Shuli, Las Vegas Sun

0 Columnist Lisa Ferguson: Stand-up comics in Las Vegas overlooked? Shuli, you jest Lisa Ferguson Friday, Jan. 14, 2005 | 8:41 a.m. Lisa Ferguson's Laugh Lines column appears Fridays. Her Sun Lite Column appears Mondays. Reach her at lmsferguson@yahoo.com. If you're under the impression that in order to see live comedy performed in Las Vegas you must fork over big bucks and watch an established showroom headliner, or visit one of the chain comedy clubs in town, well then, you're not alone. There are, however, plenty of locally grown yuks to be had at venues beyond the Strip and downtown areas. That's also where you'll likely encounter Shuli. On any given night, this one-name comedy machine inhabits the stages of small showrooms, clubs and bars throughout Southern Nevada. On Saturday he headlines the "Laughs at The Beach" show at The Beach nightclub on Convention Center Drive, where he's scheduled to play again Jan. 27. If you miss those shows, don't fret: Wander down the block to the Greek Isles, where for three years Shuli has been a regular player Saturday through Thursday evenings at Sandy Hackett's Comedy Club. Then again, you can also catch him hosting weekly open-mike nights Sundays at Boomer's, 3200 Sirius Ave.; and on Wednesdays and Saturdays at Freakin' Frog, 4700 S. Maryland Parkway. As though his schedule isn't full enough (multiple engagements on a single night are no problem, he boasts), Shuli also occasionally takes the stage at comedy clubs in Pahrump and Primm and hits the road for weekend gigs at clubs around the country. Meanwhile, he continues to collaborate and perform as part of the Renegades of Comedy, a local sketch-comedy troupe he co-founded five years ago. "I'd like to be working a lot more," Shuli insisted recently from his Las Vegas home. "For me, it's about (getting) stage time ... Even if you bomb, nothing bad comes out of going onstage. You learn something every time." Bombing isn't much of an issue these days for Shuli, who was born in Israel, raised in Los Angeles and moved to Las Vegas 11 years ago to kick-start his comedy career. Early on he met Hackett, a local comedy impresario of sorts, who gave the then-fledgling comic a shot performing in a comedy show Hackett formerly staged at the Olympic Garden strip club. "I had maybe a minute's worth of material, and I asked him for some time," Shuli recalls. "I didn't do well, but he, for some reason, saw something and told me to keep coming back." Shuli assures that his material -- which is loaded with racy (and often racial) comments about relationships, drug use and current events, among other topics -- has since strengthened considerably. By the late '90s he'd caught the attention of shock jock Howard Stern and has become a frequent call-in guest and contributor to Stern's nationally syndicated morning radio show. When an opportunity arose last year to join Stern's cast of off-color characters full time in New York, Shuli auditioned and was among the finalists considered for the job. Though he failed to land the gig, he contends the national radio exposure he received as a result made his efforts worthwhile. During the on-air audition process, "I got booked on that show five days in a row -- I was on for a week. So for me, I've already won," he explains. "I've known comics (with) 20-something years in the business who can't get (booked) a day on that show ... so it's an honor." The appearances continue to pay dividends: Shuli will perform Feb. 5 with Stern show sidekick Artie Lange in "Beacher's Madhouse" at The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel. "That's gonna be huge. I cannot wait," he says. For a time, Shuli and his Renegades of Comedy cohorts -- Jason Kiefer, Michael Potter and Jaime "Maddog" Mattern -- hosted a local radio show of their own, called "Lighten Up," which aired several years ago on KLAV 1230-AM. These days, the foursome have a habit of torturing area radio DJs with prank "character-driven" phone calls that often find their way onto the air (several audio clips can be downloaded at www.renegadecomedy.com). "We all have the same kind of ideas and directions," Shuli says of the Renegades. The troupe has produced a pair of comedy CDs, as well as the short 2003 "mockumentary" titled "No Laughing Matter," about a group of unsuccessful open-mike-night comics. "We try to have fun, and we try to do things different and try to stand out" on the local comedy scene, 30-year-old Shuli says. "Not everybody here is Danny Gans, you know." Which is why, despite having made big strides in his own career, he remains dedicated to helping other aspiring comics climb the ranks. Granted, orchestrating the weekly open-mike nights "cuts into my paid gigs," he concedes. It's also time he might otherwise spend working on his forthcoming solo CD; tweaking the script for a mock-reality TV show he says he's written; or talking with execs from Sirius Satellite Radio (future home of "The Howard Stern Show" when it moves to satellite later this year), to whom he claims to have pitched a pair of program ideas. "But at the same time," Shuli explains, "if it wasn't for (performing in) the open mikes here in Vegas, I wouldn't have gotten to where I am right now." He describes the circuit of local comedians as "a really close family of comics, and I love that. So, for me, it's hard to get more and more work and then say, 'All right, find your own open-mike somewhere.' A lot of comics look at it as kind of slumming or going back down. It's where I came from ... and I have no shame and no problem (to) keep doing that." On the other hand, "It saddens me," he says, that up-and-coming comics have only a handful of venues where they can hone their craft. Through open-mike nights at Freakin' Frog and Boomer's, he explains, "We can only show them one side of comedy -- the bar side. In any other city, the major comedy clubs have a locals' night or an open-mike night." Not so in Las Vegas, where none of the larger comedy clubs offer such events. "There's very little room for advancement here," Shuli laments. "You can learn and learn and learn, but to make that jump, people always say you've gotta go to L.A. or New York. The jury's still out for me. I don't buy that." Out for laughs "Nothing Sacred," a new book by Lewis Black -- who headlines today and Saturday at House of Blues at Mandalay Bay -- is scheduled for release in April by publisher Simon & Schuster. The tome will include tales about the comic-commentator's personal history, as well as his sardonic views on current events. Laugh Lines friend Hiram Kasten sent a note to remind us that he's on the bill through Sunday at Riviera Comedy Club. The funny man reports he recently wrapped production on an installment of the WB series "7th Heaven" (set to air in early February); as well as on the CBS short-timer "Everybody Loves Raymond," which takes its final bow later this year. Catch comedians Godfrey, star of the 7-Up commercials, and Jon Reep (aka "The Hemi Guy"), of the ABC sitcom "Rodney," when they headline a pair of shows on the "Hollywood Comedy Tour" at 8 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. Saturday at the Palms. Tickets are $25.