The politics of comedy

The Cinnabar Theater presents “Comics Stripped III,” an evening with comics Will Durst and Bob Sarlatte. Dave Pokorny will host the show and Bruce Kurnow will provide the music.

“Comics Stripped III” returns to Petaluma’s Cinnabar Theater Monday, April 27 — this time starring political satirist and Emmy-nominated Will Durst and veteran NBC late-night guest Bob Sarlatte along with Petaluma creator/host Dave Pokorny.

The theme for this third installment of thinking-person’s comedy theater is “Letterman and the Politics of Comedy.”

Durst, with his brand of political humor, has performed before presidents and appeared more than 400 times on television in 14 countries. A regular commentator for CNN and NPR, he writes a nationally syndicated op-ed column and performs hundreds of comedy shows every year.

Sarlatte’s first TV stint was as announcer, writer and regular comedy contributor on the first David Letterman Show for NBC in 1980. Today, he is nationally recognized as a commercial actor, radio and TV personality, comedian and speaker and is a frequent guest on Letterman and CBS’s Late Show.

Both performers call San Francisco home.

Before explaining the Letterman connection, first, think of the “Comics Stripped” performance series as evolutionary, next generation comedy of intimate theater. It’s what Pokorny, a refugee of the three-second laugh comedy club rule, sought after a 13-year on-the-road gig.

Successful by all standards, he knew there was more to comedic story-telling than bantering with drunk, heckling crowds.

“After doing comedy for 10 years, I wasn’t fulfilled with what I was doing up on stage ... I knew that I had more to give than just jokes,” Pokorny said. “I asked Ron Shock, a comic/storyteller from Texas, what he thought of my act.

“‘You got good jokes, but they’re just jokes,’ Shock told me. ‘At the end of the night people will leave saying, ‘that first guy was funny,’ but they won’t remember who you are because you aren’t letting them know who you really are. I’ve spent a whole week with you and there’s more to you than what you’re doing up there.’

“I took this to heart,” Pokorny said, “and started writing more about myself and my life and started feeling this was the right direction for me.”

Pokorny’s revival of storytelling brought his audience back around the dinner table, the intimacy of one’s living room among close friends. It’s an evolution whose time has come for boomers, the last radio generation, seeking something more memorable, meaningful, personal and less manic.

With a wife and new baby, Pokorny was “soon only working my living room because I didn’t want to compromise. I needed to work in theaters where people go to watch and listen to the performer. You look back on your life and you connect the dots and mine have brought me here, right where I am supposed to be.”

Pokorny’s past as an opening stand-up act serves him well because he introduced some of the finest comedy writers/performers in the entertainment world, including his latest two booked guests — Durst and Sarlatte. They shared the spotlight in the late 1980s, when comedy clubs were red-hot and prolific. The fact that both these high-profile comedians can fill a room on their names alone is not lost on Pokorny or Cinnabar Theater, which embraces this added dimension to its repertoire of drama and musical ensemble performances.

“Cinnabar is the co-producer,” the stocky, spectacled Whole Foods grocer, says, “and I’m the PR, booking, crush the grapes for the wine and fill-the-house guy. This feeds that part of me that’s been hungry for 13 years.”

Successfully filling the house is proof Pokorny comfortably moves from frontstage to backstage, promoting and performing with contemporaries.

Special musical guest for the evening, which is a benefit for the theater, is Bruce Kurnow.

About the Letterman theme: together, Durst and Sarlatte have appeared on the David Letterman Show 26 times. That’s 25 appearances for Sarlatte, one for Durst. Both are wildly successful in comedy, just not equally on Letterman. Dave’s letterman claim to fame? His high school letterman’s athletic jacket.

Like Pokorny, Durst and Sarlatte are departing from their routines on the Cinnabar stage. “It’s like having Will and Bob over for dinner and asking, ‘Hey, what was it like to be on Letterman?’”

It’s a tribute to how much they trust Pokorny.

Those with “Comics Stripped” tickets will be a lucky few to experience headliners Durst and Sarlatte differently, up close and personal.

Remaining tickets are on sale now by calling 763-8920 or online: www.cinnabartheater.org.

(Contact Liz Watson at argus@arguscourier.com)