Key West Florida Weekly

Comedy Key West




Women comedians add a female perspective to comedy at the Bottlecap. COURTESY PHOTO

Women comedians add a female perspective to comedy at the Bottlecap. COURTESY PHOTO

Key West is a funny town.

Part paradise, part performance art, spend a little time on our sun-dappled streets and you’ll start to understand why the nickname Key Weird has stuck around for decades. Clichés abound at the Southernmost town: we’ve got sequin-bedecked drag queens sharing rainbow crosswalks with Army Special Forces members in town for a week of underwater training, spring breakers hitching up their tube tops next to nonagenarian snowbirds, shirtless go-go boys pouring shots for closeted wall street types, and — every night of the week — someone dancing in the nude at the Garden of Eden bar. For every sunburnt tourist adjusting their fanny pack, a pastel-suited woman is adjusting her church hat; for every pants-less passed out drunk in the gutter, a Scandinavian family of four in matching T-shirts on their way to the beach. And then there’s the barrage of written material: novels detailing the drunken escapades of lonely fisherman, daily call-ins from aggrieved citizens to the local paper on behalf of a tree. Even our tombstones come with a side of satire; “I Told You I Was Sick” gets a laugh every time, but let’s not forget runners up “I’m Just Resting My Eyes,” “I Always Dreamed of Owning a Small Place in Key West,” “If You’re Reading This, You Desperately Need a Hobby” and “Jesus Christ, These People Are Horrible.”

Joe Madaus entertains the crowd at Comedy Key West.

Joe Madaus entertains the crowd at Comedy Key West.

It’s the kind of town that makes for an easy punch line — so it’s surprising that it took until 2016 for someone to organize a weekly live comedy showcase. Perhaps it’s because many assumed that the island, with its famously wacky reputation and endless stream of costumed festivities, was a kind of comedy routine in and of itself, but as far as local comedy fan Joe Madaus was concerned, September of 2016 seemed like the perfect time to try for something a bit more focused.

Dale Crouse brings his comic perspective to the Bottlecap.

Dale Crouse brings his comic perspective to the Bottlecap.

Comedy Key West didn’t have the most auspicious of debuts. After the television show that had brought him to Key West as a cameraman and editor was cancelled, Madaus was faced with a choice: leave the island for New York City or Los Angeles to continue working in television or stay in Key West with the friends he’d made at Danger Charters, where Madaus now works as a snorkel and eco-tour guide. “It was a nice transition,” he muses. “A better office.”

Kathy Gilmour is one of the favorite performers.

Kathy Gilmour is one of the favorite performers.

Having dabbled in comedy back home in Boston, Madaus was familiar with the trope of a working comedian: keep a day job that allows you to pay your rent, spend your nights working on your comedy set, and figure out a way to get in front of an audience every now and then. Back in Boston, it’d been relatively simple: during the time off he got from filming Animal Planet’s “Dogs 101” at Powderhouse Productions, Madaus would practice his jokes across the bridge at The Comedy Studio in Cambridge. But hacking out a similar arrangement in Key West proved trickier, due to the island’s complete lack of a dedicated comedy venue.

 

 

So, he decided to make one.

“Before we began, I kept telling myself that this was an experiment to see if Key West could support live comedy on a weekly basis,” says Madaus. Along with his girlfriend, Anne Walters, Madaus set out to create a safe workspace for green comedians such as himself, someplace people could try stand up for the first time without the fear of fruit being thrown at their heads. Walters generously offered to lend Madaus the use of her bodywork studio, Happy Body, and the two set to work gathering their friends and constructing a small black box theatre inside the space. Comedy Key West’s first show premiered on Sept. 22, 2016 and was, by all accounts, a great success. Packed to the walls with an audience of 60 new fans and participants, the show lasted 2½ hours. “It was magical,” muses Madaus.

Immediately after their first show, Walters’ landlord made it clearer that the terms of her lease meant the studio would be limited to daytime use by the flexible and yoga pant-loving, not to late night comedy rookies and a raucous audience. With just a single performance under its belt, Comedy Key West was now homeless.

Luckily, the group had attracted the eye of a new venue — one that had made its name offering the community a dependably rowdy calendar of afterhours performances with a cocktail service. “When we realized we couldn’t perform at Anne’s space anymore, the awesome folks at the Bottlecap reached out and offered the space to us and we’ve been there ever since.” Located at 1128 Simonton St., the recently rebranded Blue Room at the Bottlecap is now the proud host of Comedy Key West’s weekly Downward Dog Comedy Showcase, which blends standup, sketch, and video comedy with live music. Tickets are cheap — $10-$12 if you buy in advance or $15 at the door — and the club’s upcoming schedule is packed with professional comedians who have RSVP’d to perform through the end of the season. (“Our booking process consists of Boston-based stand-up comedian Tom Dustin telling national headliners that they get to go to Key West for a few days,” says Madaus. “I don’t think it’s that tricky to convince anyone to come to Key West.”)

At this point, Key West Comedy consists of weekly Thursday and Friday night performances at the Bottlecap, plus Open Mic nights at Mary Ellen’s Bar (420 Applerouth Ln.) every Monday night and the always hilarious (and shockingly challenging) Drunk Spelling

Bee on the first Monday of every month, also at Mary Ellen’s. “I believe that stand up is a very important aspect of American society and the study of the craft should be a pre-requisite before graduating elementary school,” says Madaus, “And in a town so full of levity, what’s a little more?” At the moment, he’s particularly excited about upcoming showcases by Myke Herlihy, Erik Myers and George Carlin in Hologram, with a hopeful return visit from Dustin Diamond aka Screech of Saved by The Bell fame.

It’s all part of Madaus’ master plan to prove the experiment works, and so far things seem to be working out for this comic-slash-snorkel master, who credits his “maximum love and minimal experience” and a supportive network of friends with giving him the nerve to get Comedy Key West out of the yoga studio turned-black box and into the real world. “The Key West crowd continues to amaze us with their talent and their support,” he says. But of course, “Live comedy only works with an audience, so if you haven’t come to see a show, please do — before the state of Massachusetts figures out where I am.” ¦

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