Ron Shock, Las Vegas Sun, April 2, 2004

Columnist Lisa Ferguson: Dealt tough cards, Shock refuses to fold Lisa Ferguson Friday, April 2, 2004 | 8:39 a.m. Lisa Ferguson's Laugh Lines column appears Fridays. Her Sun Lite Column appears Mondays. Reach her at lmsferguson@yahoo.com. Ron Shock knows a thing or two about forging personal and professional comebacks. In his 62 years, according to his resume, he's studied for the priesthood; been on a chain gang; was a jewelry thief (who, consequently, served time in a maximum-security penitentiary); was a corporate executive; was an inventor with patents for several electronic devices; and, in 1982, finally landed in stand-up comedy. On the home front, he went from being a devoted husband to serving as his ailing wife's caretaker after she was critically injured in a car accident. Following her death, he became a widower in serious financial straits, but has since rebounded and these days is relishing his new role as a newlywed. "I just got dealt some really strange cards," says Shock, who has earned a reputation as a modern-day Will Rogers for his storytelling-styled shtick. With a background like that, it's no wonder the guy has more than a few yarns suitable for spinning. Through all of the ups and downs, there's been one constant for the longtime local comedy-club headliner, who takes the Comedy Stop at The Trop stage through Sunday: poker. "I'm real good," the Texas hold 'em fan explained during a recent call from his central-Las Vegas home. "My dad was a good card player and taught me early, so I've got a knack for it." Though he plays games nearly every day on his home computer, Shock can also be found several times each week at the poker-room tables of Mandalay Bay and Bellagio. "I'm not a great player -- I'm just real patient," he said. "I'll sit there and wait all day long, won't call a bet until I've got the right cards." That's not to imply that Amarillo, Texas-bred Shock always has winning hands. Given his past, it's clear he's endured some losing streaks that seemingly wouldn't end: his three-year stint in the slammer, for example, half of which was spent in solitary confinement. "In retrospect, looking back on it, that was probably the very best thing that happened to me because what I did was read," he says -- volumes and volumes of literary classics and philosophy books. "It changed me. I needed to be caught and stopped to let me think a little bit." Of course, the very worst thing that happened to him was likely the 1998 near-fatal vehicle accident involving his wife, Ellen Harrington, near their California home. Her prognosis for recovery was grim. "The doctors had given up on her originally, said she would be a vegetable," Shock recalls. "I took her home to our ranch and I literally taught her to walk and talk. She didn't know my name." He halted his comedy career to tend to Harrington's rehabilitation, and word of the pair's plight spread. Comedians and other entertainers throughout the country (Las Vegas included) organized benefit shows -- or simply dug into their own pockets and retrieved donations -- to help pay the couple's expenses. "People did some wonderful things," Shock says. Following months of result-yielding therapy, Harrington suffered a stroke that robbed her of all of the skills she had relearned. Shock re-taught his spouse the basics, only to see it all vanish again when Harrington later suffered a second stroke. She spent 1 1/2 years in a vegetative state and, at age 40, died in 2000. "That pretty much knocked me backwards. I lost everything," Shock says. Still, he's extremely grateful for the way the comedy community rallied behind him in his and Harrington's time of need. "She got a couple of years of quality life that she wouldn't have gotten had the doctors had their way and just put her in a nursing home to start with." Shortly after Harrington's death, Shock moved back to Las Vegas (he had lived here for a while in the early '90s) to start over on his own. "I was pretty down for a couple of years," he says. With no comedy gigs on the horizon and little cash left, he made his living playing poker until he was able to secure some stand-up dates. Fortunately, the tide has since turned for the slow-talking funny man with the Southern drawl, who claims to have built a "a little cult following" with his comedy in such cities as Lexington, Ky., Chattanooga, Tenn., and Bloomington, Ind., where "I can't walk down the street without being recognized." Shock also found love again: In November he and his accountant, Rhonda, wed in the back yard of the home they share. With both his career and personal life back on track, the comedian is turning his attention toward some new projects. He's preparing to pitch an idea for a TV series based on Texas hold 'em play, similar in nature to the poker shows starring celebrities and pro players that are all the rage on cable television. "I don't have any doubt that eventually I'll get it on the air," he says. "It's a real unique concept, the way we're gonna do it, and people will learn the game." Shock is also writing a book, titled "Texas Hold 'Em Poker: What Would Jesus Do?," highlighting "a lot of wonderful analogies between true Christian philosophy and proper play of Texas hold 'em poker." Consider the old standby, "The meek shall inherit the Earth," which actually refers to "the people who accept things as they are," he says. "You've gotta play the cards that you've got because ... you can't force anything in life. "I learned that out there with Ellen, because it was day to day" with her changing medical condition. And Shock knows in poker, as in life, "You have to play the cards you have right now." Out for laughs Switcheroo: Local comic Pam Mattison is in the headliner's seat through Sunday at The Improv at Harrah's, a slot that was initially to have been filled by "MADtv" castmate Bobby Lee. Also performing are Russ T. Nailz and Sean Kent. Looking for something to do at midnight on Saturday? Catch the "Hollywood Comedy Tour 2004" -- featuring "Saturday Night Live" player Jeff Richards and a handful of other funny dudes -- at The Lounge at The Palms. Tickets are $25 (ages 21 and older); call 942-7777. Real-life buddies John Caponera and Marty Rackham will be on the same bill April 19 through April 25 at Riviera Comedy Club. The men often play Wiffle ball together -- along with several other comedians -- at a specially designed stadium at the Encino, Calif., home of their talent manager, Rick Messina. Visit Caponera's Web site (www.chicagojohn.com) to view photos of the silly sluggers on the field. Robert Schimmel, who is in his third year of remission from cancer, is headed back to town for shows June 4 and June 5 and June 11 and 12 at Monte Carlo. Meanwhile, he's at work developing a sitcom (with shock-jock Howard Stern's production company and the WB Network) fashioned around the real relationships Schimmel shares with his wife and daughter.