Oklahoma City has something of a comedy scene. Maybe you’ve been to some of the shows recently. If you haven’t, then you’ll have an excellent opportunity on September 30th to catch something special. Go check out Jackie Kashian’s show at the Looney Bin, with local comics Jessi Kyle and Jeramy Westbrook opening.
Truth be told, I didn’t really know of Kashian. I haven’t been following comedy at all these past few months. However, my co-editor had seen her perform. Turns out Kashian toured through Oklahoma about three years ago with Maria Bamford in another Fowler sponsored OKC Comedy show. In the information I got about the show, I found a curious point of interest in her bio.
Kashian had once heckled Sam Kinison.
I read it again, because who does that?
“…In 1985, Jackie got drunk and heckled Sam Kinison in Madison, Wisconsin. She was told, by management, that open mike night was on Sundays. Just three weeks later she did open mike. Proof that, that was not a black out drunk night.”
I mean, have you seen Sam Kinison perform? He’s kind of a screamer. And he has some thinly suppressed rage issues with women. Tends to fall on the side of loving them, inappropriately of course, just as much as hating them, you know because he cheats on them and then they get vengeful. These rage antics are like the cornerstone of his career. But this was before he “made” it. So, yeah. He could have just been anybody out there in Madison, Wisconsin.
At any rate, Kashian said he mopped the floor with her. I was totally not surprised. In the history of one sided smack downs, I’m sure it was probably brutal. She didn’t get specific, but the funny part is that when she started her journey into standup comedy, Kashian had issues with hecklers too. One time even lead to a pre-Internet lost connection moment. It started when two drunk hecklers were messing with her back in the early years of her career. While one had the decency to eventually pass out during her set, the other was a little more feisty. He followed Kashian up to the bar even after she got off stage, but when she turned around to throw a drink on the heckler for his ongoing bullshit, she instead hit the guy behind him, and in that stunned moment, the heckler took the opportunity to grab the drink from the guy behind him and full-on douse Kashian with it. It’s like a scene out of a Western movie where no one has great aim save that one drunk rouge.
Later during a road trip gig that paired up two comedians, Kashian and this guy, his name she cannot remember, they got to sharing their heckler stories. This other comedian turned out to be the guy she’d accidentally threw a drink on all those years ago. They had a huge moment when they realized they shared the very same heckler story.
Kashian is a natural story teller. After I’d finished her bio sheet, I turned my attention to a recorded segment she had done with Conan O’Brien earlier this year. It was while I was watching it, she called me for our phone interview, actually. After the interview I returned to the clip; I realized so much of what she likes, people who dork out on info and narrative style jokes, all of it is wrapped up in her style of comedy. Although there is the matter of gauging the audience. She said when working with Conan O’Brien and crew, that they’d really helped her craft her sense for how to read an audience. Figuring out which jokes would land best.
You can see more on the 30th. Check the info below to get yourself hooked up to a good shot of comedy over there at the Looney Bin. Who knows, if you’ve been a sad and tense little ball of anxiety lately, you might find a place to lighten up a bit. Comedy is good for the soul. #Fact
Ticket Info: Advance tickets are $15, or $20 at the door. Purchase online at TicketStorm.
Ages 21 and over
Presented by OKC Comedy
Sponsored by Fowler Volkswagen of Norman
For more info: www.okccomedy.com or call Spencer Hicks at 405-313-9460
If you’re curious, she’s doing really well on Amazon with her latest audio “It Is Never Going To Be Bread.” It was in the top 10 of comedy albums of the year.