Tucson native Craig Gass will perform at Laffs Comedy Caffé this weekend, which might not sound like such a big deal.
But for Gass, it’s a milestone.
Forget that he’s on TV — he appeared on HBO’s “Sex in the City” and does voice work for Fox’s animated series “Family Guy,” “American Dad” and “The Cleveland Show.” Never mind that he’s headlined comedy clubs nationwide. Don’t even consider that he’s been on Howard Stern, is being wooed (he says) to join the cast of “Saturday Night Live.”
None of that matters to the 40-year-old former Amphi High student who is a half credit shy of graduating. Standing on Laffs stage for four shows this weekend will be a moment of redemption 20 years in the making.
“It’s a big deal for me because it’s the first place that I’ve ever stood on stage,” Gass explained in a phone call from a Seattle Mariners spring training game in Surprise, outside Peoria, last week.
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“It was a defining moment for me because that is the stage that I walked off and I was so frightened that I couldn’t think of anything to say.”
Rewind 20 years ago April: Gass, who didn’t even consider comedy as a vocation, took the plunge and jumped on Laffs stage during amateur night. He thought he was all that and a bag a laughs. Until the spotlight shined on him and he coughed up the dreaded words of defeat: “I can’t do this.” Counting the time it took to introduce him, he was onstage maybe 30 seconds.
He’s been back on that stage only once since — on a Sunday night eight years ago. He was billed as a special show; the club normally is closed Sundays.
He has tried to return as a headliner, but the former club owner had no interest in Gass, no matter how bright his star was shining. So Gass took his classic impressions of Al Pacino, Christopher Walken and the late Sam Kinison to the Rialto Theatre.
“That room, that stage, is specifically the reason I’m in comedy and I’ve never been allowed to come back to it, to do my own show,” he said.
“So this really is huge. … To be able to come back, this is a major personal accomplishment. I feel like this is a bigger accomplishment than honestly anything else I’ve done. To be able to get back on that stage that has been so prohibitive — I couldn’t touch it. And it bummed me out. I’ve always wanted to come back and share it with my friends, and I’ve never been able to.”
He plans to take out some of his angst against that former owner, and he has a word or two for the guys who ridiculed him mercilessly from the stage that amateur night 20 years ago.
But Gass is not expected to run out this weekend.
“Ultimately it’s about the fact that you can always overcome everything,” he said, then added with a sarcastic wink: “But that would be funny if I got stage fright. Then all those people on stage would be like, ‘Why you here man? That sucked!'"
If you go
• What: Comedian Craig Gass in concert.
• Where: Laffs Comedy Caffé, 2900 E. Broadway.
• When: 8 and 10:30 p.m. Friday, 7 and 9:30 p.m. Saturday.
• Tickets: $15 and $20.
• Online: www.myspace.com/craiggass
