THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 19, 1994 TAG: 9406160184
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 12 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: John Harper
DATELINE: 940619 LENGTH: Medium
As a matter of fact, he's never met a crowd he didn't like or a crowd that didn't like him. Forty-five minutes of R. Bruce and you're in the comedy zone. A zone where no comedian has gone before.
{REST} R. Bruce is a Hampton, Va., native. He's spent at least half his time in Nags Head since the mid 1980s. Bruce started out as a folk singer. At 14 he composed songs and played in Virginia nightclubs. Heavily influenced by Bob Dylan, Bruce's songs spoke of suffering or at least ``as much suffering as a middle-class comfortable teenager could feel.'' At 21, Bruce made his way to the music town of Austin, Texas. Bruce remembers Austin as a happening place.
``I hung out with Willie Nelson, John Prine and Jimmy Buffett,'' remembers Bruce. Buffett was to have a major influence on Bruce.
In the late '70s and back on the East Coast, Bruce found the Outer Banks.
``I came here to fish,'' says Bruce. For several years Bruce fished and played music on the Outer Banks before making the beach his home.
Bruce worked as disc jockey for a couple of years. He also played as a single acoustic act mixing some serious songs with some humor. The humor caught on. Bruce recorded an album of original comedy songs in 1989. In the last two years, Bruce (his real name is Bruce Richardson) joined the comedy circuit, working as a headliner in clubs from Virginia to Georgia. Bruce played 250 dates in 1993. He also found time to develop a program for children called ``Open Your Thinking Cap.'' The program, a high energy live performance, features original songs, humor and audience participation. It helps children become aware of their creativity.
Bruce kicks off his ``When Fish Laugh'' tour Monday at The Comedy Room in the Holiday Inn in Kill Devil Hills. Bruce also headlines comedy shows at Barrier Island Inn in Duck and Finely Ron's in Corolla on the tour.
I recently had a sit-down conversation with the stand-up comedian in his Nags Head home.
Q: You're billed as a singer/songwriter, comedian, how did you pick up the comedy?
A: I was always funny. I was a funny kid; funny keeps you from getting beat up. I found that you can get an audience to listen by being funny. I wrote as many funny songs as a teenager as I did serious songs.
Q: Was the first song you wrote serious or funny?
A: The first song I remember writing was called ``A Door of My Worries.'' It was horrendous. It was your basic teen angst thing.
Q: You've been called the ``Jimmy Buffett of the Outer Banks.'' Is that a good comparison?
A: My original songs are similar to Buffett's. The emphasis is on lyrics, not dazzling melodies or fancy guitar work. I tell stories.
Q: Buffett writes lots of personal songs. He seems to be exorcising some demons. Do you do confessional songs?
A: Buffett writes a lot about relationships, especially ones gone bad. I've written some songs about my first marriage that went bad. I was an alcoholic and wrote a number of songs about my recovery and about my wife Lynn's strength and guidance. I've been sober for a long time. On this tour, it's just comedy.
Q: Tell me what I'll see in your current show.
A: It's 45 minutes of entertainment. I do stand-up, song parodies and original songs. It's just me and my guitar and the audience.
Q: Any guarantees?
A: You'll laugh.
by CNB