Veneman now comfortable in corporate comedy world

"Comic Capers"
By RODNEY BENGSTON

Aug. 12, 1999

Mike Veneman is a corporate guy. But that doesn't mean he's hanging out with the suits trying to predict the latest market downturn.

No, Veneman is performing for the corporate crowd. That means gigs like Gateway Computers, the NFL and Chrysler. He's also appearing at about 70 colleges this year.

"I'm very selective about the clubs I do," Veneman says. "I do the ones that appeal to me."

One of those clubs is Hilarities in Cuyahoga Falls, where Veneman launched his stand-up career. He headlines there through Saturday.

Veneman says he's glad to have corporate work because it requires less time on the road. He's also trying to peddle a book called "Life's Little Victories."

"It's not necessarily a humor book, but a book with all those little things that we should be happy about," he says.

The Kent resident also teaches stand-up workshops when he's not on the road. (See the Web site at www.comedy101.com.)

Veneman recently appeared on the "Club 54" and "Comedy Kitchen" TV shows in Canada. He plans to be seen again soon on local airwaves.

"The Comedy Kitchen" gig was a distinctive experience, Veneman says.

"You bring in wine and help the guy cook dinner," he explains. "There's three segments and then you also tell your jokes while you're having dinner. It's one of the weirdest things I've done."

Before the Browns moved to Baltimore and became the Ravens, Veneman did pieces for TV's "Browns Insider." With the new Browns in town, he plans to do some work for them as well.

Veneman's act focuses on relationships and the differences between men and women. For men, Veneman says, there's a short list of things they need to know. When he pulls out the women's list, it falls to the floor and keeps rolling.

With men, Veneman adds, women need to time things right when they want to talk, "like during the commercial of a football game."

Though Veneman is shifting toward more corporate shows, he still has the occasional road horror story. One recently happened in North Dakota.

Veneman and a friend were playing at a club there to get corporate work from a particular booker. "We had to fly into Sioux Falls (S.D.) because that was the closest airport," he says. "Then we had to drive another eight hours to Minot."

But it was on the ride home that things got hairy. Their car met up with a deer and the deer won.

"We were as far in the middle of no place that you could be," Veneman says.

Veneman summoned the local sheriff by cell phone from Rugby, N.D., but even that took 11/2 hours. Plus, there were no hotel rooms available.

"The sheriff offered to let us stay in the jail," he says. "We asked if Aunt Bea would be serving us breakfast."

The town also was small enough that there was nowhere to get a rental car. That meant a 40-hour bus ride home on Greyhound.

"We had 40 hours without being able to bathe and wearing the same clothes," he says. "And every seat on the bus was taken."

This gig didn't have the kind of crowd he typically sees in clubs: "We called it the Crooked Chromosome Tour."

COMING UP: Jest the Girls with Big Wits recently announced a new show, "Night of the Living Bra," that will run at 7 p.m. Sundays Oct. 3, 10, 17 and 24 at Cabaret Dada's theater, 1210 W. Sixth St., in downtown Cleveland.

Tickets are $10. For tickets and information, call (216) 696-4242.

ON STAGE: Willie Barcena, who has appeared on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," headlines through Sunday at the Cleveland Improv.

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