BY DANI TIETZ
dani@sjodaily.com
It’s not uncommon to see friends gathered around a table, sharing stories and laughing at St. Joseph’s Wheelhouse.
Things will be very similar when Jesse Tuttle performs his C-U Comedy show there on Sept. 13.
“I try my best to just create an environment where it’s similar to a bunch of people sitting around a table having drinks and talking,” Tuttle said.
After a decade of crafting his stand-up routine, Tuttle looks every day for “strange experiences or just little things that happen” to plug into his show.
“I also have hyper-vigilance which makes me notice every small thing happening around me,” Tuttle said. “It’s a blessing and a curse. Most people have several funny things happen to them every day; it’s just figuring out how to put it into as few words as possible and then share it with a group of strangers in hopes they will relate.”
As a kid, Tuttle listened to George Carlin, thinking about how he would enjoy making crowds laugh, but never dreamed it would be an option.
Then, one night, “on a whim” Tuttle grabbed an opportunity at an Open Mic Night in Peoria.
“When you first start, even with preparation, you don’t really know what you are doing,” he said, “which sometimes makes things better, as you are just winging it and hoping for the best.”
Tuttle said he doesn’t watch as much stand-up on television anymore as he once did.
Spending time with friends, learning from their triumphs and mistakes, then reliving it with them, is what drives his talent.
“With your friends, it’s great to see them do well,” he said. “But it’s also a fun car ride back if they do poorly.”
Learning to pick yourself back up after a flopped show is something that comedians have to face.
Coming off a show where the crowd just isn’t connecting, Tuttle said, as friends, comedians razz each other.
But, looking at it as he would a first date where two nice people just don’t have the right chemistry, Tuttle said the trick is learning that you can’t please everyone.
“It’s a hard thing to come to terms with as a performer,” he said. “I used to focus on that one person not laughing in the crowd even if the rest of the audience was really into it. It’s a silly thing to do.
“I also learned that I really like free drinks, so when the audience or the venue buys them for me; I’m quite okay with that.”
Whether or not Tuttle will get free drinks at The Wheelhouse is still up in the air.
But, by bringing the professional traveling comedy club atmosphere to places like The Wheelhouse, CU Comedy hopes to widen its reach.
A regular performer at the C-U Comedy Club in downtown Champaign, Tuttle has also opened for over 200 nationally touring comedians and performed regularly at the Jukebox Comedy Club in Peoria.
“It should be fun,” Tuttle said. “It’s our first time doing a show at The Wheelhouse, and this is kind of a trial run to work out the kinks and see where we can go from there.
“It’s always fun to go to a smaller town where there may be a few less options on entertainment; they always seem like they appreciate it more since there aren’t as many live shows in the area.
“The management has been great so far, so I’m really looking forward to working with them on this and hopefully more shows in the future.
“We just really hope everyone has a good time and asks for us to come back!”
Tickets for the live stand-up comedy hour with Jesse Tuttle can be purchased for $5 on Eventbrite. The event is rated PG-13 to “light” R with some adult content and language.
