COMEDY Comedy ‘King’ brings fresh laughs to state
By Eric E. Harrison (Contact)
LITTLE ROCK — Singing cowboy comedian Rodney Carrington made his first - and most recent - live Little Rock appearances in the same place, a west Little Rock comedy club that was called the Comedy House 20 years ago, when he was a fresh-faced opening act. Now called the Loony Bin, Carrington returned there as a special-event headliner in 2006.
More recently, Carrington has appeared on television and movie screens. He made 44 episodes of his own ABC sitcom, Rodney, and he was recently high in the credits in a major motion picture called Beer for My Horses, which is still galloping along in a couple of theaters around the country. His co-star is Toby Keith, whose song of that title was the inspiration, and Carrington’s song “Show Them to Me” appears on the soundtrack.
Carrington will bring his current touring show, “King of the Mountains” tonight to Little Rock’s Robinson Center Music Hall, where he put on a concert in 2003.
There will be some leftover material from the 2007 CD and Comedy Central special, now out on DVD, of the same title, Carrington says, “but there’s a lot of new material; a lot of the songs are brand-new.
“There’s going to be a lot of things that nobody’s ever heard, and there’s going to be a few of the real popular pieces that they’ve [already] heard in King of the Mountains’ DVD.
“It never stops. When I put out a record, I start immediately putting new stuff together. One of the things about putting out a comedy album or DVD is that once people get it, they know it. They might come see you once with it, but I don’t want to be waiting around, then I comeback and they say, ‘We’ve seen it,’ and they don’t want to see it anymore.”
Unlike with singers, from whom audiences want to hear old favorites, audiences want fresh stuff from comedians, Carrington says.
“I think the reason people come back is because they want to know, ‘What does he have now? What’s the new stuff now?’
“Tony Bennett, when I go see him, I want to hear him sing the hits, [although] I don’t mind him singing something new.
“But I believe comedy is different. It’s kind of like going to see a movie, you might want to see it [again] if it comes on television and you’re sitting on the couch, it’s OK. If you pay money to go actually visit the theater where the performer is, you want to see something new.”
Carrington says the show will be roughly half spoken comedy and half music, but he won’t be specific about anything in this show that audiences should anticipate.
“I hope you just look forward to laughing,” he says. “There’s some surprises. It has everything - and when I tell you‘everything,’ it has everything.” (That includes some intemperate language and references; the promoters are recommending Carrington’s show for mature audiences only.)
The complete DVD set of Carrington’s sitcom is due in stores next month.
“We just acquired all the DVD rights to the episodes,” he says. “There’s 44 of them and they’ll be available around Thanksgiving. Six of them never aired. For me, it’s just the idea of having them available to the people who want them.”
Although arena shows are now considered the pinnacle for performing comedians, “When it comes to it, I really prefer theaters,” he says. “I’ll opt for two shows in a theater before I take an arena [show], because it’s a better place for a comedy show, more intimate.”
It’s not as intimate as a 250-seat club, he says, but it’s more lucrative.
“I’ve got a payroll now,” he explains. “I’ve got to pay my piano player.”
Rodney Carrington 7 and 9:30 p.m. today, Robinson Center Music Hall, West Markham Street and Broadway, Little Rock.
Comedian Marc Ryan will open the show.
Tickets: $39.75 plus facilities fee and handling charges (501) 975-7575, www.ticketmaster.com
This article was published Friday, October 10, 2008.
Weekend, Pages 74 on 10/10/2008
