MARK BENNETT: Bob Zany is a man one-liners, wisecracks and his word

By Mark Bennett

TERRE HAUTE — Bob Zany is a stand-up guy.

Ba-dum-bump.

No, seriously. When a promotion company canceled a Terre Haute show by Zany and fellow comedian Drew Hastings last April, Zany apologized and vowed he’d be “coming back” to perform here.

He’s kept his word. Zany will unleash his jokes, one-liners and ad-lib wisecracks at the Canadian Mist Bob & Tom Comedy All-Stars Tour show at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 7 in the Indiana Theatre. He’ll be joined by fellow “Bob & Tom Show” regulars Henry Philips, Brian Haner, Donnie Baker and the Pork Pistols and Kristi Lee.

That’s not all. Earlier this week, Zany agreed to call me for an interview at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday. And, sure enough, my telephone rang at 11:30 a.m., Eastern Time. It was 5:30 a.m. in Hawaii, where Zany was staying and would perform in a Honolulu club much later that night. Despite the hour, he followed through. If he was groggy, his voice and wit concealed the weariness. Zany figured he’d find time to nap before Wednesday’s show in Hawaii, and then depart for a two-day gig in Alaska.

“I’m working my way backwards,” he joked of his Hawaii-to-Alaska swing. “Do you know what the 48th state is?”

I didn’t, but his mind was sharp enough to correctly guess Arizona.

Bob Zany can simply wake up funny.

His quick wit is no accident. The 47-year-old Californian, whose birth name was Robert Laudon, has honed his humor during a 32-year career. It began with an awkward appearance on “The Gong Show” in 1977. In the intervening years, he’s beaten out the bushy-haired Carrot Top on “Star Search,” earned three American Comedy Award nominations, guest hosted the “Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon,” appeared in the movie “Joe Dirt” and in TV shows such as “The Drew Carey Show” and “Roseanne,” and performed stand-up routines in countless clubs and arenas.

And for the past 12 years, he’s phoned in his “Zany Report” every Tuesday morning to the “Bob & Tom” radio show, which can be heard on WWVR-FM 105.5 in Terre Haute. He jokes about the news, imitates the long-departed Bing Crosby, and allows listeners to “fix” his jokes.

Sometimes, those Tuesday morning call-ins present his toughest crowds.

“I’m not playing to a full room,” Zany explained. “With a full room, you’ve got a better shot at winning over a crowd. I’m playing to four people.” And if the “Bob & Tom” cast of Bob Kevoian, Tom Griswold, Kristi Lee and Chick McGee is having a bad day, Zany has to work harder for laughs.

Then again, Zany understands that is his job.

“My mission statement is, ‘You’re there to entertain and make people forget about their problems,’” he said, before quipping, “I make people forget about their problems by creating new ones.”

Problems are difficult to escape these days with a stubborn recession, rising health-care costs and two wars. The lightning rod for the nation’s worries, President Obama, is not immune to Zany’s jokes. On this week’s “Zany Report,” he said that when Obama was asked why he was changing his administration’s “car czar,” the president responded, “Because I just love that new czar smell.”

It’s hard to joke about the nation’s commander-in-chief during such strife, Zany admitted. But the freedom to make light of the president’s policies — such as appointing a “car czar” — is an American virtue, he added.

Still, Zany realizes the task facing Obama.

“The job of president of the United States is damned if you do, and damned if you don’t,” he said. “I can’t even imagine why anyone would want that job. Maybe at the end of the day, you’re sitting in the Oval Office and you get to look at the bust of Lincoln, but look what he went through.”

Zany’s job — making people laugh — will take a new twist this fall. He plays the lawyer of a corporate whistle-blower (Matt Damon) in “The Informant,” a crime-thriller movie due in theaters Oct. 9. Zany still fears, somewhat jokingly, that his contributions will end up on the cutting room floor before the film is released or that people won’t remember his role.

“I think my scenes are integral to the story,” he reasoned. “My scenes are with Matt, so if they make it in [the final cut], it’s going to be great for me.

“Or,” Zany added, “I’m going to get, ‘Was that you?’”



Mark Bennett can be reached at (812) 231-4377 or mark.bennett@tribstar.com.



‘Bob & Tom All-Stars’

What: The Canadian Mist Bob & Tom All-Star Comedy Tour brings four acts and emcee Kristi Lee of the “Bob & Tom” radio show to Terre Haute. The lineup includes Bob Zany, Henry Philips, Brian Haner, and Donnie Baker and the Pork Pistols.

When: 7:30 p.m. Aug. 7. (Show runs approximately two hours.)

Where: The Indiana Theatre at 683 Ohio St.

Tickets: $32.50 per person. (The show features adult humor.) Tickets are available, in person, at the Indiana Theatre box office from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday; or through Ticketmaster at FYE in Honey Creek Mall, online at Ticketmaster.com or by phone at (812) 234-2424.

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