Live, from Peoria, Illinois, it’s Saturday Night starring this week’s host, the Jukebox Comedy Club with special guest star, Emo Philips and featuring The Ready For Prime Beef Player, Marty Wombacher. And now, from all the way down on Farmington Road next to a strip club, please welcome, the Jukebox Comedy Club!
Off we go to the Jukebox Comedy Club and my friend and driver for the evening, Clare refuses to look at the camera. She’s terribly stubborn this way, so let’s just keep moving along while singing a song!
Here we are at the Jukebox Comedy Club. Looks like the first show is over and people are smoking and hanging out in the parking lot.
This is the inside of Peoria’s premiere comedy club. I love the Cheap Trick tiled floors in here...
And the front of the bar which features two of Peoria’s most legendary comedians, Richard Pryor and Sam Kinison.
There’s not one, but two pretty bartenders on duty tonight, Morgan and Michelle.
And here’s the owner of the Jukebox Comedy Club, Dan Conlin! Dan and I have known each other since way back in the day when he was a radio broadcaster at WWCT and I used to worm my way on to his show! Great to see him again!
Jeff and Matt are two local comedians who appear at Jukebox frequently. In fact Matt’s on the bill tonight, opening up for Emo and we’ll see him on stage soon. Just keep on scrolling and you’ll see I’m not lying!
I ran into Sarah Marie Dillard, who’s not only a friend, but an upstairs neighbor! Great to see her outside of the MBIP Wold Headquarters Building!
Okay, here we are inside the club’s show room. It’s just about showtime and we need to find our table.
The table has been found and here’s the top of it.
And Clare...she still refuses to be photographed! What are you going to do?
Here’s Dan warming up the crowd and explaining the rules, one of which is no photos while the show is going on...
And here’s the host of tonight’s show, Dave and me breaking the rules by taking a photo of him on stage. I did keep the flash off so as not to be a total asshole! Hey, I need to document the night for all of you, so sometimes rules have to be bent!
I told you Matt would be onstage and here he is. He not only had some hilarious material, he also entertained with a song about Peoria.
Jake was next with some very funny observational humor and one liners.
And now, ladies and gentlemen, it’s time for...
The star of this week at Jukebox Comedy Club...
Emo Philps! Emo caught me taking this photo and told me that he’d prefer no photos during the show and that we could take some after the show. So I put the camera down and enjoyed his hilarious set. Emo is one of the most original comedians ever and if you’ve never seen him live, you should definitely come and see him the next time he’s in town.
And true to his word, he met with me backstage in his dressing room. I’ve got some history with Emo, he wrote the cover story for the last issue of my magazine, People of Peoria (POP) and I saw him at Caroline’s in New York City in 2001. We hung out there and he said to me, “I can’t believe you came to see me all the way from Peoria!” I had to explain to him that I moved to New York in 1993! It was cool to see him again! Below is the People of Peoria magazine that he was featured on from back in 1993.
Sarah came back to take photos of Emo and I and here she is with Emo.
Sarah and Emo in a tender moment together!
This was a really fun night and thanks to Dan and everyone at the Jukebox Comedy Club for the wonderful hospitality and good times! And thanks to Clare for driving and hanging out with me and to Sarah for helping out with the backstage photos! We’ll see you all tomorrow!
Jukebox Comedy Club
3527 W Farmington Road
Peoria
309-673-5853
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Related Posts: Wendy Liebman at the Jukebox Comedy Club and Saturday Night @ The Jukebox Comedy Club Starring Charlie Murphy!