Live, from Peoria, Illinois, it’s Saturday Night with your hosts, Shelton’s and The Jukebox Comedy Club with special guest stars, Tom Green, Bob Hope and Connie Stevens! And now please welcome tonight’s hosts from down on Farmington Road, Shelton’s and The Jukebox Comedy Club!
Last June I came to Shelton’s to sample their beanless chili and I’ve been meaning to come back for a Saturday night dinner ever since. Well, since I’m going to go see comedian Tom Green at The Jukebox Comedy Club, I figured that tonight is the perfect night for a dinner here, since it’s located closely by on Farmington Road. So let’s go in and start the dinner portion of this evening!
There’s seats at the bar, so I settled in and met Kyle and Shelby who were doing bartender duty behind the bar. I already knew what I wanted for dinner, so I put in my order and there’s the two of them sending it back to the kitchen.
Right after I took the picture of the back of the bar, Raigan came up and said hello and it was great to see her again! She’s living in Milwaukee now and I’ve been meaning to take a trip there and now I know two people that live there, so I need to get there and check it out!
Light’s dangle from the ceiling and there’s the large selection of beers on tap behind the bar. Tables are lined up against the wooden wall that’s opposite the bar. That’s a giant portrait of infamous gangster, Bernie Shelton hanging on the wall. Bernie was shot outside of this building and the bar is named after him. You can read more about him right here.
Here’s a shot of the other side of the bar and there’s another dining area over here. That’s Raigan and her family at the table in the dining room. A framed gangster article hangs on the wall. Meanwhile, over at my side of the bar...
Saturday night dinner is about to be served!
Here’s Kyle with this week’s Saturday night dinner! I got an order of the Sriracha Bourbon chicken wings and a ten inch Cheeseburger pizza! The food looks fantastic, let’s dig in!
The chicken wings are plump and juicy and really flavorful! The Sriracha Bourbon sauce has a nice taste and just a little zing to make it interesting! I’ve heard good things about Shelton’s pizza and it turns out that the good things I have heard are all true! The homemade crust is thin and crispy and the Cheeseburger pizza is topped with spiced hamburger, bacon and onions. There’s melted cheddar cheese on top of the savory tomato sauce and this was one delicious pizza! A really marvelous Saturday night meal, but tonight we’re going to eat and run down the road to...
The Jukebox Comedy Club! I have tickets to the late show starring Tom Green and I’m anxious to see this show. I’ve always enjoyed Tom Green on TV, but I’ve never seen his stand-up act. So let’s go inside of Peoria’s one and only comedy club and start the second half of this evening!
I love the bar area in here with images of two of Peoria’s hometown comedic hero’s, Sam Kinison and Richard Pryor. The Jukebox is one of the longest-running locally-owned comedy clubs in the country. It’s been in operation since 1990 and it’s known among comedians as a great club and they get top-name talent here, just like tonight’s headliner, Tom Green! There’s the owner of the Jukebox, Dan Conlin hiding a missing tooth at the bar! Always great to see him and Michelle is serving up a beer behind the bar. Michelle also does comedy here at the club when she’s not bartending.
The bar and lounge area is over 2000 square feet with tables opposite and off to the side of the bar. This family at the table called me over and it turns out they’re fans of the MBIP blog and they recognized me as I was walking around snapping photos. They’re the Torok family and I had a nice conversation with them and thanked them for being loyal MBIP readers! It was Jenae’s birthday and she was looking pretty in her flapper outfit and birthday balloon at the bar. All of a sudden it was announced that you could enter the comedy room, so it’s off we go!
Dan was selling tickets to last-minute customers, but I had mine already so I went in to the comedy room and found my seat. My neighbors sitting next to me were Rebecca and John and I know Rebecca from Jim’s Bistro where she works! Great to see her and meet her husband, John! There’s the stage up front and once the show starts you can’t take pictures so I had to put the MBIP Camera away. But, through the miracle of Photoshop and photos from the interwebs, I can recreate the show for you below, so scroll down and the show will begin!
Tom Green put on an amazing and hilarious show. He started out with some funny and nice interaction with the people in the audience and Knuckles Pizza got a nice plug! Then he stood on his head and that was just the start of tonight’s Tom-Foolery! He then shrunk himself and then turned himself huge, which kind of scared the audience. Later he brought out special guest stars, Bob Hope and Connie Stevens! They look great especially when you consider that Connie is 79-years-old and Bob Hope has been dead for fourteen years! It was another magical show at The Jukebox Comedy Club!
After the show I ran into Kevin, who we all know from my many posts from Castle’s Patio Inn and he was with his girlfriend, Amy, who I’ve never met! Wonderful to see both of them!
And here’s the man himself, Tom Green! Tom was gracious enough to come out and mingle with some of the audience that were still left in the lounge area. Tom really put on a funny show and it was a nice mix of improvisational audience participation and some really funny stand-up bits and routines. Tom just got signed to a residency at Bally’s in Las Vegas that starts on October 29th and you can read all about that here and you can get tickets by clicking here. After seeing tonight’s show I can personally guarantee you’ll have a fabulous time at his show!
As I said, Tom was nice enough to meet and greet some of the audience that were still in the lounge and there’s the line of people waiting to get photos taken with him.
There’s Dan dutifully taking some photos of Tom and his Peoria fans.
This woman has a Freddie Got Fingered tattoo on her arm and Tom turned the tables on her and took her photo!
As I was walking out, this fellow showed me a pipe he made specially for Tom! Ha! It’s a Tom “green” pipe! He told me he has his own glass-blowing business and I asked him to send me some information so I could give him a plug, but it never came! Maybe if he sees this post I’ll get it and update it then. Thanks to everyone at Shelton’s and The Jukebox Comedy Club for a wonderful Saturday evening! And thanks to Tom Green for chatting and posing for pictures, don’t forget to check him out at Bally’s if you have a trip to Las Vegas planned. We’ll see you all tomorrow!
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2016 W. Farmington Road
West Peoria
309-981-5635
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3527 W. Farmington Rd
Peoria
309-673-5853
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Related Posts: Saturday Night @ Jukebox Comedy Club With: Charlie Murphy, Emo Philips and Wendy Liebman.