Comedy Caravan celebrates 25 years

There was barely a dry eye in the back room of Bear’s Place Monday night as audience members laughed themselves to tears at the 25th anniversary performance of the weekly Comedy Caravan shows.\nWith a history of performers like Jeff Foxworthy, Ellen DeGeneres and Tim Allen, Bear’s Place has been a destination for stand-up comedy fans on Monday and Saturday nights for the past quarter-century. It is officially the longest-running one-night show in the United States, said master of ceremonies Brad Wilhelm. \nWilhelm, the Monday night host for more than 10 years, knows the source of the shows’ success.\n“It’s not our lovely decor. It’s not our cheap but potent drinks,” he told audience members Monday. “It’s good people just \nlike you.” \nAfter telling his traditional “Bad Joke of the Week” (“A blond buys two horses and can’t tell them apart...”), he handed the microphone off to feature act Big John Richardson. Richardson asked the audience such questions as, “Would you consider yourself a loser if the Geek Squad wouldn’t hire you?” and “How come UFOs don’t talk to black people?” He also wondered why the book “Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus” is so popular – considering the author has been divorced five times – before introducing the night’s headliner, renowned comedian Etta May.\nAfter advising one man in the audience, “You drink ‘til I’m pretty,” May informed the crowd that she “got kicked out of Weight Watchers last year for heckling” (apparently, they frown upon that). She then explained that Weight Watchers works on a points system, with certain foods valued at a set number \nof points.\n“When you eat those points, supposedly you’re done eating. That’s where the program failed me,” she said.\nMay soon moved onto another favorite topic – the effects of middle age. “Most women got great melons; I got Fruit Roll-Ups,” she said, adding that she went from a 34DD to a 38-long. She also asked the women over 40, “Do you ever sneeze and piss your pants?” before commenting that “(cellulite) looks kinda like hail damage on a car.” Later, she told the audience, “I’m going to hell and takin’ everybody in this room with me.”\nAs a parent, she advises other parents to guide their children by going with them when they get tattoos – they need help with choice and placement. She mentioned a friend of one of her teenagers, who has so many facial piercings he looks “like somebody from Home Depot did a drive-by.” She calls the young man “Tacklebox.”\nBloomington resident Mary Nickless said she enjoys Comedy Caravan shows because they are reliably funny and not exclusive. \n“I like being called out,” said senior Josh Greene who, sitting in the front row, was a prime target for performers. \nBut it isn’t just the fans who love Bear’s Place. \nRichardson said comedians love to perform at Bear’s “because the audience is fantastic ... (and) really open-minded.” \n“As long as people are laughing, that’s the job,” Richardson said. \nFor May, “(comedy) is like a little mini-vacation for people ... You know how good a sneeze feels?”