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Article: Shtick Man of the Sea; The life and many, many deaths of a cruise ship comedian
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- June 3, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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THE BINGO GAME IS RUNNING LATE. That's bad news for the cruise
ship comedian, who has grown accustomed to bad news. So he waits
backstage. And he thinks. And he knows that slumping among the
sunburned, bloated, hung-over, medicated, gaping and occasionally
dozing vacationers he needs to make laugh tonight, there will be
knots of resentful bingo losers. Some won't even speak English. Tough
crowd. Here's something tougher: He considers himself a painstaking
craftsman, someone who detests cheap gags, and his audience loves
cruise ship toilet jokes.
He looks about 32, but is older. He's the youngest comedian
working the cruise lines and would rather his age not be revealed. He
tries not to ...