LOOKING BACK: Rick Reynolds was hitting prime time in 1997

LOOKING BACK: Rick Reynolds was hitting prime time in 1997|

When the Argus-Courier covered the network premiere of Rick Reynolds’ highly anticipated TV sitcom twenty years ago (see sidebar), the then-Petaluma-based writer-comic-performer was tentatively hoping for a hit. Sadly, the show was canceled after just four episodes.

“I think what was so brilliant about Rick’s comedy was leached out of the show, mainly because the network had no idea what do with his dark, acidic, hilarious sense of humor,” notes Dave Pokorny, a longtime Petaluma resident, and a former stand-up comic who occasionally shared a billing with Reynolds when they were both on the comedy club circuit. Pokorny got to know Reynolds better in the years following the cancelation of the series, as they both lived in Petaluma during the time.

Reynolds, despite his own prediction that, should the series fail, he’d have used up his one and only shot, was soon back to work on some new one-man-shows. First he created “Happy,” which had a successful run at San Francisco’s The Marsh. Eventually, partly at Pokorny’s nudging, Reynolds’ staged a series of workshops at Cinnabar Theater, dusting off his first solo-show success - 1991’s “Only the Truth is Funny” - and revamping it over a period of months. What began in January, 2009, as “Only the Truth is Funny 2009,” eventually became “Only the Truth is Funny: Mid-Life at the Oasis” by August. Feeling confident with the swiftly evolving show, Reynolds revamped it again, renamed it “Love, God, Sex … and Other Things I Don’t Have,” and invited Jason Alexander (“Seinfeld”) to direct its San Francisco run at the Marine’s Memorial Theatre.

That show opened on Monday, Nov. 9. Pokorny was there, along with director Jason Alexander, and just about every other San Francisco stand-up comic who’d ever opened for Reynolds. The show was extremely well received, playing to riotous laughter, and when appropriate, well-earned tears.

But later that week, the San Francisco Chronicle’s Steven Wynn published a review with the headline “Rick Reynolds Attempts to Amuse,” then assigning the show a tepid “interested man” rating.

“And that was pretty much the last any of us saw Rick Reynolds,” says Pokorny.

Reportedly, Reynolds elected to shutter the show immediately.

Several months later, word circulated that he’d sold his house in Petaluma and moved to Southern California. It’s been more than seven years. Like Richard Simmons, the onetime Petaluman has disappeared.

“I love Rick,” Pokorny says. “He’s an amazing and ingenious performer, and a real nice guy under the hard shell he sometime puts on. Last rumor I heard was that he was living in the desert, and occasionally performing stand-up, unannounced, in Los Angles. My theory is, he’s secretly got a job writing material for some late night talk show like (Stephen) Colbert.

“I would not be surprised,” Pokorny adds, “if were hibernating somewhere and writing a masterpiece. He’s gonna come out of his cocoon one of these days, walk like a prophet out of the desert, book a room in a theater - and blow us all away.”

UPDATED: Please read and follow our commenting policy:
  • This is a family newspaper, please use a kind and respectful tone.
  • No profanity, hate speech or personal attacks. No off-topic remarks.
  • No disinformation about current events.
  • We will remove any comments — or commenters — that do not follow this commenting policy.