The following column is the opinion and analysis of the writer.
Standing at my front door, my bespectacled buddy, Wolf Brown, resembles a cross between a Samoan fullback and Harry Potter. “It’s OK. I get it. People aren’t used to seeing a well-dressed Native American unless he’s standing on the other side of a blackjack table.”
When he isn’t managing all the banquets for three Gila River Indian Tribe casinos, Wolf, age 38, is a rising star on the comedy circuit. Describing himself as “Pima and Papago,” Wolf is known for his trademark bow ties. Such a dapper dude, on stage, and at work.
“I tie them myself.”
Nerd.
Wolf is from Bapchule, on the Gila River Indian Community, south of Phoenix.
Recently Wolf dropped by after a very long week on the road.
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Wednesday: Wolf headlined the “Native Tribal Brothers” show.
Thursday: Wolf killed at the Casey Jones Grill comedy night in Phoenix.
Friday: Wolf wowed a Native audience in Flagstaff.
Saturday: Wolf headlined at the Elks Theater in Prescott.
And on Sunday he was killing it on my back porch.
In the midst of all of this, Wolf makes time to be a loving dad to three beautiful kids, Harmony, age 5; Melody, age 10; and Lloyd, age 11. Wolf briefly gave up his comedy career to care for his beloved Harmony until her spinal muscular atrophy was under control.
Wolf is a kind, philosophically thoughtful man. “I’m a stoic.”
“Yeah,” I said, “you’re a regular Sitting Buddha.”
Wolf’s laugh is a musical chuckle loaded with contagious mirth and mischief.
“Were you funny as a kid?” I asked.
“I was constantly roasted.” Crack your head open and you’ll get ridiculed back to health. “I was a gifted student, teased for reading all the time. I was called an ‘apple.’” Red outside. White inside. “Socially awkward as a kid, I always felt different.”
Wolf artfully bridged those worlds with humor.
“Is your name really Wolf?”
No answer. Just a mischievous smile.
“Hardest thing about comedy?”
“Learning to make eye contact. On the Rez you never look someone in the eye unless you’re bulldogging for a fight.”
Felipe Esparza, a popular Latino comedian, gave Wolf his start. “Esparza told me, ‘Go and do comedy for a year. Do that and you can open for me.’ So I did comedy for a year. Felipe was true to his word. I opened for him. It was amazing!”
“I’m Gila Indian. Back then I called myself ‘The Gilarious Wolf’. Get it? So funny I Pima pants.”
Wolf is a prolific joke writer. He showed me his briefcase stuffed with notebooks, filled with artfully constructed jokes. “When I thought about doing comedy I asked my white friends what they knew about Indians. They said, ‘Geronimo … wagon burners … bows and arrows. What do I know about arrows? I worked at Target for a year.”
Wagon burners?
The first native comic who inspired Wolf was Charlie Hill. Iroquois. Sharp. Raw. Biting. Richard Pryor gave Hill a break in 1977 and put him on his show. We YouTubed Charlie Hill.
You should too.
Wolf showed me a video of his recent club performance. The audience howled with laughter at the big man in the bow tie.
The ideas for bits come easy. “I’ll be working in my suit and tie and a tourist will ask me, ‘Do you live in a tepee? Where is your long hair? What is your spirit animal?’”
“Really? People say that to you?” I pause. “So, ‘Wolf’, what’s my spirit animal?”
He unfurls his middle finger at me. “Bird.”
Oh snap. Writing jokes is as easy as tying a bow tie for Wolf.
“Bugs Bunny is 75. When I asked him, “What’s up, Doc?” he said, “My blood pressure.”
“Last week I binge-watched ‘Walking Dead’. Gunshots, abandoned cars, windows boarded up, the walking dead staggering home after a rough night out. I see that every day on the Rez.”
“I told my grandmother, ‘I’m sick, Grandma.’ She said, ‘Go see your uncle. He’s a medicine man.’ So I went to the Walgreens where he works.”
Last fall my friend, Dave Membrila, and I enjoyed an afternoon joking about the stereotypes we saw growing up here. Dave’s a middle school teacher, a comedian and a recovering mariachi. By the time we stopped laughing Dave and I had created my next Arroyo Cafe Radio Show, “Viva Tucson!” which will be performed March 8 at 2 p.m. at the historic El Casino Ballroom.
More than a fundraiser to honor the educator who nurtured mariachi music in Tucson, Dr. Alfredo Valenzuela, it’s a politically incorrect celebration of our borderlands heritage. Along with Mariachi Patron, The Festival band, Viva Dance, and plenty of celebrities, Wolf Brown will be joining us, bringing his wonderful humor to Tucson. All the way from Sacaton. Bow tie and all.
