.png){kind=logo}
The Bar Gig Files
Stories and wisdom from America's Best Bar Comics https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GCSPGNQB
The real-life world of working comedians.
Not celebrity comedians.
Not comedy theory.
Not podcast bros.
Actual road stories from comics who've performed in bars, VFWs, breweries, casinos, and comedy clubs for decades.
The Bar Gig Files
The Bar Gig Files with Guest, Mike Marvell - Bar Comedy USA Superstar
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
In this edition of The Bar Gig Files, comedy road warrior, Mike Marvell shares his experiences battling Wisconsin weather just to do a stand-up show, why seniors make for a great comedy crowd, and why venue enthusiasm makes or breaks a show.
Our next guest on the bar gig files has been calling me for the last couple of minutes. Let's give him a call back. Ladies and gentlemen, try to get a hold of the couch commander. It might be Gut Pile. It might be Pub and Grub Comedy Tour headliner, Mike Marvell. Let's see who answers the phone. Mike Marvell.
SPEAKER_02Hey dear dog, I just tried to call you.
SPEAKER_00I know I noticed that. It was uh ringing through at the exact same time that I was trying to get the uh microphone hooked up.
SPEAKER_02I was premature again?
SPEAKER_00What's that?
SPEAKER_02I was premature again?
SPEAKER_00Well, you know, it happens to the best of us, Mike. It happens to me quite a bit, so uh we are currently recording. So don't say anything too incriminating, but that was the perfect way to start the uh episode. Show you know, show a little bit of the technical difficulties and then uh admit to uh well both of us admitting to the the our prematurity. Uh hey man, I was on your website and I know that we've known each other for like what would you say, like twenty-five years.
SPEAKER_02At least, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, going back to the days when I would perform at the Arthur House in Plattville.
SPEAKER_02That's yeah, and that's been open for at least twenty five years. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and back then you know, a comedy's kind of it it's just it's always evolved, but back then I remember a time when that real small town in the middle of southwestern Wisconsin. I mean, you could go to Platteville, but Arthur was off the beaten path. It looked like a bomb went off when you drove into that town.
SPEAKER_02But that there was a there was a cow pasture across the field. You get out of the car and you'd be like, Farm living is the life for me.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Yeah. And and at one point they were e they were doing like a three-night week. They were doing like Thursday, Friday, Saturday.
SPEAKER_02It was yeah, it was hopping. It was hopping for a while. And uh, you know, we started out just once a month. That's all we were doing once a month, and then it just kept building and building, and uh and Bill did a good job. He worked hard uh getting people in there, and uh you know, and I think that's the problem with a lot of the places now, is you can tell when you walk in how much they care about having comedy there. I mean, you've got some great rooms. I just uh Brady uh Gregorich and I just did that room in Nakusa.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Is that is that beautiful? God, and they're so nice, and they're comedy, and uh what what can we do to improve? And and I'm like, man, you are you are on top of the game.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it it really does matter what the level of the uh enthusiasm of the venue and the people at the venue because you could be the most hilarious comedian in the world. And if they're not behind you, it ain't gonna work. Right. It ain't gonna work.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, there's so many assassins anyway. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Uh and and you've been driving thousands of miles telling jokes all around the country and performing in a whole variety of places clubs, casinos, churches, biker bars, nursing homes, corporate events. We all say that when in our intros and our bios, but for you, that actually is the honest truth.
SPEAKER_02Absolutely. I got more miles going backwards than most people got going forwards, you know. I mean, it's it's crazy. And uh and driving through some crazy weather. Oh my god. Uh and my wife Alice usually comes with, and we've been through some stuff, snowstorms and uh uh just you know, watching people spin out in front of you, and you're on your way to the gig and I gotta get there. And I I did that show for you up in Ashland uh uh a couple years ago. Yeah, and it was raining, then it went to hail, then it went to ice, and then it went, you know, snow. And I mean, as you drove, it was like, I'm not gonna get there, I'm not gonna butt. You get there, you do it, you do what you gotta do.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I yeah, and it's amazing how comics will drive through all of that hours on end sometimes, go through all everything you just described, and then still be able to get on stage with the energy that it takes to keep the people laughing for an hour, hour and a half.
SPEAKER_02Right. And then and and and people coming out to it, I mean, because they're excited, you know. I mean, uh they want to see a show. I was like, hey, there's gonna be nobody there, and they're there, there's people there, and you're like, oh my god. And then you'll you'll drive someplace else, and it'll be a nice day, and you're like, oh, it's too nice out. It's too nice. People are gonna be sitting around the fire and stuff. They don't want to be, you know.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, they're going outside and doing their outside events, and and they've got a little bit of cabin fever. They've they've spent all winter long cooped up in Ashland, Wisconsin. Finally, it's April, the snow is thawed, the the lake is you can go out there on the lake a little bit. Uh and that's what they're gonna do. It's gonna it can sometimes be tough to bring in a crowd at that point. It is crazy. It's the the shitty weather brings the crowds.
SPEAKER_02Right. Yep, that's the truth. That's the truth.
SPEAKER_00Have you ever been in a situation? No, go ahead.
SPEAKER_02I was just gonna say, you've got that uh um outside venue in uh Chippewa Falls, out uh out just outside of uh Chippewa Falls. That place, too, is just amazing. I mean, people are outside, they got a fire going, and they got a uh nice stage built up and everything, and people are you know just so relaxed. And it's almost some comics don't like working outside. I love it because the people seem more relaxed, they can have a cigarette, you know, have a cookie treat or whatever, you know. Right. And it's yeah.
SPEAKER_00Well, and it that's also gotta work for you specifically. Uh uh, you've got the added advantage of being an outdoorsman in real life. Or is that just a character?
SPEAKER_02Yeah. No, no, man. I mean, I hunt, I fish. Uh I live in Caledonia, and the lady across the street lets me hunt her land. I got the biggest buck I ever got with the bowl back there, and she drinks honeyjack. So there's a plus. I bring her a bottle, we sit and sip some whiskey and drink some beer, and and uh, and and man, I just uh I've been blessed. I get to I get to do the hunting and fishing and and and I'm retired now, so I'm working in my garden every day. I've been out working today, and I just uh I love it outside. Um my wife tells me I gotta come in when the streetlights are on. She's like, come on, you gotta come in now, and I'm like, yeah, all right.
SPEAKER_00Well, and that's why all these audiences and crowds and that's what's that? I was gonna say, that's why everybody just loves you so much, Mike, because like you do all the normal stuff and you relate to the regular person that's from you know, they're in the middle of the nooks and crannies of America, they're coming to their bar, they probably spent their day out in the doing yard work and gardening. They pr they're going hunting and fishing on the weekends, and you come in and you throw down the gut pile, you throw down Couch Commander, you give them the Mike Marvell magic, and that reels them in.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I just I you know, I I I I I when I was working full time and I I was like uh I you know, I want to have fun. I don't I don't want my night job to be the same as my day job, you know, where I'm just like going to work and uh so I I just try to have fun. I mean I I call I say now for an introduction, he's more fun than a kegger in the woods. Basically what my show is, you know, it is you know, I'm gonna sing a little bit, I'm gonna drink a little bit, we're gonna have some fun, and uh and but I you know you don't want to offend anybody, you want to have a good time and different venues call for different styles and stuff like that. And and 30 years of comedy, I mean you you you kind of learn, okay, this is the way it's gotta be, you know, we gotta we gotta do it this way tonight. And uh but uh I'm at my best when I'm at one of your bar shows. I mean, you you set up some great venues, and the people are there to have fun, and I'm there to have fun, so uh it makes it so much easier for everybody.
SPEAKER_00That's something I learned from the late great Jim Wiggins, your good friend and mine, said a long time ago. He's like, Jaredog, you have fun, they'll have fun with you, you'll never have a bad show.
SPEAKER_01Michael Michael Motorcycle. That's right. Michael Michael Motorcycle. We're gonna have fun tonight, Michael.
SPEAKER_00And that guy was the original saloon comic. You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_01Yes.
SPEAKER_02Oh, yeah. Fun guy on stage and off stage.
SPEAKER_00That's right.
SPEAKER_02Hang out with him and listen to his stories and stuff. Oh my god.
SPEAKER_00And that's how you gotta be. I mean, i if if you're not having fun up there, you're right. Now it's just like a day job. What are you doing? It's gonna pick up, the audience is gonna detect that, and they're gonna tune out.
SPEAKER_02Right. Yeah, it's it for me, that's what I want to do. I want, I want it to be a party. I want it to be a kegger in the woods. I want, you know, and I uh, you know, I could tell when I'm going into a subject that somebody, you know, they don't want to hear about. I don't do anything political. I don't want to, I don't want to hear about politics. I don't care what side you're on. Yeah, and I really don't want to hear about religion. I'm not gonna make fun of religion because what you believe is what you believe, man. That's that's the basics of everything. So I just everything else, you know, my family and and that's just it. Most people can relate because in the Midwest or even any place across America, family is most important, you know. And and you got you got kids doing dumb things, and you've got me doing dumb things. And I learned a long time ago that uh when I when I first started, I would make fun of my wife, and and you could tell that women didn't like that, you know?
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And so I gave her a voice. I gave her a voice, like uh King of Queens or the honeymoon or something. Oh, sure. She's a little smarter than me. And she is smarter than me. I mean, uh so I don't pretend about it, you know. I mean, I just and she gives me some of the best lines. It's unbelievable. Uh she watches my show, she comes, we have fun, we go gambling, drinking, and we have a good time, you know. We've got to enjoy life. It's too short.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, what's your favorite casino to go gambling at up there in Wisconsin?
SPEAKER_02Um we like uh there's a little place, it's uh Carter Casino, Pottawa. I mean, we were just at Mole Lake. Uh I did a show up in Mole, uh not at Mole Lake Casino, but uh well, well, Bina for you. Oh yeah. And we stayed at the Mole Lake Casino because Carter was full. And uh we had a blast. She was winning, I was losing. I took a half a edible, and I was happy as shit, you know. I mean, I was like, hey.
SPEAKER_00I love that. My wife and I will go play craps together. We do the bubble craps where you all where there's the everybody shares the same in the middle. And it's great. If she's winning and I'm losing, we still wind up breaking even.
SPEAKER_02Right, right. That's usually what happens with us. One of us will be winning and the other one won't, and and she'll be like, Well, I'm going to bed, and I'm on a roll. I'm on an eater. I can't leave.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Meanwhile, we're still drinking for free.
SPEAKER_02Right, right. Yeah, there's so many nice casinos, and and they're a lot of fun, you know. I mean, as long as you don't abuse anything, you know, any everything is fun as long as you don't go crazy with it.
SPEAKER_00But uh, yeah.
SPEAKER_02So what's your favorite casino down there?
SPEAKER_00Well, you know, uh, we right now we like Resorts World here in Las Vegas because they've got that bubble craps machine I told you about. It's a one dollar minimum. So that's right up my alley. You know, I'm not I'm not a high roller. I can sometimes be high.
SPEAKER_01Oh, no.
SPEAKER_00But uh we ain't got no high rollers. And then they got this new thing, it's called a Zooks, and that's like a that'll that's a robot car, totally driverless car, and it'll take it'll pick you up at the casino and take you just about anywhere else you want to go on the strip, and it's free right now while they're doing a are you kidding me? No, it's it's freaking great, dude. So that's who we like to go right now. We like to go to places where it feels like sort of uh uh like a place you that we I might have gone to in Wisconsin or Michigan back in the day.
SPEAKER_02Right, right. Yeah, yeah, I'm I'm I'm not much for crowds. I don't like a crowded casino, and the some of the big ones are just so crazy. So we like the smaller ones, you know, and Alice likes to keep an eye on me, you know. So yeah.
SPEAKER_00And and with all the different types of venues you play at, you play at clubs, you do the bar gigs, you're like you're like me. You're practically built for the bar gigs, but you also do the churches and the nursing homes and the corporate events and all and all of that. Do you change up much of your act depending on what type of venue it's in? Or does the Mike Marvell experience pretty much fit into all of those?
SPEAKER_02You know, I've noticed, I mean, uh I'll start out a little different uh for for different events. And uh something I noticed, I've been like I I've been doing, like you mentioned, some uh senior centers, and uh I mean I'm 63 now, so I'm not too far from where they were, you know, and it's easy, easy to relate. And a lot of times they want to talk. I started doing a QA at the end of uh I set, and and that actually is more fun because they got questions and they want to know this and that. Who's your favorite comedian? Who do who do you like? And who did you grow up watching? And uh, you know.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02I got I'm my favorite comedians. I mean, there's so many, but I I kind of like the older comedians, you know. I mean, I love the Smothers brothers when I was a kid, and I still I can listen to them, I can put them on and and listen to them. And when Alice and I are out traveling, we'll go to uh Goodwill's and I'll look for old albums, Rusty Warren and Mom Maybley, and you know, I mean Jonathan Winters, these old albums, and they're just classics.
SPEAKER_00I've got two Steve Martin albums mounted on the wall right behind me. Wow. That's that's perfect. Yeah. And that's a hard one too, because he was so physical and he did props and everything, but somehow the comedy still works even in audio.
SPEAKER_02Right? A lot of people have these uh Goodwills. I mean, I've I read I just read Don Rickles uh book, and it's fantastic, the stories, the inside views, and stuff like that. And oh my god.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. Uh uh the Rickles book. I think it's actually called Rickles Book. Yeah, yeah. That guy, and those old school guys are so great too, because they came up with a time when like stand-up wasn't big yet. It wasn't like you know, in the late 70s, the 80s, those were the golden years we all hear all about. For me, the golden years is back when I could drive into Arthur, Wisconsin and do a uh three-night weekend.
SPEAKER_01Right, right.
SPEAKER_00But those guys came up, there wasn't even comedy clubs, really hadn't even been invented yet. You know what I mean? So they were going around wherever they could in these non-sanctioned places, and when I'm sending in uh my the Mike Marvell's, the Steve Tabos, the Derek Lunas, the Katrina Browns, the Larry Reeves, and they're bringing back that style of comedy in the sense that it's relatable, it's for the average person, it's off the beaten path, it's in a uh unusual place as opposed to the traditional sanctioned comedy club where everything is set up perfect. It's kind of a throwback to an old school way of doing comedy, like what Rickles or Dangerfield uh or uh guys like that might have done.
SPEAKER_02Absolutely, absolutely, and and you know what I thought of the other day, I mean, the we've got it so good with the GPS, it takes you right to where you're going. And I mean, when I first started, and you first started, you had uh you know mathbusters just coming out, you know, it was like crazy, and I mean you such a thing and you're like, okay, I'm right on time. You you know, when when I book a gig, okay, I'm gonna be there at this time because I I know that's what it's saying, unless something happens, you know.
SPEAKER_01I mean forbid.
SPEAKER_02But it's unbelievable. These uh can you imagine uh these old guys that some of these places that they went to comedy bunkers, some cramp way out in the woods, that here they are, here they are, you know, like oh my god, how do I you know Chr Chris Barnes does an old joke that I stopped and I asked the guy for directions, he must have been the dumbest guy because I said to him, uh, how do I get to Arthur? And the guy goes, Ma, well, my uncle usually takes me. Oh, you get married with I guess I'm waiting for your uncle. You know, yeah.
SPEAKER_00And that's where we go. And that's you know, it's a I think it takes a special type of comedian such as yourself to be able to go into a place like that fearlessly, by the way, and deliver the goods after you drove all day long. Some of these some of those places will freak people out a little bit. But I'm like, dude, I've done comedy on a flatbed truck in a cornfield before. You know, absolutely perfect for me. What uh any other words of wisdom? Pardon, I'm sorry, saying you're about to say something, but I didn't mean to cut you off.
SPEAKER_02No, I was just agreeing with you. You're absolutely right. I mean, some of the some of the gigs we've done, and and you look back and you're like, oh my god, this is crazy. And there I did a show in uh Racine, Wisconsin years ago, and there was two people there, and the owner's like, Well, you gotta do a show if you want to get paid.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02I'm like, okay, I'm fine, you know. They they want to talk, I'll talk.
SPEAKER_00So and and that's what they like. It's and that's what the most memorable part of it, I think it is. Even though there's two people, they will know that they have gotten a special show. Even if you do a lot of the same jokes that you might normally do, you create that intimate experience and they walk away feeling like they just saw something special.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you know, that's that's a thing, too. I mean, I really uh a lot of comics don't like when the audience is talking back to them and that as long as they're engaged with me and not talking to each other, it's fine because they they're they're experiencing something they're never gonna experience sitting at home watching TV. Oh, I like that guy. He's funny on TV. You come to my show or your show or Uncle Lair's show, you know, you're gonna get an experience. It's it's gonna be unbelievable, you know, because you're you're engaging with the audience and you're having fun. And I don't make fun of people and try to hurt feelings. I'm not uh, you know, uh Don Rickles or anything like that. But uh I you know I want them to have fun, I want them to be engaged, I want them to say, wow, I'm coming back. I gotta come back, you know, this is gonna be fun. And uh That's right.
SPEAKER_00All right, we got you coming up on the Pub and Grub Comedy Tour on July 10th in St. Germain, Wisconsin. That's your neck of the woods. They're gonna love you there at a place called called Keg Stand, and they were very clever with how they did their name because Keg is actually the initials that are put together. So that's a little double entendre there. They're gonna love you. Uh, and you're working with your family. Feature act is Chris Barrett that week. And then what else?
SPEAKER_02Chris is great. He is. Chris is fantastic.
SPEAKER_00And that's the other great thing about these bar shows. It's a great way for the up-and-coming comedians to cut their teeth a little bit, find out what this business is really all about, because it's not always going to be these perfect polished experiences you might have in a sanctioned comedy club that's got everything dialed in. You got to come in, you got to expect the unexpected. Absolutely. You ever worked with Jim Norder before?
SPEAKER_02I've never. I've heard his name around, and uh I've heard great things about about Jim.
SPEAKER_00He's another headliner, and he's going to be opening for you. Uh he's going to be in the area, and he's originally the Twin Cities. And uh July 18th in Balsam Lake at the Balsam Lake Lodge. It's going to be their first comedy night, so you guys are going to be popping their cherry. So that's going to be a good one.
SPEAKER_02Popping the shoes. What I'm about for saying, oh naughty. I used to work at the driving, you know.
SPEAKER_00That's like, is that like one of the most Wisconsin phrases? Don't you know?
SPEAKER_02Oh, yeah. Yeah. Don't you know? Or yeah, you betcha.
SPEAKER_01Okay, my.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you know, I mean, and that's that's the fun thing too. I I love that, you know, I'm in a work with a lot of openers and stuff that I would I would never know normally see. And you looked up such a business, man. This started because of COVID, right? I mean, you you came out with this, and you were like, I gotta do something. I gotta reinvent myself. I gotta reinvent comedy, as it were.
SPEAKER_00And you totally right. It was sort of a way to help get my friends and myself back in the game a little bit, like such as you, such as you, and uh, you know, Uncle Lair, Katrina, uh, other headliners that were that I done a lot of shows with that I consider good friends. I'm like, how can I help get everybody back uh in the swing of things, back in the game a little bit? And then we put this together because we always had some shows here or there that I would bring my bar show to, and then they would want to do more. And so we just we just ran with that, and then one thing led to another, and it just grew and grew and grew because I think people in the in small town America, they're miles and miles away from a regular comedy club, they don't necessarily want to drive that far and risk a DUI uh after paying sixteen dollars for a bottle of domestic beer. And so I think that there really is the a hunger for it. And if you're the type of comedian such as yourself and those that we talked about earlier, and you can go in and relate to them and give them what they want and leave them wanting more, they're they'll keep coming back over and over and over again. They don't want to burn it out, like you said, even back in the day. Plattville did once a month, and it was the perfect rotation. And so there's a formula to all this, it's gonna be a little bit different everywhere. And it takes just the right special type of comedian to be able to deliver the goods. You're one of them, Mike Mark, Mike, my friend Mike Marvell.
SPEAKER_02Thank you, man. Thank you. It's always a pleasure talking to you. And uh, man, I hope we can work together sometime. So are you out on the road at all?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I do I've it's gonna be real hard to get me out of Las Vegas. But I do uh I just got back off of a three-week run in May. I did Florida and Georgia and South Carolina, uh, and then I also go around traveling with the World Series of Comedy. And okay. Uh, but yeah, we that would be so much fun. You know, we could look at like next fall and we put together like a Jared Dog and Mike Marvell party hour, happy hour, party hour, comedy hour kind of thing. You know, we've got to go that's good with a blast. Yeah, because we're we're similar enough that it would be that it would work, but we're different enough that it does it's not just the same thing all night.
SPEAKER_02No, yeah, that that man, I would love that. That would be a blast. Do a little tour. That would be that would be fun.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, now now you got me thinking. Yeah. Nice. All right. Well, thanks, Michael. You're the thinker.
SPEAKER_02If you're the thinker, I'm the drinker.
SPEAKER_00So all right. Yeah, yeah, we'll we'll see. Maybe we'll both be the drinkers when I I get into it I can't I don't know if I can anymore. You know, I I used to go hard, and then I realized you know, I'd go home on Mondays, my liver's screaming, I'd have to be a kale drinking mofo just to be able to handle going out on the like a drinking kale and blackberry smoothies.
SPEAKER_02Mine left a note for me on the pillow one day. He's like, I'm leaving if you're gonna keep this up. I'm like, all right, liver, all right, I'll keep you.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you know you're an alcoholic when your liver's writing you a dear John letter. Right. All right, buddy. Uh virtual round of applause, Mike Morvell. There it is. Thanks, Mike. I appreciate it. And we'll talk to you soon, buddy.
SPEAKER_01God bless you, buddy. You too.
