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COMEDY NOTES
For Keating, a good joke works from Cambridge
to Caribou
By Nick A. Zaino III, Globe Correspondent,
12/7/2001
 omedian/actor John Keating knows the value of diversity.
In a town where every comedy club is striving to carve out a
niche with its own set of comics, Keating is a regular in just
about every room in Boston. He's thrown his set into the mix
with the up-and-comers at the Comedy Studio and also has performed
at the Comedy Connection for veterans like Gary Gulman, whom
he shares a bill with next Friday and Saturday.
Though an audience of Harvard Square hipsters might seem a
world away from the tourists and celebrity seekers of Faneuil
Hall, Keating plays them both the same. ''There's not as great
a division as everybody seems to think there is,'' he says. ''A
comedy club is a comedy club - it's all comedy, it's all stand-up.
I'll do the same act that I do in Cambridge that I'll do in Caribou,
Maine. I think it's just the way you present it to people.''
Keating credits his time on different stages with shaping
his act. ''I think my style is just really accessible to different
people,'' he says. ''I like to play in front of as many different
crowds as possible. I like the challenge of it; I think it's
fun.''
Three years ago, Keating also got the bug to try yet another
stage, and started taking acting classes with director and acting
coach Peter Kelley, who has worked with Chris O'Donnell and Eliza
Dushku. ''I've really fallen in love with the whole acting thing
the last couple of years,'' he says. ''It's just a different
outlet.''
Kelley thought enough of Keating to offer him a spot in his
upcoming ''11x2: 11 Scenes, 22 Actors'' film showcase. The show,
which takes place Tuesday, Dec. 11, at the Embassy on Lansdowne
Street, features 11 scenes from plays and movies, and is directed
by Kelley and filmed in a common setting. ''It all takes place
in one setting, this one house, and we kind of walk in and out
of each scene, but no scene acknowledges another scene,'' Keating
says. ''They're connected by the setting.''
Keating has found acting to be a refreshing change of pace
from stand-up comedy, and pursues it. He has also landed the
lead in an as-yet-unreleased independent film ''Jerico Dies''
by local filmmaker Mark Lewis.
''The stand-up has kind of come easier as I've gotten more
time into it,'' Keating says. ''So I think I have focused a little
more on the acting stuff, just because right now it's more challenging
for me because I'm still new at it.''
And, he adds, acting is one more tool in his toolbox he can
offer to casting agents.
''If you go to LA or you go to New York, I think they're looking
for a little more than that, more often than not,'' he says.
''I hate to put it in such marketing terms. But you know,
you kind of are a product. I just think, as much as you can offer
anybody in anything, you know, that's good.''
Holiday showcase
If you're tapped out from holiday shopping and still want
to see live comedy, check out ''A Comics' Christmas Gift'' at
the Lizard Lounge on Dec. 17. The Lounge has quietly become a
hotbed for Boston comedy with its Monday night open mikes, featuring
stand-up, sketch, short film, and occasional readings by local
humorists. Comics Jan Davidson, Chris Walsh, Eric Riley Moore,
Dan Newbower, and Tony Moschetto are on the bill, along with
regular host Kim Davis.
Dueling ventriloquists
Jeff Dunham and Otto and George define the comedy spectrum
from squeaky-clean to downright raunchy. They are both ventriloquist
acts, but that's where the similarities end. Dunham will bring
his army of affable puppets, led by ''Peanut the Woozle'' and
''Jose Jalapeno on-a-stick,'' to the Comedy Connection tonight,
tomorrow, and Sunday for a show Senor Wences would have loved.
Otto (the human) and George, on the other hand, are one of the
most dirty, audience-abusing acts around, and put on a show only
Howard Stern could love. They (or he, depending on how you look
at it) will be at the Comedy Palace in Andover the same nights.
Around town
The Walsh Brothers, formerly of guerrilla comedy troupe WAKKA,
continue with their sketch and stand-up show Walsh Squared tomorrow
night at the Wingate Street Micro Theatre in Haverhill. Jimmy
Tingle will be at the Wingate on Dec. 14-15. ... Dave Russo comes
back to Boston from New York to join Kevin Knox and Ted Barrett
for two shows, next Friday and Saturday at Giggles in Saugus.
This story ran on page D8 of the Boston Globe
on 12/7/2001.
© Copyright
2001 Globe Newspaper Company.
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