” 9 p.m. “4th Ave. Confessions”
Unscrewed Theater, 4500 E. Speedway Boulevard, Tucson,
www.unscrewedtheatre.org, $8, live or remote, $5 kids; 7:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 12, Not Burnt Out Just Unscrewed (NBOJU); 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 13, “NBOJU;” 9 p.m. “NBOJU Uncensored” and “The Big Daddies”
