Lawyer still judges comedy to be a great sideline gig

"Comic Capers"
By RODNEY BENGSTON

Oct. 14, 1999

Jim Kline may not go to any lengths for comedy, but he will go to Guam.

Kline, a lawyer who performs "Comedy in the First Degree," trekked there in May to help the Guam Bar Association celebrate Law Day.

"They wanted to spice things up for their celebration of Law Day (May 1)," Kline says. "Essentially, they flew me halfway around the world for a weekend gig."

The long trip left Kline feeling a little disoriented: "I think I left on Thursday, got there on Tuesday and got back to my house on Saturday. I had no idea what day it was."

Kline also was not sure how his jokes would work on U.S. territory in the Pacific. "They get Japanese TV," he says. "They also get American TV, but you have no idea if your jokes are going to work or not."

Luckily, Kline says, his routine was a hit with almost everyone. "I don't think the lieutenant governor appreciated a few of my jokes about government," he adds.

Kline has gone back to law, but he tries to keep his hand in the comedy business, doing an occasional weekend job or one-night gig. For most of the '90s, he worked on the stand-up stage. His friend, singer Marc Cohn, convinced him to give comedy a chance when Kline made a business trip to New York.

"(Cohn) had not broken out yet, but he was right on the verge," he recalls. "So I decided to dedicate myself as much to comedy as I could."

That meant a lot of open-mike nights: "I was going from my day job and basically changing my clothes in a phone booth."

When he decided to give comedy a chance on the road, his law firm gave him a leave of absence. "The former managing partner was an old vaudevillian," he says, "so he understood where was I coming from."

In February, the Perry resident returned to the downtown Cleveland law firm of Ulmer & Berne full-time. Kline says he has fond memories of most of his time on the road, but wanted to spend more time at home, owing to his recent marriage to wife Kathleen.

"I got to see a big part of the country," he says. "You can tell jokes to juries, but they're not allowed to drink and aren't always as receptive."

When Kline begins his act, he delays telling most audiences that he is a lawyer: "Many people hate lawyers. I want to get them on my side before I tell that I'm a lawyer."

Sometimes, he adds, he does a barometer joke to get a reading on the audience.

"One is about cheating in school: They thought I was cheating but then they thought I was dyslexic," he says. "Then they found out the kid next to me was dyslexic.

"If the audience figures out that I was the one cheating, things usually are going to go well. Otherwise, it can be a long night, where I kind of have to diagram the jokes."

Kline got rid of one remnant from his full-time stand-up career -- his car. "It was seven years old and had 300,000 miles on it," he says. "If anyone wants to have a career in comedy, they should make sure they have a good joke and a good car."

ON STAGE: Todd Yohn, "Quadro-Man" of MTV and VH-1 fame, headlines through Sunday at the Cleveland Improv.

Contortionist Emmit Furrow is the feature act and Eddie Gossling, winner of the 1995 HBO Comic Relief contest, headlines through Saturday at Hilarities in Cuyahoga Falls.

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