"I was class clown, church clown, barbershop clown," respected comedian, actor and writer Bruce Bruce explains from his home in Atlanta.
"I got beat up daily in school for talking about people. Then I was in the restaurant business, I was telling jokes. I decided just to pursue it."
Before that, Bruce Bruce was a salesman."I used to work for Frito-Lay and we had corporate meetings,” he recalls. “I would imitate everyone in the meeting afterwards. And all the guys would laugh. One guy told me, 'I watch comedy all the time. You need to go on stage.' And I did. And I knew right then I should have been there all my life.”
But before you start thinking maybe you should quit your job and hit the stand-up circuit, know that not every workplace cut-up is suited for the stage.
“I think it’s something that’s got to be in you,” Bruce Bruce says. “I can be anywhere and make anybody laugh — I don’t care if it’s a child or an older person.”
8 and 10:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 3; 7 and 10 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 4; 7 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 5. $12-$45. Liberty Funny Bone, 7518 Bales St., Liberty Township, liberty.funnybone.com.