Dalton tries to make leap from student to stand-up

"Comic Capers"
By RODNEY BENGSTON

Sept. 23, 1999

Ryan Dalton graduated from Kent State University with "a major in marketing and a minor in procrastination." Now he's trying to graduate to a full-time gig on the stand-up stage.

He took his first step in February at Standup New York in New York City.

"I have a friend who's doing stand-up there, and he always knew that I wanted to be (a stand-up comedian)," Dalton says. "So he told the club that I had done clubs back here to get me five minutes. Boy, did he lie. I went up, and I bombed. I was so nervous and didn't get many laughs. There were probably about 12 people in the place. But my friend told me, 'This is the worst that it ever gets.' "

Since that first foray into stand-up, Dalton has performed at Hilarities in Cuyahoga Falls and the Berea Cafe. He also organizes a weekly comedy night at the Robin Hood in Kent.

Dalton admits to having stand-up dreams since he was in elementary school. Growing up, he was a fan of the original cast members of "Saturday Night Live," Gallagher, George Carlin and Bill Cosby. Cosby, he adds, was an especially big influence: "He taught me that you could be hilarious without being obscene."

Dalton describes his act as one that points out the changes in everyday life. Take the gas station: "In the old days, you had two pumps -- regular and diesel -- and a garage. Now you have food courts inside those things. It's like a mall. My friend asked me why I wasn't out yet, and I told him I hadn't been to The Gap yet. It's also bad when you have a 17-year-old scolding you over a microphone because you're not working the pump right."

It's easy for Dalton to pinpoint his best night on stage. "That would have to be one of the pro-am nights at Hilarities," he remembers. "My five minutes went amazingly well that night. I only got through half of the material I had written because people were laughing at everything."

Dalton sees a certain irony in the fact that he now organizes comedy nights at the Robin Hood.

"It was my freshman year, and it was one of the few bars I could get into," he says. "There were a lot of ugly people there and about a half-inch of beer on the floor. I was offended, and I'm not one who easily gets offended by a bar."

Fast-forward a couple of years, and Dalton meets up with some friends performing as the Phat Five, an improv comedy group. They ended up teaming with Dalton to put on comedy nights at -- you guessed it -- the Robin Hood. The floor seems a bit cleaner now.

Since he graduated, Dalton has been interviewing for jobs, trying to put his marketing degree to use. But he's hoping that he'll soon be marketing himself exclusively as a comedian.

"I want that to be my job."

ON STAGE: Leave 'Em Laughing will present Comedians for the Cure at 6:30 p.m. Monday at Dino's at Pine Ridge Country Club, 30601 Ridge Road, Wickliffe. Tickets are $25 for the event, which aids breast-cancer research. Featured comedians are Sally Lentz, John David Sidley, Sherry Tolliver and Kate Zannoni. For information or reservations, call (440) 998-4532 or (216) 491-1728.

Jest the Girls with Big Wits will stage "Night of the Living Bra" at 7 p.m. Oct. 3, 10, 17 and 24 at Cabaret Dada Improvisational Theater, 1210 W. Sixth St., Cleveland. Tickets are $10. For reservations or information, call (216) 696-4242.

Tom Arnold, who starred in "McHale's Navy" and "True Lies," headlines Friday through Sunday at the Cleveland Improv.

John Bowman, who has appeared on "The Tonight Show," headlines through Sunday at Hilarities in Cuyahoga Falls with Daryl Joyce as the feature act.

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