Rory Scovel’s ‘Last Tour’ at Turner Hall

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Photo: Rory Scovel - Facebook

Rory Scovel

Rory Scovel

While describing what he gained from studying improv in his fledgling days as a stand-up comic, Rory Scovel says, “I greatly benefitted in my stand-up from so many things I learned in improv.  Mostly being how to remain calm and trust that funny will come if you keep moving forward.  Faith, really. I guess. It teaches you to have faith that you are funny.”  

Scovel is plenty funny and has gone to unusual measures to proven himself amusing in the past. For what he is deeming “The Last Tour” which hits Turner Hall Ballroom for a 7 p.m. performance on Friday July 21, he will offer what he describes as “more someone talking about being a husband and father. Lots of sex jokes and yes, many jokes about religion.” About that last subject's attraction to him as comedic fodder, he offers, “I’m fascinated by what religion is and how it makes people think and interpret their reality.  It really tries to inform people of everyone’s reality. I think people's commitment to it makes it a space that is always relevant to everyone for discussion.”

Worth discussing as well is Scovel’s history of expanding the boundaries of what comedians do and what audiences can expect of the funny folk who amuse them. He is, after all, a comic who has performed the same material in different ethnic character accents (“It creates a whole new performance with the exact same words and jokes”). More daringly, in 2018 he headlined five consecutive shows at an Atlanta venue where he completely extemporized every night. The latter experiment, captured in the documentary Live Without Fear, arrived at a time Scovel was on the cusp of his breakout into wider recognition among comedy lovers.  

Soul Searching

That was, alas, before, COVID-19 and its attendant lockdowns. The ensuing temporary cessation of nightlife afforded Scovel a season of soul-searching whereby he ruminated on his hunger for greater fame. 

“I think it’s been an awakening in a way of what’s important and what I envisioned my career to be. I think I am really good at stand-up, but I know I lack a certain level of work ethic to really go for it, I guess,” Scovel admits. And though venues he would play have reopened and masks are no longer mandatory, “Things are different now. They feel different. People are different. The joy of performance has changed. Entertainment on a whole has changed.  It’s hard to motivate myself the way I once could when I was more naive to the business of entertainment.”

Despairing as Scovel's assessment may read,  he obviously hasn’t abandoned show business. Apart from his current tour, he has kept occupied and employed with his role on Apple TV+’s dramedy series set amid the 1980s aerobic exercise craze, “Physical.”

“I play Danny Rubin, the husband of Sheila Rubin, a man going through an identity crisis of his own as he confronts his youthful ego,” Scovel shares of the character married to the drama’s conflicted leading lady. “Basically, I was able to easily relate to this guy because I feel like, in many ways, I am in a constant state of confronting who my younger ego wanted me to be.” Working on “Physical” has whetted Scovel’s appetite for more time on soundstages. “I’d like to do more dramatic acting like I was able to do at moments in “Physical.” It’s a fun space that I don’t ever get to be in. I’d really love more of it.”

While “Physical’s” third season premieres in early August, Scovel is committed to his Last Tour at least until mid-November. But will this really be his final stand-up stint? Perhaps if he’s following one singer’s lead. Of his itinerary, she says, “The title is more dramatic but also a reference towards everything sort of coming to an end in 2020. Also, Elton John has been on his Last Tour for five years now. I may just be retiring at an Elton John pace.”

Here's hoping Scovel doesn’t give up on the artistry that has made him such an innovator until he makes good on this G-rated challenge he has given himself: “I don't know when I’ll try but I’d like to try and write and perform and tour a completely clean hour.” 

From a set in Nashville shortly before the pandemic, native South Carolinian Scovel speaks of Southerners’ pride in their biscuits, segueing into an observation on how an item on KFC’s menu is more of a shame ...