When JR Brow decided to give stand-up comedy a try, it was really a matter of economics. “I was in a band and there were five of us,” he explains. Splitting $300 from a gig didn’t go very far, of course. Being the band’s lead singer and de facto front man, he had experience talking to the audience between songs, or during equipment mishaps, but after seeing a performance by a fellow Texan, the great Bill Hicks, he wanted to try comedy. At first, he didn’t take his guitar on stage, but gradually began to incorporate it. One of his trademark bits is comparing the similarities between certain songs. “My wife won’t even let me listen to a new song, unless she thinks I should put it in my act,” he says.
Showtimes Thursday-Sunday. $10-$15. Funny Bone on the Levee, Newport on the Levee, Newport, Ky., 859-957-2000, funnyboneonthelevee.com.
