Jimmy Dunn's "Drunken Fan" Wishes You A Happy Home Opener

The Drunken Fan wishes you a happy home opener. The Red Sox may be in the toilet so far this season, but Jimmy Dunn is doing all right. He’s gotten a lot of attention for being the cabbie on the Olympia Sports commercials. Now he has The Drunken Fan from his own company, Jimmy Dunn Creative. Dunn, who plays the Kowloon next week, says he has big plans for the Drunken Fan, including a beer sponsor and a clothing line. Next week, he’s hoping to launch an iPhone app, the “Eck App,” for Dennis Eckersley.

Jimmy Dunn: April 15 at 8:30PM, and April 16 at 7:30PM and 9:45PM. $20. With Martin Montana and Will Noonan. Kowloon Komedy, at Kowloon Restaurant, 948 Broadway (Route 1), Saugus. 781.484.6002

Jimmy Dunn on TV, Comics Come Home

Jimmy Dunn will play Comics
Come Home Saturday

Jimmy Dunn has been doing stand-up comedy in Boston for more than fifteen years. He’s appeared on countless stages, and, as an avid sports fan, has written a book (Funnyball: Observations from a Summer at the Ballpark) and hosted his own NESN show, called Fan Attic, on which he watched old game footage.

But these days, most people who recognize Dunn remember him from commercials he wrote, produced, and acted in for Olympia Sports. I wrote about these spots for the Globe a couple of years ago, and Dunn is still producing them.

“I've become the ‘time to make the donuts’ guy,” he says. “Just got made at subway an hour ago. Especially if I have my Sox hat on!”

Commercials have become a bigger part of what Dunn does, and he has expanded to other clients, still drafting Boston comedian friends to co-star with him. “My newest client is Seacoast Harley-Davidson,” says the New Hampshire resident. “Working on a really cool campaign for them for the spring, doing some cool Internet stuff for another really high profile client that I can't name yet. Lots of projects over the winter that should drop in the spring.”

Saturday, Dunn will play one of his biggest audiences yet when he makes his debut appearance at Comics Come Home at Agganis Arena. Host Denis Leary picks the comics for the bill, and Dunn had an inside track. “The Clarke boys, Mike and Lenny have been lobbying for me,” Dunn says.

The show is a benefit for the Cam Neely Foundation for Cancer Care. Dunn is, of course, a fan of Neely, a former Bruins player and currently president of the Bruins organization. Dunn has met him a few times, and Neely once appeared on Fan Attic. Still, Dunn will be looking for an autograph. “Really cool guy,” says Dunn, “and yes, I'll have a stick with me!”

For more on Comics Come Home, read Jim Sullivan's piece in last week's Globe here.

Comics Come Home, November 13, 7:30PM at Agganis Arena. With Denis Leary, Adam Ferrara, Jim Norton, Lenny Clarke, Joe Yannetty, Pete Correale, Thomas Dale, Jimmy Dunn, and Steven Wright.

BC News Bits: Ken Reid, Nick Di Paolo, Jimmy Dunn, and the Friars Club

Ken Reid is one of the "Daily8" featured comics on RooftopComedy.com today. The video featured is "I Miss Paying Rent," taped live at Mottley's Comedy Club, about his racist but understanding former landlord.
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Danvers native Nick Di Paolo has redesigned his Web site at www.nickdip.com. It's a vast improvement over his old site, much easier to navigate and easier on the eyes. Here's a quick announcement from Di Paolo about the new design.


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Jimmy Dunn made a name for himself in local advertising with his spots for Olympia Sports, which featured a rotating cast of local comedians. He's now expanded a bit to produce an ad for Seacoast Harley co-starring Joey Carroll and Jim McCue. Here's the ad:


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Three teams with ties to Boston will be competing in the Friars Club Improv and Sketch Competition on June 25th at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in New York City. Code Duello (Neil Reynolds and Matt Tucker doing their best Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton)will compete in the improv portion, with Improv Asylum's Vanity Project serving as first alternate. Somebody's in the Doghouse will compete in the sketch portion.

Gavin, Rogerson, Sweeney, and Dunn play benefit for Kevin Knox tonight

Some of Boston's most tenured veteran comics are playing a benefit tonight for Kevin Knox. Don Gavin, Steve Sweeney, Kenny Rogerson, and Jimmy Dunn will top the bill for tonight's show at the theater that usually hosts Sheer Madness (a.k.a. The Cahrles Playhouse Stage II), organized by the folks at Tommy's Comedy Lounge. Tickets are available at Ticketmaster.com, or at the box office for $25. Tommy's Comedy Lounge, 74 Warrenton St, Boston. 800-745-300

On a related note, Dick's Beantown Comedy Vault won't host their running Monday-night benefit for Knox to avoid conflict with the Tommy's show.

Friends Help Knoxie Tonight At Giggles

Kevin Knox was supposed to be dead five years ago. That’s when he was diagnosed with cancer and grim prospects. But Knox has been fighting an unconventional battle with his cancer, through diet and supplements, and with the help of friends like the comics who will play a benefit for him tonight at Giggles Comedy Club.

When I spoke with Knox Monday, he was caught in a snow storm trying to find a restaurant that served organic food. After his diagnosis, a lot of people, he says, thought he was insane to eschew the standard hospital treatment for a more homeopathic treatment of fresh organic food, supplements, natural oils and the like. “[That] didn’t shake me at all because I’ve been insane all my life,” he says. “This didn’t throw me off.”

Knox is grateful for the extra time and for the friends who have been essential to his fight. “Because of my friends, because of the people who’ve been helping me out, I’ve been able to fight this illness my way,” he says. “I wanted to be outside the box for this. My parents, my sister all passed away from cancer and they fought it conventionally and they died these horrible deaths. I was supposed to be dead five years ago – February 12 is my five year anniversary. I’m still alive, I was only supposed live for a few months. The alternative stuff does work. People don’t know that or understand it, but it really does.”

Twelve weeks ago, Knox had a setback when doctors discovered what Knox describes as a grapefruit-sized mass in his abdomen. His surgeon was able to remove it, according to Knox, without doing much harm. “The surgeon had been doing to 26 years, and he said, ‘In 26 years, I’ve never seen what happened happen. When we cut into your abdomen it just basically fell out onto the table. It was totally encapsulated.’ He says, I’ve never seen that. So now he wants me to go to Mass General to have my immune system studied. So we’re doing something right.”

And while Knox has bounced back quickly, working out and finally getting back to doing some shows, he was out of work for several week, which is why tonight’s benefit is so important. “My friends realize that fighting cancer my way, none of it’s covered,” he says. “I have incredible insurance that I never get to use because of how I’m fighting it.”

Tony V. hosts the benefit tonight, which includes Steve Sweeney, Don Gavin, Ken Rogerson, Frank Santorelli, Ira Proctor, Jimmy Dunn, Dave Russo, Paul D’Angelo, Artie Januario, Brad Mastrangelo, Johnny Pizzi, Mark Riley, and Danny Miller. Tickets are $30 and doors open at 6:30PM.

If that seems like a lot of names for one show, Mike Clarke points out that there will be even more comics in the audience. “Kevin is the most charitable guy there is so everybody’s just more than happy to give back to him,” he says. “A lot of guys are coming, they might not even be able to get on, but they’re coming to support the cause.”

Knox is one of the grand characters in the Boston scene, the only act with enough energy to have followed Dane Cook’s frenetic act on the Comics Come Home bill a decade ago. His every movement and statement onstage is played like he’s trying to reach the back row of a stadium crowd, even when he’s playing his regular Monday night gig in an intimate room like the Vault.

His reaction to the help and support he has received is typically oversized. “Everybody’s been so amazing to me, especially Mike Clarke and Giggles,” he says. “All the comics have just been so supportive. It’s really been amazing. All the fans, people have been sending me love and cards trying to keep my sorry ass alive. I can’t believe it.”

Kevin Knox will also play Giggles Friday with Tony V. and Dan Miller and Saturday with Artie Januario and Dan Miller.