Before they became the stars they are now
Some of the well-known comedians who graced the Laffs Comedy Caffé stage
George Lopez
Back when: Owner Scotty Goff says it was 1996 and "he wasn't that George Lopez at the time. It was George Lopez before that meteoric rise." Now: Lopez's namesake ABC sitcom, which just wrapped up its sixth season, was canceled earlier this month. Lopez will spend the next several months on the road with "America's Mexican," his latest show that focuses on the impact Hispanics have on everything in America. The tour stops at Tucson Arena June 8.
David Spade
Back when: Laffs founder Gary Bynum said Spade headlined sometime in late 1996, just before Spade got his NBC sitcom, "Just Shoot Me." "He was just getting back into stand-up and he had been on 'Saturday Night Live' and he hadn't done stand-up in a while," Bynum recalled. ". . . He couldn't remember all his jokes, so he had to take crib sheets on stage." Now: Spade appeared in the CBS midseason sitcom "Rules of Engagement."
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Jerry Seinfeld
Back when: Months after his 1989 Laffs appearance, NBC aired "Seinfeld Chronicles," the pilot episode for the NBC series "Seinfeld." He made $5,000 for four shows at Laffs. Today, Bynum quipped, "He won't even take a phone call for $5,000." Now: Seinfeld tours with his stand-up routine.
Robin Williams
Back when: It was 1992 or '93 — Bynum isn't sure exactly — when Williams, a TV legend from "Mork & Mindy," popped in unannounced and asked to go on stage. "He did 45 minutes and rocked the house." Now: The comic actor has two movies due out this year, including the comedy "License to Wed,"coming July 4.
Tim Allen
Back when: Sometime in 1990 or early 1991, Allen was sitting at the bar at Laffs, waiting to go on stage, when he confided in Bynum's brother that " 'something's going to happy. I can feel it. Something's getting ready to pop,' " Bynum recalled. "Within four months, 'Home Improvement' was picked up." Now: Allen's most recent movie, "Wild Hogs," with John Travolta and Martin Lawrence, came out in March.
Others who have stood on the Laffs stage: Ellen DeGeneres, David Brenner, Paul Rodriguez, Brett Butler, Kevin Pollak, Pablo Francisco, George Gray, Dennis MIller, Dana Carvey, Louie Anderson, Tommy Chong, Pat Paulsen, Paula Poundstone and Phyllis Diller.
Goff hasn't begun planning the celebration yet, but he knows that any thoughts of bringing back guys like Lopez are probably pipe dreams.
Funny folks like Lopez, who brings his "America's Mexican" show to the Tucson Arena June 8, have outgrown Goff's little club.
"We get them as rising stars, we get them as falling stars," said Goff, who has been a stand-up comedian himself since 1995. "That's our niche, and we're absolutely OK with that."
Bynum opened Laffs here in 1988, about a year after he launched the original Laffs in Albuquerque.
Bynum is not a comic, but he has a funny story. He was a clinical social worker with a master's degree, working with the military in Bremerton, Wash., when his brother-in-law called him and suggested they open a comedy club together. He had never really been in a comedy club. He was 39 years old, married, with a 7-year-old son and a 3-week-old son. He had $35,000 in savings.
"Oh, what the hell, let's open a comedy club" was his response.
He took that nest egg and borrowed another $10,000 from his family. He sold his car. He built the club from the ground up, and he almost lost his shirt.
He opened the doors, and the folks came. The comedians came. The bills got paid. Life was good.
Oh, what the heck, let's open another one.
He came to Tucson, where he had visited as a child. He liked it. He found space in a strip mall on Broadway just west of El Con Mall. He signed the lease on Oct. 19, 1987, Black Monday, when the world markets crashed.
Comedy and entertainment seem to thrive on disaster. Whenever we feel our lowest, we need a good joke. Bynum discovered his timing was perfect.
Goff had heard about Tucson's Laffs. He was a school administrator in his early 20s, the youngest in the Albuquerque school system, when he got up on the Albuquerque Laffs stage on amateur night. He then started doing comedy on weekends and school breaks.
Bynum invited him to open a show at his Tucson Laffs. It was Goff's first show on the road.
"Everybody used to tell me, 'Oh, Tucson's hipper. The crowds are hipper.' We still say that. We don't quite know what that means, but we say it," he recalled.
That window that separates the bar from the showroom was the first thing that struck Goff, now 44. He could see his reflection from the stage. He noticed that he paced too much, so he adjusted his act.
It turns out Goff was walking on a stage that he would soon own. In 1996, Bynum decided to get out of the comedy club business. He sold the New Mexico club and offered Goff the chance to buy the Tucson club.
Nine years later, Goff was roasted by his loyal and very funny staff. They didn't wait until year 10, Goff said, because they didn't think Goff would make it that long.
Tim Allen was honing his tool-man bit around 1990 when he played Laffs. While he was on stage snorting and grunting lustfully over cars and drill bits, his manager, Rick Messina, sat at the bar and predicted aloud that Allen would be the next big thing in comedy.
"He was at the bar, explaining how he was going to make this guy a multimillionaire of a success. I was watching it happen," Tucson native Pablo Francisco recounted.
Francisco was honing his own comedy career, which he had launched on that same stage at a Tuesday amateur night in 1988.
He was 19 years old, attended Pima Community College's West Campus and worked part time for Domino's Pizza on East 22nd Street and South Country Club Road.
He had five minutes. He doesn't remember how loud people laughed. He can't recall the jokes he told.
But he remembers the high, the exhilaration of that laughter coming back at him as he stood against that brick facade.
"I went up and did my thing . . . and from that point on I kept going every Tuesday," said Francisco, who now commands big-league fees for his stand-up. He has made a name for himself for his celebrity impersonations and a routine centered on the deep, dramatic voice you hear on movie previews: "In the city, you must fight to survive. He sold tortillas on the corner and the mob wanted in. . . . He had one chance, and his chance was to fight back. Arnold Schwarzenegger this summer is 'Little Tortilla Boy.' "
Bynum remembers when David Spade paced his office when Spade played Laffs in 1996. Spade was just getting back into stand-up after his run on "Saturday Night Live."
"He's walking around the office and he said, 'You know, I remember this club. I remember when I worked here,' " Bynum recalled. "And he looked at me and he said, 'When did I headline here?' 'David, you've never headlined. You middled here.' "
In fact, Rob Schneider, another SNL alum, also middled at Laffs — that's akin to the opening act just before the headliner and right after the warm-up. Bynum said he paid them each $400 a week.
"That night (Spade) was making $10,000 for two shows," he said.
Bynum paid Seinfeld less than Spade for his Laffs turn: $5,000.
"Seinfeld gets hundreds of thousands of dollars for an appearance now," Bynum quipped. "He won't even take a phone call for $5,000. He's rich."
A few Laffs memories:
Pablo Francisco, 38 did his first-ever stand-up at Laffs, on an amateur Tuesday in 1988. "Gary Bynum owned the club, and he was bringing in fantastic headliners left and right. Tim Allen came in when he was just starting the tool thing. It was explosive. It was so much fun."
Scotty Goff, 44, played his first-ever road show at Laffs. He now owns the club. "We're not gonna change it. If you want corporate, fancy and flashy, we're not for you. We're still mom-and-pop. We're funky. We're old and run-down, and I'm kinda proud of that. . . . The amount of comedy that's been written at our bar. It's a special place. . . . Those are hallowed halls."
Phyllis Diller, 89, doesn't really remember when she played Laffs Comedy Caffé; it was around 1991. But she remembers that Gary Bynum and his wife, Denise, were very nice to her. "I remember they were darling, darling young people. With a beautiful home. They took me there. I remember them kindly." Diller will be back in town on Sunday, meeting with people who have bought her original artwork at Downtown's Ode Gallery.
Here are some of the live comedy shows coming our way:
Stand-up Sundays, Top Hat Theatre Club, 3110 E. Fort Lowell Road, 326-6800: Stand-up comedy on the first Sunday of each month, through Oct. 7. Acts TBA.
George Lopez, June 8, Tucson Arena, 260 S. Church Ave., 321-1000.
Alonzo Bodden, July 6, Rialto Theatre, 318 E. Congress St. 740-1000.
Lisa Lampanelli, Aug. 17, Fox Theatre, 17 W. Congress St., 624-1515.
Bill Cosby, Oct. 21, Casino del Sol's AVA, 5655 W. Valencia Road, 321-1000.
The Smothers Brothers, Oct. 22-23, DesertView Performing Arts Center, 38759 S. Mountain View Blvd., SaddleBrooke, 818-1000.
Comedy on the road
Best Damn Comedy Jamn 11 with Slick Rick, June 1, Celebrity Theatre, Phoenix.
Kathy Griffin, June 16, Dodge Theatre, Phoenix.
Larry the Cable Guy, Oct. 13, US Airways Center, Phoenix.
