The Mountain Times Jan 22, 2011

We leave this interview up because it was my misquoted one of all times… but we loved it… it’s all about the CHEESE

Triple laugh act comes to Boone

Published: 12:28 PM, 01/20/2011
Last updated: 12:30 PM, 01/20/2011

by Lauren K. Ohnesorge

lauren@mountaintimes.com

Flex your funny bone for a night of laughs at the Boone Saloon.

On Jan. 26, music takes a back seat at as “Mirth A.D., Standup and Burlesque” hits the stage. The show features comedic stylings of Adam Allred and Alex Stone, along with a burlesque show from Greensboro-based Purrlesque. We’ve got the skinny on all the mirth; you’ve just got to come up with the $5 cover charge.

Adam Allred

Lexington-based comic Adam Allred fell into the stand-up routine in 2003 at an open mic night.
“I guess I’m just sick,” he laughed. “Sick in the head. I don’t know. I don’t know why anyone gets into it. It just happens.”

From that first laugh (“I made a comment about the lights being bright, and I’m a bigger guy, and I asked if the lights made me look fat,” he said), he was hooked.

He’s been fighting for the laughs ever since, even opening last year for comic Tom Simmons in Greensboro.

“It’s the addiction,” he said. “There’s no better feeling than getting that laugh.”

And laughs are what Allred’s all about, in spite of the consequences.

“One of the most embarrassing parts of doing stand-up comedy is being recognized by people,” he said. “Like, I was in McDonald’s the other day and this guy comes up to me and he says, ‘Hey, you do standup, don’t you,’ and I said, ‘Thanks for noticing,” and he said, ‘Sure,’ then he said, ‘I’ll have the No. 4 with no mayonnaise.’”

Is he kidding? Hard to tell. But with a crisp southern wit, it’s easy to tell why Allred gets those laughs.

Alex Stone

Winston-Salem-based comic Alex Stone’s been making laughs for about four years and shares his hilarity throughout the South.

What started with an open mic night has turned into a career for Stone, who has opened for comic Tom Simmons among others.

How does he get his inspiration?

“Honestly, I have no idea,” he said. “I have bizarre and off the wall kind of humor … it’s kind of nonsense.”

And it’s full of one-liners, liners like, “You think a pyromaniac that goes to hell, his first thought is, ‘Jackpot.’”

“A lot of dumb stuff,” he laughed.

But it’s dumb stuff to laugh about, everything from the “bums” in Winston-Salem to observations about life in general.

“I’m a very odd person, so my humor comes from that,” he said.

And he can’t wait to return to Boone to share the laughs all over again.

Purrrlesque

Think sequins. Fringe. Feathers. And, of course, skin.

Add in a feline-esque yowl, and you’ve got Greensboro-based performance troupe, Purrrlesque.
“It’s the art of cheese,” spokescat Tiger Roxxx, aka Sky Bradshaw, said. “Shows might be comedic, alluring … we use our bodies, tease the audience with fine costumes and jewelry.”

And it’s all about the tease as the cats “peel off some clothing, just enough to allure.”

Don’t get the wrong idea. You won’t find a stripper pole. But you will find empowerment, Bradshaw said.

“We really look at our bodies as something that we cherish and respect and hold highest,” she said.
“Your body is your temple, and if I feel good enough about my body to stand in the middle of a crowd and say I am so beautiful that I want to tell you a story with my body … then there’s nothing shameful about that at all.”

And expect to laugh.

“The theme of it is a darker burlesque where we’re going to do a lot of satire and comedy in the show,” she said.

We don’t want to give too much away, but expect an arresting evening.

The show starts at the Boone Saloon (489 W. King St.) at 10 p.m. Jan. 26. Expect a $5 cover charge.