From: jenkins@mhd1.moorhead.msus.edu (Lisa D. Jenkins)
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 92 17:02:26 CDT
Subject: Articles on Joel Robinson's work as a stand-up comic
From: St. Paul Pioneer Press Dispatch*
Date: April 21, 1988
Headline: Comedy: Toying With Laughs Again
Photo(s): DEADPAN-HANDLING: Comedian Joel Hodgson says his Comedy Gallery appearances will be "an official comeback." [Joel side-ways glances in tux.]
Author: Protzman, Bob
Page(s): D4
"It's my coming-out party," says Twin Cities comedian Joel Hodgson of his performances this weekend and next at the Comedy Gallery in Minneapolis.
"This is more like an official comeback," adds Hodgson, who walked away from comedy in 1984, just when it seemed he was headed for stardom after multiple appearances on "Late Night With David Letterman" and "Saturday Night Live."
When he quit, Hodgson said he no longer enjoyed performing and complained that the spontaneity had gone out of his shows after so many TV appearances. He hinted, too, that he wasn't interested in or prepared to handle all the public attention he was receiving.
"I'm still kind of gun-shy," he admits, "but I've kind of accepted what I am and who I am. I can't stop coming up with ideas and sharing them. But I'm taking a different route this time by getting involved in different projects."
Hodgson, 28, didn't return to performing until last June at the Ha Ha Club in Minneapolis; then he did a Halloween show called "Spookfest '87" last November at the same club.
"But those were experimental," he says. "I was roughing out a lot of stuff."
In preparation for his shows at the Comedy Gallery, Hodgson recently spent four weeks on the road polishing his act. He performed in St. Louis, Columbus, Cincinnati and elsewhere, and got good responses, he says, everywhere but in Texas. "They didn't really get me," he explains in his typical deadpan delivery.
And a couple of weeks ago, Hodgson--comic, fumbling magician, self-declared spy ("Agent J," he calls himself) and toy inventor--had a capacity audience in stitches at the Guthrie Theater when he opened for comedian (and friend) Jerry Seinfeld.
Working with Seinfeld, with whom he co-wrote an HBO cable television special earlier this year, has helped renew Hodgson's interest in comedy and performing. Recently, in fact, Hodgson has been flying to Los Angeles to work with Seinfeld on a second HBO special.
It's kind of collaboration, says Hodgson--along with his toy inventions--that keeps him interested in the entertainment world.
His toys, which he creates in a workshop on Robert Street in St. Paul, may, in the long run, be more lucrative than performing or writing.
He and a partner, Tim Nyberg, have formed a creative company called General Eclectic, and they've licensed and copyrighted a toy scheduled to debut this Halloween. It's called a Gab Bag--a trick-or-treat bag that talks--and is being manufactured and marketed by Dakin, the San Francisco-based company that handles the Garfield the Cat merchandise.
"We're working on lots of other toys--and games, too," says Hodgson, who is well-known for the gadgets he uses in his act.
[Endnote:] Joel Hodgson, with Chris Raine and Scott Hansen--8:30 p.m. today, 8:30 and 10:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 8:30 p.m. Sunday and 8:30 p.m. Wednesday; continuing through May 1. Comedy Gallery, Riverplace, 65 Main St. S.E., Minneapolis. Tickets: $10, call 331-5653.