Jeni is big fan of here -- and that's no joke

July 8, 1999

Richard Jeni always will have a soft spot in his heart for Cleveland.

"Cleveland was the very first place I had an on-the-road gig, at the old Cleveland Comedy Club," says Brooklyn, N.Y.-born Jeni. "I was really nervous but the crowd got me and I've just kept coming back."

When Jeni begins his run tonight at the Cleveland Improv, which extends through Sunday, audiences will be seeing something new.

"I have a lot of new stuff," he says. "I'm getting ready for a new HBO special in 2000."

Why does Jeni think stand-up comedy is a great job?

"I'm using the audience to validate my opinions," he says. "There's this misconception that the wheels are coming off in this country, and that there are no more heroes. That's because we have a president that lies about having sex with an intern. But we still have heroes. To me, Jack Kevorkian is a big hero. This guy tells you he's going to commit first degree murder and then he puts it on TV."

Besides on the stand-up stage, Jeni has scored in movies and TV, playing Jim Carrey's friend in "The Mask" and on his short-lived UPN series "Platypus Man." But he is most at home doing stand-up: "That's really you. Everything else is a compromise."

Jeni says the TV series was not his vision of what the show should have been, and his movie work has not come from pounding the pavement and auditioning.

"I have not pursued all that much," Jeni says. "I'm not auditioning every minute. The things I usually have gotten are because someone knows me and they want to have me in it. Let's face it, if I get anything, it's going to be character-actor parts."

But in the 18 years that he's been doing stand-up comedy, Jeni has made concessions to the changing times: "I've got my own Web site at richardjeni.com. Today, you have to be on the Web."

The changing times also mean that comics have to work harder to stand out, Jeni says.

"There's more stuff on TV," he says. "It was a big thing when Robert Klein did his first HBO special, but there's a lot more out there now. Everything has less impact. It's more imperative to write new material."

Besides his upcoming HBO special, Jeni is getting ready to perform at this year's International Comedy Festival in Montreal. Many also may recognize his voice in Office Max commercials.

And when he is onstage, Jeni deals with subjects everyone can understand -- like love relationships.

"Fifty percent of all marriages end up in divorce, so fifty percent of love relationships end in love," he says. "The other half end up in death."

It's easy for Jeni to name his best performance: "I think my best was my last special in '98, 'A Good Catholic Boy.' You get better as you go along."

His worst is not quite as easy to pin down.

"Take any show from my first year," Jeni says. "I was quitting every day. That's when you get the least amount of attention and respect."

Jeni says he's studied biorhythms and found that his most creative time of day is 5:00-5:04 a.m. "So I set a pad and pen next to my bed and I write down the first thing that comes into my mind when the alarm goes off," he says. "I have a lot of jokes that start, 'Man, I really have to pee.' "

After he hits the bathroom, Jeni always is ready to hit the stand-up stage.

"I have the independence to do what I want to do," he says. "Jerry Seinfeld told me to appreciate the HBO specials; not everyone gets one. It's a rare opportunity that you get up onstage and get to say exactly what you want.

"The more you do, the more you like doing stand-up."

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ON STAGE: L.A. Hardy headlines through Saturday at Hilarities in Cuyahoga Falls with Buzz Nutley as feature act.

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