James Gregory to make stop in Florence on Southeast Tour

FLORENCE — Used to be... if you wanted to see a performer like James Gregory, you needed to live in a large market or drive 50-100 miles, round trip. Now the comedian known as the “Funniest Man in America” has changed all that by taking his famous homespun comedy to revitalized theatres and performance centers throughout the Southeast.
Gregory will be at the Florence Civic Center on Aug. 21 at 8 p.m.
“I just got tired of waiting for people to come to my show in the big city, so I decided to take my show to them,” drawls Gregory. “Seriously, I have relatives who’ve gone to their grave and never seen me perform. I was born and raised in what is now a suburb of Atlanta. My aunt would call my mother, ‘Winnie, I see James is performing in the city (Atlanta). When’s he ever gonna come out this way?’ And Momma would say, ‘Rudy, I don’t believe we have a theatre here that would have him.’ And she’d say, ‘Well, I don’t guess I’m ever gonna see him then,’ even though the drive was only 45 minutes.”
Favorite comedian, James Gregory will be touring in roughly 40 theatres in the Southeast, off the beaten path. Most of the venues are beautifully restored older theatres, such as the Newberry Opera House in Newberry, and the Abbeville Opera House in Abbeville, where he will be the first comedian to take the stage in their 100-year history. Some of the theatres only hold 300-400 people, a small crowd by Gregory’s standards. But that’s part of the charm – for James Gregory. “My style of comedy, where it’s all clean, where it’s just me and a microphone, offers an intimacy with my audience,” says Gregory. “If there’s only 300 seats, there’s not a bad seat in the house. I can touch the front row. I can see the smiles on the faces in the back row. It becomes like a giant living room, the energy is wonderful; we feel closer to each other. We feel like we know each other.”
Indeed, Gregory never uses a green room – a back room designed to give performers privacy before a show. Rather, you’ll find him out in the lobby meeting people a half-hour or more before the show. After the show, he’ll always stay and talk to people, sometimes for hours.
Gregory seems to be the only comedian touring cultural art theatres in the heartland and seems content to trade larger crowds (and larger revenues), for these audiences. Unlike comedy clubs, where alcohol is served and foul language is rampant, the venues for these shows are familyfriendly.
“When I do these shows, it renews my faith in mankind and in my country,” Gregory says. “People seem to have more reverence. You’ll hear well-mannered children saying ‘yes sir’ and ‘yes ma’am.’ It’s a different world than we see on the nightly news.”
And nobody loves his performances more than Gregory himself. “Getting to be on stage in that kind of an ambience is a thrill unlike any other I’ve known,” beams Gregory. “The audience and I, we leave our troubles behind. For two hours, things are funny again. The moment I walk through that curtain, all my aches and pains disappear. Sometimes I enjoy it so much, I feel like I should have bought a ticket.”
James Gregory’s performance schedule can be found on his website, www.funniestman.com.
When asked how he got the title, “Funniest Man in America,” Gregory flashes that down- home smile that has endeared audiences for generations and says, “You have to keep in mind, I’ve been doing this so long, when I started there were only 13 states.”
Well, now there are 50. And if you talk to a James Gregory fan or attend one of his shows, you’ll see why that title just might still be apt.
Tickets are on sale now for $29.50. Group tables available at a discounted price.
Tickets available at the civic center box office, online at Ticketmaster.com or call (800) 745-3000.
Visit www.florenceciviccenter.com for more details.