For Bob Nelson, a mis-dialed phone number turned into a career on stage.
By: Jessica Loughery
There’s a bit of comedy behind Bob Nelson’s start in comedy. While studying theater at Nassau Community College in New York, he says he got sidetracked into the profession beginning with one inaccurately dialed phone number.
"I was fooling around at work one day," says Mr. Nelson, "and I made a phone call and ended up calling a comedy club. So I started messing with the guy on the phone, and he thought I was really funny and said, ‘You need to come to my comedy showcase next week.’ "
The rest is history for the Long Island, N.Y., native, who took up the man’s offer and hasn’t left stand up comedy since. His first show took place on June 14, 1978, and since, he’s performed at comedy clubs, colleges, casinos and theaters around the country, including Radio City Music Hall, Carnegie Hall and the Ford Theater.
The Philadelphia area holds some of the earliest venues Mr. Nelson’s antics graced. He’ll be back for shows Jan. 19 and 20 at the Comedy Cabarets of Philadelphia and Doylestown, respectively.
Having performed at the club’s various locations since the first one was established in 1980, Mr. Nelson has a longstanding relationship with owner Andy Scarpati.
"He used to come and do shows for us at Bucks County Community College in the late ’70s," Mr. Scarpati says. "He was always exceptional."
"I love the Philadelphia audience that South Jersey/Philadelphia audience," Mr. Nelson says. "When I started, those were my first traveling audiences. There’s a special place in my heart for them."
Mr. Nelson has another connection to folks in the area. He did a children’s television show that aired here during the early ’80s and earned him an Emmy Award. Titled "Double Muppets, Hold the Onion," the program featured two Muppet episodes introduced, segued and concluded by Mr. Nelson as host. At the end, kids who had written and sent in jokes would be invited to come on and tell them for the audience. Mr. Nelson still has people coming out to his Philadelphia shows who met him as children on that program.
The Muppet gig isn’t what Mr. Nelson is best known for, though. If you don’t remember him as Arnold Schwarzenegger’s partner’s fiancé Henry Shoop in Kindergarten Cop, then you’ve probably seen him on HBO, thanks to Rodney Dangerfield.
"I was in Florida performing at (a comedy club) and Rodney was in the audience," Mr. Nelson says. "I had done my set and he said, ‘Hey, I’m on HBO, want to be on HBO with me? You’re really different from the other guys.’ So he just took a liking to me. It was such a blessing to work with him."
After being included in "The Ninth Annual Young Comedians Special" and "It Ain’t Easy Bein’ Me," Mr. Nelson went on to do two more solo specials. The half hour "One Night Stand" and one hour "Nelson Schmelson" both aired on HBO.
Over the years, Mr. Nelson got to know the reputedly crazy Mr. Dangerfield well. "He would tease me a lot," Mr. Nelson says. "We were sitting backstage one day we were pretty comfortable in each other’s company (at that point) and suddenly he looked at me and said, ‘Hey man, what are you thinking?’ And I said, ‘Nothing,’ and he said, ‘I believe it.’ "
After years of television shows, film parts and other performances, Mr. Nelson still prefers stand up over anything else. "That’s what I love doing," he says, "comedy on stage, just me and my audience."
His shows typically consist of signature pieces surrounding characters like a punch-drunk fighter, a football all-star and nerd Eppy Epperman. He compares his character-based comedy to that of Red Skelton and Jonathan Winters, who both consistently made characters up. With his own shows, he says he likes to play with the personages and sometimes creates new ones right on stage.
"He does characters," says Mr. Scarpati, "but he doesn’t do impressions. He creates a whole new thing. He becomes the character."
As Mr. Scarpati will attest, Mr. Nelson’s shows are also marked by their cleanliness. "When I first started it was cool to be dirty like George Carlin," Mr. Nelson says, "but I never felt good about it."
Then he met Red Skelton, a comedian who’s informed not only Mr. Nelson’s use of characters, but also the nature of his jokes. Mr. Skelton used to say that comedy is medicine for the soul and that adding vulgarity is like poisoning the medicine.
Mr. Nelson agrees whole-heartedly. He says he’s performed for 7-year-olds and their grandmothers in one audience, and that both demographics find his material humorous. "I’m more of clown," he says. "I just borrow the stage because I don’t belong to the circus."
A distinctive approach to comedy, for sure; Mr. Scarpati believes Mr. Nelson has seen success because his acts are so different from those of other comedians. "Because of the uniqueness of what he does people just remember him," says Mr. Scarpati.
One of Mr. Nelson’s fans was late night TV great Johnny Carson. After Mr. Nelson’s appearance on The Tonight Show the host tellingly said, "You won’t laugh any harder in five or six minutes than you will at that guy… Bob Nelson!"
Bob Nelson will perform at Comedy Cabaret at Best Western Hotel, 11580 Roosevelt
Blvd., Phila., Jan. 19, 9 p.m., and at Comedy Cabaret at Poco’s Restaurant, 625
N. Main St., Doylestown, Pa., Jan. 20, 9:30 p.m. Admission costs $22.50 for each
show. For tickets and information, call (215) 676-5653 for the Phila. location
and (215) 345-5653 for the Doylestown location. On the Web: www.comedycabaret.com.
Bob Nelson on the Web: www.bobnelson.com