30 Years Ago Today, and a New Career Unknowingly Born

Published by Rick on Tagged Uncategorized

The autumn of 1985 was one of great uncertainty, as I was looking at being single on two different fronts. In September, a four-year personal relationship ended, and shortly after, my stage partner had decided to move to Sacramento in preparation for a move to Kentucky to get her Ph.D, so the act was going on a hiatus of uncertain length. I was sort of stuck in LA wondering what was keeping me there, and though I’d contemplated a solo career, I wasn’t sure exactly how to instigate one. There was also the possibility of moving back to San Francisco as so many of my contemporaries who found the LA experience less than exciting had done in the previous couple years. Unlike them, I didn’t have that much to go back to.

I had a couple of comedian friends encouraging me to give the solo route a try, since in the Rick & Ruby act, I did have an opening solo segment of usually around 10 minutes, and there was more material in the archives. The two major comedy clubs in Hollywood were the Improvisation and the Comedy Store, and though the Laugh Factory was around, it was still a little hole in the wall I wasn’t even aware of.

I chose to look into the Improv, which had auditions on Sunday night. The way their auditions were set up, hopefuls would show up around 7:00 and put their names in a fish bowl. Once I put my name in, and heard the bits of conversation, I hoped against hope that my name wouldn’t be picked. Even 30 years ago, whenever I heard a comic say the words, “What do you think of this joke,” I tended to think, “If you have to ask, it’s probably not funny.” That was certainly the case here. I was a bit of a stubborn ass, too, as I sort of expected to find paid work almost upon announcing that I was pursuing a solo career. If a career was going to happen at this venue, I was gonna have to be patient, which I didn’t really want. I most certainly believed this audition would be a waste of my time, and my prayers were answered when my name wasn’t called. I would eventually work there for a brief time in the 90’s, with NO audition!

The next day, I called The Comedy Store, and asked to speak to the talent co-ordinator. His name was George Bennett, and when I reached him, I identified myself as Rick of Rick & Ruby, and happily he knew who we were, and also knew that the owner Mitzi Shore really liked us. I asked him if I could possibly showcase as a solo for Mitzi sometime during the week, he said he’d run it by her, and advised me to call back the next day for my showcase time.

When I called back, he said “You’re on 10:30 Friday in the Original Room.” I knew that room to have a regular paid comics’ line-up, and thought that was an odd time for a showcase, as the unpaid spots were usually early in the evening on weeknights. George then asked, “What name do you want to go under? We can’t just put ‘Rick of Rick & Ruby.'” I hemmed and hawed for a moment, then he said, “You want to use the name Rick, right?” Remembering that my former girlfriend was into numerology and had determined Ricky Right to be a stage name that would make me “a good show biz number,” I said, “Yeah, Rick Right, that sounds good.” Thus, a name was created in a few seconds, but it’s stuck with me for 30 years now.

Come Friday, November 8, 1985, I arrive at about 10:00, and notice that scheduled right before me was Sam Kinison, whose star was very much on the rise. Of course I was intimidated by having to follow someone who would most likely decimate the room, though he hadn’t shown up yet, so maybe, fingers crossed, I’d get on before him. Unfortunately, he showed up about 10:15, so that hope was dashed. He then preceded to do about 45 minutes when he was only scheduled to do 15, but I would find over the years that comics exceeding their stage time directly paralleled how well their careers were going. Meanwhile, I was feeling this to be almost as much a waste of time as the Improv, as Mitzi wasn’t there, nor did there appear to be any staff who could report if I did any good.

Finally, at about 11:30, Sam left the stage, and I was feeling like the sacrificial lamb. I don’t remember a thing I did, but I do remember I managed a snicker or two. I still didn’t feel optimistic, and since the next day was my birthday, I flew up to San Francisco to avoid feeling ridiculously lonely. Just to compound things, when I returned the following night, and was driving back from LA Airport, I got into a car wreck with a limo that had made a really stupid move, and since it was raining, I couldn’t avoid a crash. Fortunately, I wasn’t hurt, but my car was barely drivable. I got home and truly felt like the world was closing in.

The car was totaled, but there would be happy endings on that, as it was determined the limo was at fault, and the driver admitted as much at the scene. But what was the verdict on my Friday set? Would I be told, as so many had before, to come back in six months, then be an unpaid regular until Mitzi decided I was “ready?” I called George, not expecting much. He said, “Oh, good you called. We need your Social Security number.” I asked why, he said it was for tax purposes. Tax? Why? “When we make out our 1099 forms.” I was truly not getting it, and after about five minutes of confusion, I was finally told in the most basic terms that I had already been hired as a paid regular sight unseen. I was still taken aback by that, so I innocently asked “So the spot I did Friday was a PAID one?” It was indeed, so then he asked if I wanted to put in for spots for the coming week. I think “Duh” was my first response.

That was 30 years ago, and I would put in close to 15 years at that club before setting my sights across the Atlantic. It was also during this week 15 years ago that I was doing my first run of paid gigs in UK. I’ve got to hand it to Mitzi, whose health has been failing for at least as long as I’ve been in England, but is still around at age 84. She was the type to gamble on certain acts if she felt they filled some kind of gap, as in “We don’t have one of those!” She gave me a career I didn’t expect, and perhaps didn’t believe I was ready for. But here we are!

November 8th, 2015



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