Five Indy personalities tackle stand-up comedy

Crackers Comedy Club in Broad Ripple played host to an entertaining night of comedy from five Indy personalities. This was the third straight year for the event, which was coordinated by professional comedian Scott Long.

These six aced what was a great Saturday night showing…

Yet again, he brought a terrific lineup.

Four are in the media – Peter Dunn, Tracy Forner, Mark Boyle and Greg Rakestraw – and the two-hour show was capped off by Indianapolis Colts punter Pat McAfee.

Simply said, job well done. By each one of them.

They are all used to talking into microphones and entertaining an audience, just not in this capacity. You can feel the pressure from the audience to not only hold their attention but also make them laugh. I thought they all did a stellar job of maintaing their style and not forcing anything. That’s not easy to do when branching out into another profession.

Some of the more laughable moments came in interactions with the audience. Those jokes come off the top of their head but many times it’s the most engaging. (It’s also an easy way to loosen up or get a moment to remember what’s next.)

I was glad I made it to Saturday night’s show. (There were two sessions, one at 7:30 p.m. and the other at 10:00.) I made the late show, when they all already had most of the butterflies and unknowns out of their system. After having conflicts for the first two years of the event, I finally was able to see what it was about after hearing nothing but good things.

The 2014 Class.

It was telling that so many colleagues and friends were in the building to support one another. And numerous “alumni,” if you will, returned to see the newbies get their first crack at it. I spotted Bob Kravitz, Chris Hagan, and Will Carroll. That’s pretty neat.

The one thing consistent with each turn was that they weren’t afraid of making fun of themselves. In fact, most of their acts centered around their individual characteristics, career, and history. It’s supposed to be fun and I think we all need to do that more with our own lives.

This was my first visit to Crackers — and it’s not going to be my last. It’s an intimate setting with well over 100 folks on hand. Kudos to Long for organizing such a great event, and props to the five comedians on the night for giving it a chance and doing something uncomfortable.

Best of all, the money raised went to charity.