No subject is too for Johannsen to tackle

"Comic Capers"
By RODNEY BENGSTON

July 22, 1999

Jake Johannsen is an "amusing crank." He's also a guy who doesn't worry about tailoring his shows to his audience.

Subjects tackled by Johannsen, who headlines through Sunday at the Cleveland Improv, include the familiar turf of relationships. But, he's also not afraid to spend six minutes talking about a toaster.

It's his weird outlook at everyday subjects that have made him a success, Johannsen believes. "Let's face it," he says, "we all have relationship problems."

Johannsen has expanded beyond the stand-up stage into feature films. He was in "Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle," with Jennifer Jason Leigh and Campbell Scott. He also has a role in the upcoming "Breakfast of Champions" with Bruce Willis, which he hopes will be released this fall.

Johannsen got his stand-up start in San Francisco during the 1980s. "It was a good time to start out," he says. "There were people out there like Dana Carvey, Bobby Slayton and Kevin Pollak."

A high school valedictorian, Johannsen was raised in Iowa City, Iowa. He went to college at Iowa State University before deciding to switch from chemical engineering to stand-up.

"My parents were always very supportive," he says. "I found out later that when they hung up the phone after I'd told them, my mother told my father to go down to school and talk some sense into me. But my father said, 'He's going to do what he wants anyway, so you might as well be supportive.' "

Now, his parents are proud that he has made his mark. That includes winning the 11th annual San Francisco Stand-up Comedian competition in 1986, performing regularly for HBO's "Comic Relief" and starring in two HBO specials.

His 1992 show, "This'll Take About an Hour," was rated by People as one of the top 10 shows of the year. Recently, TV Guide named it as one of the "50 Funniest Moments of TV."

Johannsen considers that HBO special the highlight of his stage career. "The audience was so into it," he says. "I felt like saying, 'Oh, come on now, you're playing with me.' The fact that it was on tape made it more perfect."

On that show, Johannsen told everyone that he believes extraterrestials live among us. "Usually, it's no big deal -- until they get a couple of drinks in 'em, and they get all friendly with you, and they go, 'Jake, you seem like a pretty decent guy, I just thought I'd tell you . . .' And they rip their faces off. I don't care for that."

He says people are hard to convince when he tells them about a great show. "But when you have a bad show," he adds, "they can't wait to believe you. They want to hear every gory detail."

Johanssen says his worst stand-up experience occurred early in his career. He and two friends drove 10 hours to a gig in Canada.

"We had to take three ferries to get there," he says, "and it seemed like we always just missed the ferry, so we had the longest wait possible until the next one.

"Then, we get to the place and they had put the rock band on before us, so everybody had been drinking for an hour or so. We had no less than three people screaming at us the whole time we were trying to perform."

The experience did not stop there. "After the show, we were at the bar and these lumberjack guys were downing these flaming drinks -- without putting the fire out."

He finds no area of the country best for comedy: "You can have rowdy drunks anywhere."

What does Jake Johannsen say to his potential audience? "Come to the show. All will be explained."

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