"I got pulled over by a cop and he asked to see some I.D. so I showed him my Social Security card, but he said he wanted to see something with my birthday on it. (Pause) So I showed him a calendar."
Geechy Guy calls this a "joke grenade" - a one-liner that sometimes takes several seconds to detonate. It's the "illogical logic" of it, he says, that makes his audiences sometimes have to stop and ponder a while before a joke ignites."This afternoon I locked my coat hanger in my car. It's a good thing I had my keys with me."
Geechy Guy threw his joke grenades this weekend at the Comedy Oasis. A few were duds, but for the most part the comedian's dead-pan delivery and off-beat observations were a minefield.
Geechy Guy - whose real name, he says, is Flip Wilson and whose stage name is a rough approximation of the Japanese word for "crazy" - is funny in the manner of comic Stephen Wright.
He's not as consistently witty as Wright, but he apparently does strike a responsive chord with audiences who are tired of the same old comedy routines. Geechy Guy recently won the comedy portion of TV's Star Search an unprecedented 11 consecutive weeks, coming in second in the show's finals.
"Is it tall, thin and goofy in here, or is it just me?"
On stage, Geechy Guy looks like a poster child for an eating disorder. And, perhaps because he doesn't wear his glasses during the show and therefore must squint to see the audience, he looks like he's in a constant state of confusion.
The geeky, dumbfounded persona is a little overdone at times, but his appeal is solid: He can turn a thought, and the audience, inside out.
"My mom just started a support group - D.A.M. - Mothers Against Dyslexia."
"I was going to wear my camouflage shirt, but i couldn't find it."
Also featured with Geechy Guy was Joey Gaynor. He was billed as a "music impressionist," and when he was doing that - being Frank Sinatra, or Ray Charles and Joe Cocker doing a duet - he was mesmerizing.
As strictly a joke teller, however, Gaynor never totally engaged the audience, as least the fairly sparse Saturday night/Memorial Day weekend audience that didn't seem to care for his jokes or his style.
At one point, Gaynor was so exasperated with the audience that he seemed on the verge of losing his composure, or at least his train of thought. But that was before he started singing.
Master of ceremonies was Bengt Washburn, a Utah valley comic who did his usual isn't-the-local-culture-weird-but-endearing shtick. He could use some new material and a more comfortable delivery, but he is amusing, especially when describing his Mormon leanings: "We believe in moderation in all things. Except Christmas lights."