Saturday Night (Comedy) Live!

We went to Beverly, Mass. Saturday night for a performance by comedian Lenny Clarke.

I love good comedy and respect the hell out of anyone who can go on stage and be funny for 20 minutes to an hour. I love Lenny Clarke shows for two reasons. One... Lenny is a really funny guy with 35 years of funny stuff to talk about.  With so much material, he genuinely just kind of meanders through all of his stuff which means no two of his shows are ever the same.  Secondly... We're lucky enough to be close enough to Lenny so that our invitations get us backstage to spend time with Lenny before the show.  He's got great stories about the various TV shows and movies he's been involved with.  He's besties with Denis Leary and Karen just loves anything to do with Denis Leary.  There are times when Lenny's backstage stuff rivals his on-stage performance. Amazingly though, for me Lenny wasn't the main attraction this time.  Lenny's show was at the Larcom Theater in Beverly.

I grew up in the area and in fact, the Larcom was the first theater my mother allowed me to go to see a movie alone when I was a kid.  It was a Bond flick.  The theater was kind of run-down way back when I first saw it.  It spent years closed down, and then several years specializing in "adult fare".  While kids obviously could not get in to see the movies, there was a whole lot of time spent riding bikes by the front of the theater to see the movie posters.  I had fond memories of this theater and hadn't seen it in years.  When my promoter buddy Jim Roach called and asked if I wanted to hang with Lenny at this theater it really was a double bonus.  The theater is in the hands of a local group that has lovingly and faithfully restored the place to it's original glory.  It was fun to go back in time for a bit and have some great laughs along the way. Here's hoping your weekend went as well!