Andy Beningo

Tim Allen, long gone from hereabouts, has been the perennial winner of this category, so hats off to Andy Beningo. This curly haired son of Milford, who still calls it home, has been making national comedy rounds, working with names like Jim Breuer and the late Greg Giraldo, addressing technology and dating with an endearing self-deprecation. "Tim Allen is a Detroit legend, so it's pretty humbling to be mentioned with him," Beningo said in an e-mail. His busy schedule brings him back this way on May 7, for a gig at the Comedy Room in Wyandotte. - Detroit Metro Times

It's no secret that comedian Andy Beningo and his energetic performances have made him a highly sought after standup.
BULLFROG’S COMEDY INVASION

But before you start thinking Beningo is letting success go to his head, know that he is still the same self-depricating guy as he always was. In May, during a string of club dates on the west coast, he summed things up by Tweeting to his fans: "Lot of attractive people in Los Angeles ... and I am NOT one of them."

And while it is doubtful that Beningo will ever be able to shift his career from standup comic to GQ model, it is his observations on life that make him a hit with the ladies. Take this recent view from the road. "McDonald's serves Powerade ... how bad is the food if you're getting dehydrated after eating it? If you need to restore electrolytes."

Armed with an education degree from Central Michigan State, Beningo's eclectic comedy, which tends to center around growing up as the middle child, technology, life as a college student, fast food restaurants, and a short lived career as a middle school teacher, never strays far from his small town Michigan upbringing.

The Beningo comedy road show rolls into Topeka Friday and Saturday nights, June 17 and 18, at Bullfrog's Live, 4115 SW Huntoon St. For Beningo, it is just another stop, just another Happy Meal on the 250 date road show he travels. - Topkea SPLASH

Dear Jay Leno’s people: Andy Beningo is a name you should be familiar with. Not only is appearing on “The Tonight Show” one of the Michigan comedian’s biggest dreams, but he’s actually funny — so it’s win-win for everybody.

And it looks like Beningo is a little bit closer to getting on everybody’s radar with his participation in the reality series “Selling Laughs” (details at the bottom of the page), which features the talents of veteran comedian Chili Challis, who’s had everybody from Ellen DeGeneres to Drew Carey open for him.

But enough about that. On with the questions:

Budgeteer: You bill yourself as a “clean” comedian — do you have to work at this, or does non-offensive humor come naturally to you?

Beningo: My favorite comedians growing up made me laugh by using relatable material and/or using callbacks to previous jokes. Most of the comedians I like don’t really work “blue”: Jerry Seinfeld, Bill Cosby and Dave Coulier.

I’ve made an effort to be clean on stage, but I feel like it’s natural, too. Some comedians I work with have a hard time writing clean, but I’m the opposite: I have a hard writing a dirty joke. Dirty jokes never really got laughs for me on stage, and I’m OK with that.

But, I’ll still laugh at a good dirty joke like anyone else. Funny is funny.

For those of us who haven’t seen your set before, what are some of your favorite topics to expound upon?

I talk a lot about my life: personal experiences, family, friends, going to college and my short career as a teacher. I think real-life experiences are fun to talk about because people in the audience can relate to them.

You do a lot of dates — and sometimes two shows a night — does it ever get exhausting? How do you keep your mind fresh and stay funny for such long stretches?

The travel sometimes takes a little bit of a toll on your body, but I really, really enjoy the performing part.

I think the important part to staying fresh and funny is writing. It’s fun to change it up and try new jokes because you’re taking risks. A new bit might totally bomb on stage, or that new bit might now be the funniest thing you do in your show. I think walking that tight rope makes stand up pretty exciting. And even if the joke doesn’t work, the audience isn’t going to hate you for it.

You try to find some type of “saver line,” and get them back. Johnny Carson was a master at that. When I do the same jokes over and over, I feel burnt out. And, to be honest, I think the audience senses it, too. So trying new jokes, I think, is the key.

Is stand-up your dream job, or do you hope to move into movies or TV? If so, what kind of projects could you see yourself shining at?

Stand-up has pretty much been the only thing I’ve wanted to do since the 8th grade, so the fact that I’m traveling and doing it for a living is pretty exciting. I have to pinch myself sometimes.

I think the dream for any stand-up is a “Tonight Show” spot, and I would love to do one in the future. I’m not really looking for movies or TV right now, but if something came up, I’d definitely jump at it.

Finally, what can you tell us about Milford, Mich., aka Dax Shepard’s hometown?

Dax Shepard is great! It’s so exciting to see somebody from Milford doing really well. I’ve never met Dax personally, but hope to one day.

Overall, Milford is a great town. It’s a pretty small town, but I think it’s the people that make it great. We have a lot of positive, hard-working, good-hearted people here. Michigan has an underrated comedy scene. We have some great clubs and some great comedians. We have a class in Ann Arbor that’s taught by a former staff writer for “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” and we have the Comedy Castle, where Tim Allen and Dave Coulier started. It’s a great place to live! - Duluth News Tribune

Dear Jay Leno’s people: Andy Beningo is a name you should be familiar with. Not only is appearing on “The Tonight Show” one of the Michigan comedian’s biggest dreams, but he’s actually funny — so it’s win-win for everybody.

And it looks like Beningo is a little bit closer to getting on everybody’s radar with his participation in the reality series “Selling Laughs” (details at the bottom of the page), which features the talents of veteran comedian Chili Challis, who’s had everybody from Ellen DeGeneres to Drew Carey open for him.

But enough about that. On with the questions:

Budgeteer: You bill yourself as a “clean” comedian — do you have to work at this, or does non-offensive humor come naturally to you?

Beningo: My favorite comedians growing up made me laugh by using relatable material and/or using callbacks to previous jokes. Most of the comedians I like don’t really work “blue”: Jerry Seinfeld, Bill Cosby and Dave Coulier.

I’ve made an effort to be clean on stage, but I feel like it’s natural, too. Some comedians I work with have a hard time writing clean, but I’m the opposite: I have a hard writing a dirty joke. Dirty jokes never really got laughs for me on stage, and I’m OK with that.

But, I’ll still laugh at a good dirty joke like anyone else. Funny is funny.

For those of us who haven’t seen your set before, what are some of your favorite topics to expound upon?

I talk a lot about my life: personal experiences, family, friends, going to college and my short career as a teacher. I think real-life experiences are fun to talk about because people in the audience can relate to them.

You do a lot of dates — and sometimes two shows a night — does it ever get exhausting? How do you keep your mind fresh and stay funny for such long stretches?

The travel sometimes takes a little bit of a toll on your body, but I really, really enjoy the performing part.

I think the important part to staying fresh and funny is writing. It’s fun to change it up and try new jokes because you’re taking risks. A new bit might totally bomb on stage, or that new bit might now be the funniest thing you do in your show. I think walking that tight rope makes stand up pretty exciting. And even if the joke doesn’t work, the audience isn’t going to hate you for it.

You try to find some type of “saver line,” and get them back. Johnny Carson was a master at that. When I do the same jokes over and over, I feel burnt out. And, to be honest, I think the audience senses it, too. So trying new jokes, I think, is the key.

Is stand-up your dream job, or do you hope to move into movies or TV? If so, what kind of projects could you see yourself shining at?

Stand-up has pretty much been the only thing I’ve wanted to do since the 8th grade, so the fact that I’m traveling and doing it for a living is pretty exciting. I have to pinch myself sometimes.

I think the dream for any stand-up is a “Tonight Show” spot, and I would love to do one in the future. I’m not really looking for movies or TV right now, but if something came up, I’d definitely jump at it.

Finally, what can you tell us about Milford, Mich., aka Dax Shepard’s hometown?

Dax Shepard is great! It’s so exciting to see somebody from Milford doing really well. I’ve never met Dax personally, but hope to one day.

Overall, Milford is a great town. It’s a pretty small town, but I think it’s the people that make it great. We have a lot of positive, hard-working, good-hearted people here. Michigan has an underrated comedy scene. We have some great clubs and some great comedians. We have a class in Ann Arbor that’s taught by a former staff writer for “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” and we have the Comedy Castle, where Tim Allen and Dave Coulier started. It’s a great place to live! - Duluth News Tribune

Energetic, clean and extremely funny, Andy Beningo was named “Best Comedian” by the Detroit Metro Times. He’s a veteran of many comedy festivals across the country and regular performs over 250 times per year. You can also find him in the documentary about comedy “Selling Laughs.” Andy has recently appeared on NBC's "Night Shift" and was a finalist on CMT's "Next Big Comic." Follow Andy on twitter. - Bob and Tom Show

You've heard rising stand-up comic Andy Beningo on the nationally syndicated Bob and Tom Radio Show, and now you can enjoy his comedic stylings right here in Chesaning.



Beningo will perform in his second fundraiser for the Chesaning River Rapids Bridge Committee on Friday, April 12 at the Peet Community Center. Tickets are on sale for $15 a person, with shows at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. Tables of eight are also available for $100, and beverages and refreshments will be available.



The Chesaning resident, who has been hailed as an “energetic, clean and extremely funny performer,” first wowed local audiences last May. Proceeds from the show will be used to build a pedestrian bridge across the Shiawassee River behind Cole Park.



A finalist on CMT’s “Next Big Comic,” he has opened for comedy legends Betty White, Frank Caliendo and Dave Coulier.



Beningo is graciously squeezing the Chesaning show into his very busy touring schedule. He performs in some 250 shows a year, and will be in Iowa the week before Chesaning and Oregon the following week.



We were excited about talking to this promising young entertainer and learning more about how he made it this far and where he’s headed.



First of all, how did you end up in Chesaning?

My wife and her family are from Chesaning. We got married over the summer and decided to live here. It's a great community and the people are very nice and friendly. I really like it a lot here.



You’ve got a pretty packed touring schedule. How and when did you become a working comedian?

In college, I emceed at a lot of the local clubs around Michigan. Roger over at the Ann Arbor Comedy Showcase was a guy who gave me a lot of stage time when I first started. I had about a half hour before I started showcasing at other clubs around the country. Right after I graduated, I started working the road as an opening act for a couple of different headliners. I've been lucky to have been able to only do stand up!



Were you a funny kid? Like, funny ha-ha, I mean.

Not really. I was funny around friends and family, but I was shy around everybody else. I'm still like that today - shy around people I don't really know.



When did you realize you were funny enough that people might pay to hear you say funny stuff?

To be honest, the club managers and owners pretty much let you know when you're ready. You basically start at the open mic nights- where anybody can get on stage and try stand up. They can sometimes be tough because the expectations are so low, and sometimes there aren't a lot of people in the audience. You perform at a lot of these before the manager moves you up and starts paying you. I just like telling jokes, and consider myself really lucky and fortunate to be able to get paid to tell them!



Was there a moment when you felt like you had "made it?"

I was performing at a comedy club in Indianapolis and Tom Griswold (Tom from Bob and Tom) was in the audience. I didn't know he was there, but he came up to me after the show and said he thought I was really funny and that he liked my set a lot. He stuck around to watch me do the second show, and then invited me to be on the Bob and Tom Show. To get a personal invitation to be on the show was really special. Then going into the studio for the first time on that Monday, it was almost kind of surreal. I had listened to the show in high school and in college, so to be on the show was something pretty special for me and is something that I'll never forget. To be able to go back on numerous times has been pretty cool, and they're always very, very nice when I'm there.



What kinds of things do you talk about in your show?

My show is pretty clean, so people can bring just about anybody to the event. I basically talk about my life- my family, friends, wife, life on the road, technology, fast food restaurants and my short-lived career as a middle school teacher.



Is there a particular comedian whose career you'd like to emulate?

The comedians that I think are the funniest are the ones that are clean, clever and can make the audience laugh without being vulgar. It's about being universal, and having everyone in the audience relate to what you are saying. I've looked up to comedians that can work clean- I'm not a prude, but any dirty joke I ever tried to do on stage never really got a laugh. I heard Seinfeld say that if you can do a comedy bit without using any swear words and the bit works- then you know it's genuinely funny. People are laughing at the idea and the joke rather than certain words. I really do think that it is harder to get laughs without being dirty, so when something works, you know it's good.



Jimmy Brogan is one of my favorite comedians- every time I've seen him I've been blown away. He makes it look so easy on stage- almost effortless. Rocky La - Chesaning Voice

" He has to be one of the most likable, funny people around!" - Chili Challis, writer for THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO

" Finally, someone who can be funny without the shock value. We loved Andy! My cheeks hurt from laughing so much!" - MinneHaHa Comedy Club, Minnesota

" I love watching this guy work! He's one of the nicest guys in the biz!" - Guy Copland, Detroit Magic 105.1
WMGC- radio personality - Detroit Radio