Photo: Greg Warren
Greg Warren - Creamy and Cruncy Tour
The reason comedian Greg Warren would entitle his current schedule of performance dates for the consistency of peanut butter? It derives from his work prior to making people laugh for his pay.
“I sold Jif for 10 years,” Warren says of his previous position with Jif producer Procter & Gamble (P&G), and, thusly, his Creamy and Crunchy Tour, which comes to The Northern Lights Theater in Potawatomi Hotel & Casino (1721 W. Canal St.) for 7 and 9 p.m. shows on Saturday, Sept. 24. He elucidates on the choice for his tour’s name and his continuing preference for the product of his former employer.
“I am a fierce loyalist.” Of the division he may foment in a potential culinary skirmish, he adds, “Peanut butter is a rich topic. Most Americans have an opinion. Am I talking on a controversial subject? Sure. But I believe I am uniquely qualified for it.” Warren is similarly qualified to incite guffaws from audiences with his often-self-deprecating autobiographical observations, often served with the low-level agitation of fellow Midwestern comedic forebears such as Shelley Berman and Bob Newhart.
“Bob Newhart is one of my favorites. I hope I don't emulate him too much,” the St. Louis native enthuses about the Chicagoan he admires (and no, whatever Warren has gleaned from Newhart isn't at all overbearing). The two comics share pasts in the world of corporate business before finding their footing in comedic artistry; and Warren is open about how his stint at P&G has benefitted his current work, apart from providing him grist for his next special, for which his Northern Lights shows are pre-recording run-throughs.
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Getting Across
“I think P&G gave me a lot. I called on grocery managers. They usually had no desire to speak with me. So, I had about 30 seconds to get my point across. Joke writing is somewhat similar,” Warren shares in regard to the brevity he has had to master in his previous and current endeavors.
Long before his position at the Cincinnati corporation responsible for so many products found on grocery store shelves, however, Warren's sense of humor was honed in, of all fields, athletics.
“Wrestling practice is brutal, especially in college,” the former grappler recalls. “I think I used humor to distract myself from the impending doom of getting beat on for two hours every afternoon. I can remember trying to make my buddies laugh on the way to practice or in the training room. I think humor also made me temporarily consider that maybe success in a wrestling match was not the only thing in the world.” Warren betrays his continuing interest in the sport by mentioning that while he answers my email interview questions, Gold Medal 2012 U.S. Olympian wrestler Jorgan Burroughs has won his seventh World Championship in Belgrade. “I’m very proud!” declares a patriotic Warren.
His own experience in the ring may have prepared Warren some for the different kind of stress associated with stand-up dates for corporate crowds. “Comedy clubs are perfect for comedy: good lighting, good sound, people seated close together in the dark.” As for how business setting differs, he offers. “It’s a little more challenging: 8 a.m. show in a bright Holiday Inn conference room with no introduction, people on their cell phones and only half paying attention.” One reward for Warren in such settings is defying attendees’ expectations. “It is pretty fun to see people enjoying themselves when they probably expected to be bored.”
Boredom should be the last thing those who come to see Warren at Northern Lights should experience. The headliner himself will be glad to be in Milwaukee. “I don’t get to come to Milwaukee very often. I love it there. The venue at Potawatomi is really fun.” But the sport at which he once excelled remains on his mind here, too. “My friends Ben Askren and Max Askren run a top wrestling academy in Milwaukee. I hope I get to see them when I’m in town.”
Here Warren riffs on another of the sports in which he has participated, though arguably minus the fervor he had for
wrestling ...
