Detroit Comedy revved up for June 20 visit

"Comic Capers"
By RODNEY BENGSTON

June 10, 1999

The Detroit Comedy Machine is set to motor into town for a 7:30 p.m. June 20 show at the Ohio Theatre in Playhouse Square Center.

That means jokester Elliott Branch, politically incorrect comic Derek Richards and storyteller Norm Stulz are set to hit the stage.

Stulz says the three decided to put a tour together after years of headlining at comedy clubs.

"We're all headliners," Stulz says. "By bringing our show to theaters, we're taking it to the next level."

Like many, Stulz did not start out as a comedian.

"I was in music, playing in a band," Stulz says. "I would banter between songs about whatever was happening that week, whatever that was funny that was happening in my life."

People were yukking it up, and Stulz says he was encouraged to make the trek to Mark Ridley's Comedy Castle in Detroit, which helped launched Tim Allen's career, among others.

On his first night at the Comedy Castle in 1981, he paid the $3 cover, not realizing open mikers didn't have to pay. Once they found out he was there to perform, he got his $3 back.

By his third week at the club, someone new was at the door: " 'Are you the new guy?' I asked him. Turns out it was Mark Ridley, owner of the club."

Stulz impressed Ridley with his family tales.

"You're my storyteller," Ridley later told him.

Stulz considers that the highest compliment because one of his favorites is Bill Cosby, "the master storyteller." Others that rank at the top of Stulz's list are Red Skelton, Jackie Gleason, Tom and Dick Smothers and Richard Pryor.

Stulz recalls that Pryor always scored with him.

"I remember having one of his records," he says. "I could have every word memorized and I still fell on the floor laughing."

Of his two comedic cohorts, Stulz says Branch brings in the black man's perspective on things like relationships and dealing with his mother, while Richards is "totally off the wall."

Stulz says he's not too worried about his act being stolen after hearing a fellow comic describe it: "Norm, you've got 15 minutes of nothing and then there's no punchline."

But he must have been getting laughs. He has appeared on Comedy Central, "A&E's An Evening at the Improv," casinos like Trump Castle and Merv Griffin's Resort International, and numerous comedy clubs.

Five percent of the proceeds from each performance on this tour will be donated to the American Cancer Society. Stulz says the three decided on that charity after having lost friends or relatives to cancer -- and because Richards is undergoing treatment for the disease.

"If we take in $50 or $5,000, whatever it is, 5 percent is going to the American Cancer Society," he says.

Tickets for the Detroit Comedy Machine show are $25 and available at the Playhouse Square Center box office, Advantix outlets, via the Web site at www.playhouse.com or by calling (216) 241-6000 or (800) 766-6048.

ON STAGE: Carl Strong, who has opened for Bill Cosby, headlines through Saturday at Hilarities in Cuyahoga Falls with the improv duo Two Sick Tickets as feature act. Margaret Cho headlines through Saturday at the Cleveland Improv.

Rodney Bengston, an editor in Sun Newspapers' Metro office, covers northeastern Ohio's comedy scene.