Comic Comes Home -- SHOW HAS BEEN CANCELLED
UPDATE 12:38 p.m.: Due to illness, the Benny Baker comedy performance that was scheduled tonight at the Batavia Party House has been cancelled. Tickets will be refunded.
Like Johnny Cash's boy named Sue, Benny Baker's fate was determined when he was just a lad.
"I was ugly and my name was Benny Bobby Baker," he says. "I had to be either funny or tough."
Forty-something years later, it's obvious which path he chose. The semi-retired comedian has been in the funny business for 25 years and has made quite a name for himself, having toured internationally and in 49 states, including a 3-year stint with Carrot Top. Apart from performing his own critically-acclaimed Las Vegas act, "Hellbent 4 Humor," Baker has also appeared on and written for TV and films and co-hosted a morning radio show in San Diego. This Saturday night, he will be returning to Batavia to perform one show.
"It's edgy, critical, and just more common sense," he says of his act. "I don't believe that kinder and gentler is always the answer. If you're tired of society being molded to satisfy the few square pegs that don't want to go into round holes while all the other round pegs suffer, then you'll like my show."
No topic is safe from this "common sense" with his routine touching on a wide range of subjects, from the Octo-Mom to his own family.
"After a while you develop a perception of life that you just can't take it too seriously," Baker says. "I guess I would say that your mind does immediately evaluate the humor in every situation no matter how tragic."
And what kind of humor does he find in his native Western New York?
"I grew up in this area as a kid," he explains. "It has its humor because it really still is small-town, and there are a lot of things that really are funny about being from a small town. It does have that family elemnt that you don't find in other places. It has that blue-collar, small-town family charm in it, but there is always humor in that."
Although Baker was born in Batavia and attended Greece Arcadia High School, he moved to Florida soon after his graduation.
"I had a job on the muck when I was a teenager," he explains. "I didn't really see any future in rotating crops, so I left."
Baker has recently taken up residence in Orleans County. Much of his family still lives in the area, and will be there supporting him at Saturday's show.
"I don't mind performing in front of family members," he says. "They enjoy it because I do talk about my family - the struggles, my brother being a big hunter, things like that. It gives them a kick to be brought into the show and makes them laugh because a lot of it's true."
The act can be enjoyed by audience members of any age--Baker gives the example of an elderly couple who came to his show and needed an extra oxygen tank brought in because they were laughing so hard--but parents should know that the material is what could be described as "R-rated":
"I'd say the cutoff is 18, maybe 16 if you're sharp. If you're 16 and walking around with your pants around your ankles and smoking 20 blunts a day, you're not going to like it or get the jokes. But if you're 16 and with it and carry a C average in high school, you'll be fine."
The show will be tonight at the Batavia Party House. Dinner starts at 6 pm and the show begins at 8 pm. Tickets for the prime rib buffet and show are $40 per person at the door. Show only tickets are $15 at the door.
