Photo via Jeanie Doogan
Some stand-up comics radiate such stage presence that their transition from the comedy club stage to television and movie soundstages seem like a foregone conclusion. Chicago’s Jeanie Doogan could easily be among those humorous polymaths; but she’s fine with remaining in the lane she has already chosen.
“I just want to stand up,” Doogan declares. “Honestly, I have no other ambitions other than getting the chance to tour the world and do this for as long people want me to. I love the art of stand-up comedy." She brings her practice of the art she loves to The Laughing Tap (706B S. Fifth St.; 885-0129) for 8 p.m. shows on Friday March 19 and Saturday March 20.
Doogan recalls being the junior member of her parents’ brood of eight children, “Being the youngest in a big family meant there wasn't always enough attention to go around, so sometimes we had to compete. I found I could make people laugh whether I was doing an impression from ‘Saturday Night Live’-Ed Grimley and Jon Lovitz’s liar guy were my specialties-or doing a dumb dance, so that got me attention. Though sometimes I just got told to ‘knock it off,’ too.” She adds, “I will say Joan Rivers, Lucille Ball, Johnny Carson and Carol Burnette were often on my parents’ TV growing up, so they were definitely early inspirations.”
Teaching High School
Though she never lost the sense of humor that forms the basis for her current career, she had to temper it in her former profession as a high school teacher. “Teaching in general is a gold mine for comedy,” Doogan says, “but, no, I never practiced my comedy on them. I’m sure most of my students thought I was painfully unfunny and boring like most adults.” Another aspect of her life other than keeping nonplussed teenagers in line adds a dimension at least as resonant to Doogan’s humor: her recovery from alcoholism.
Stay on top of the news of the day
Subscribe to our free, daily e-newsletter to get Milwaukee's latest local news, restaurants, music, arts and entertainment and events delivered right to your inbox every weekday, plus a bonus Week in Review email on Saturdays.
“There is some exaggeration in my comedy about my drinking, but my relationship with alcohol is better left to a long distance one. The more distance between me and drinking, the better my choices and overall health is, which I know is true for a lot of people,” she says Making light of that dire chapter of her life has proven therapeutic for some of her audience. On being beneficial to her listeners who have experience with the same affliction, Doogan remarks, “When I started to talk about my experience with sobriety, people would come up to me after shows and thank me or want to talk about their experience, so it made me see the importance in being honest about it, and, like most things in life, find the humor in it.”
A more pleasant aspect of Doogan’s current life that makes her laugh is her marriage. but it’s in a good way! Proving that like attracts like as much as opposites can attract, she says of her other half, “My husband is very funny. He has a very dry sense of humor and it’s one of the things I most love about him. We’[re both actually pretty serious people by nature. but we enjoy much of the same dark, quirky humor. People always ask him how it is to have a wife who is a comedian and his standard response is, ‘Oh it’s great. Jokes all day.’”
Zoom It!
Over the past year of COVID-19, Doogan's life partner has not been the only recipient of her humor. The wonders of online teleconferencing kept her employed as the world battled the coronavirus. But it took some adjustment on her part, too.
“I have done and enjoyed most Zoom shows I’ve done this past year,” she declares. “I think I’ve done close to 90 shows ranging from corporate events to private birthday parties.” As for the learning curve in making them work for her, Doogan offers, “At first it was very difficult and uncomfortable to adjust, but once I got the logistics down. I found that it was really easy to make it work.” Accommodating technology even has an impact on the delivery of her shtick, “I tend to adjust my timing in the way that I won't let a joke ‘sit’ as long, which can affect the punchline. And I choose shorter bits rather than long ones for virtual sets, but really, it's still stand up. I’m delivering material I wrote and connecting to an audience with it. If they have their cameras on, which they usually do, I can still engage in crowd work and see/hear the laughter.”
There is still nothing quite like the in-person interaction between comedian and audience, though. With that in mind, Doogan beams, “I’m glad live stand-up is returning, As long as we can do it safely with common sense.” As for encouraging comedy lovers to partake of her artistry at The Laughing Tap, she beckons. “You will laugh! You will have a good time, and we could all use that in our life. Plus, if they don't want to wear pants—gross, remember those?—they can live stream it from their couch!”
Here Doogan is plumbing her drinking trouble for some hearty guffaws:
|
|
