Benny Westcott
While patriotism may not be a laughing matter for some in our current world, Oregon-based comedians Alex Elkin and Chris Warren hope to find an audience in Sweet Home for their brand of humor, described as “Comedy for Patriots.”
The two will headline “Stand Up 4 America,” a 90-minute multimedia performance featuring stand-up comedy, music, video animation and audience interaction, scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 13 at the Rio Theatre, 1439 Main St.
The $22 tickets for the all-ages show are available at bit.ly/3BSSVHx.
Local sponsors of the show include Dan-Dee Sales, Neu-Flo Plumbing and O&M Point S Tire Sales.
“We were enticed to put this show on in Sweet Home because of the Rio Theatre venue, and the good people and good American patriots in Sweet Home,” Elkin said. “I want to stress that this is not a political show. It’s a pro-liberty, pro-America show. It’s a funny show with societal satire. People are going to hear things they want to say themselves.”
Elkin began working in comedy in 1994 while attending San Dimas High School in Southern California, where he graduated in 1998. He initially drew inspiration from Barry York, Brian Regan and the Smothers Brothers.
“I always wanted to be a comedian,” he said. “I could make a congregation laugh at Friday night church services. But I didn’t know I could make a living at it until I got the courage to try it for real, and realized I was fairly good at it fairly early on.”
After high school, he worked on Disneyland’s “Jungle Cruise” ride, where he learned to “have a thick skin and be OK with people not laughing at my stuff.”
A few years later, he moved to Eugene.
But that lack of laughs wouldn’t last forever.
In 2016, Elkin won the 41st annual San Francisco Comedy Competition. He was also a finalist at the Hollywood Laugh Factory’s 2017 Donald Trump Impersonation Day and won the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino’s (Lake Tahoe, Nev.) second annual Comedy Cage Match in 2018, the same year he entertained American troops in Kuwait, Baghdad, Iraq and Syria.
His works include “Live from Las Vegas” (2017), “Under 30 Need Not Apply” (2018), “Screaming at Shapes” (2019) and “Retarded with Extra Steps” (2020). Television and streaming-service appearances include Netflix’s “Trinkets,” CBS Media Venture’s “Inside Edition,” E!’s “The Simple Life,” TNT’s “Leverage” and NBC’s “Grimm,” as well as various programs on CNN, Vudu and Amazon Prime. He’s also the voice of Derek the Raccoon in VidAngel Studios’ animated series, “The Tuttle Twins,” as well as a regular on XM Sirius’ Raw Dog comedy channel.
Elkin, who once wanted to become the next Jack Black, said that his goals have changed as he’s gotten older. For one, as he said, he’s “stopped chasing going into Hollywood.”
“I like being a part of this ‘Tuttle Twins’ thing, because it’s completely outside of the Hollywood realm,” he said. “I don’t have to sacrifice my values. … My dream now is what I’m doing: being a stand-up comedian. I don’t care about fame.”
He also expressed a desire to live a family-first life. (He met his wife at Lane Community College in the early 2000s; they have two children.)
“I want to be able to buy the ballet slippers on my little girl’s feet, but also see the recital,” he said. “I strive to be able to afford the luxury, but also be there with them to enjoy it. A lot of people can afford the shoes, but miss the recital.”
Co-headliner Chris Warren has performed all over the world, with stops in Iraq, Bahrain, Japan, London, Amsterdam, the Caribbean and across Canada. He’s worked major clubs throughout the U.S., opening for Bobcat Goldthwait, the Edgar Winter Group and Paul Revere & the Raiders. He’s toured with The Right Stuff, a conservative-leaning comedy troupe, and performed for such political figures as former Republican National Committee chair Ken Mehlman and ex-Vice President Dick Cheney.
He was also a co-owner of and host at Eugene’s “All Comedy 1450” radio. Elkin, who said he’s known Warren for “well over a decade,” co-starred with him on the station’s daily three-hour “The Brickwall Comedy Show” from 2012 to 2017.
“He’s got his style. He’s more the thinker,” Elkin said of Warren. “We mesh well together and have good give-and-take.”
Elkin thinks Stand Up 4 America is a timely production.
“There’s a kind of fever in the country now,” he said. “And we want to try to quell some of it with pro-American theatre.”
To learn more about Stand Up 4 America, visit su4a.com.