6A | JUNE 24, 2021 |
COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL
Arts & Culture
A ‘Crescendo’ of laughter at the Village Green
By Sophia Edelblute
Th e sky grows pink and
the Eugene Comedy Cre-
scendo (ECC) is fi lling the
Village Green with laugh-
ter. Over the sound of a
trickling fountain and oc-
casional chatter of nearly
40 people in attendance, a
variety of comics tell jokes.
Spectators listen and
laugh and enjoy their eve-
ning meal while each com-
ic displays their unique
humor and interesting life
stories.
Jen Jay, who started
standup six months be-
fore COVID-19 hit, jokes
about her “childhood lin-
gerie,” which she assures
the audience was in no
way inappropriate, despite
how it sounds. Her normal
clothes were lacy “booty
shorts” and she was per-
fectly happy to help build
fences and ride her dirt
bike in them all the same,
she recounted.
She’s now experiencing
what might be her biggest
audience yet thanks to an
opportunity provided by
James Blame, who runs
Eugene Comedy Crescen-
do.
“We give a lot of comics
that are trying to become
headliners an opportuni-
ty to do this format and
that’s how they build their
comedy up to perform in
a headlining situation,”
Blame says. “If they have
the skills, we give them the
time and help them build
towards their goal.”
Th is is ECC’s fi rst sum-
mer booking shows, and
their Village Green act on
June 19 was completely
sold out.
Blame wants to fi ll the
gap between big headliners
and free open mics. He saw
a need for ECC because
“there’s no shows for fea-
ture comics to go perform
and work their way up.”
Th e company specializes
in presenting three “fea-
ture comics” rather than
just one headliner so peo-
ple at the shows can leave
feeling like they’ve heard a
variety of humors, and to
provide comics a chance to
achieve their goals.
James Manning III, who
performed standup in the
show and a couple of his
own songs at intermis-
sion, started comedy about
three years ago. He enjoys
working with Blame. “He
puts up people who need
that chance to get some
stage time and that’s why
I’m super grateful to him
for putting this on,” says
Manning.
Terry Geil, Penny Glass
and Dash Th ompson have
all been doing standup
for a while and have sim-
ilar opinions about doing
shows whenever they can.
Geil used to book
monthly showcases up in
Lebanon, Oregon, near
Brownsville where he grew
up. He had Blame in his
show a couple of times and
Blame off ered to return the
favor once ECC was up
and running. “It’s a pretty
close-knit community with
the Eugene comedy scene,”
says Geil.
“I’ve seen James around,”
Glass says, “and anytime
anybody off ers and actu-
al show, it’s way more fun
than doing an open mic.”
Glass started in 2012,
“wrote a whole set, mem-
orized the whole thing
and then got up there and
bombed, like so bad. It
was so embarrassing,” she
says. But that didn’t stop
her and she loves doing
comedy shows. “Just to
have people hear you and
pay attention... it makes a
world of diff erence [from
open mic].”
Th ompson was always
interested in comedy, he
says, but never really got
into it until, when he was
going through a rough
time mentally, a friend en-
couraged him to embrace
the spotlight.
“I went to my little com-
edy club and did an open
mic and a bunch of people
came out to see me and it
went really well, luckily,”
Th ompson says, “and then
the next mic went well and
then eventually my friends
SOPHIA EDELBLUTE/COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL
From left: James Blame, Jen Jay, Terry Geil, James Manning III, Penny Glass.
Front: Dash Thompson. Blame, owner of Eugene Comedy Crescendo, provides a
platform to feature comics who want to become headliners.
stopped coming and that’s
when the real standup hap-
pened.”
It became a little more
diffi cult without all the
support his friends lent
him “but I fell in love,” he
says. “I fell in love with the
feeling of doing that.”
Now he joins any show
he can. “I just do shows
whenever James asks me. I
just kind of hop on when-
ever I can,” Th ompson
says.
As the sun fi nally dips
below the horizon and
the night of comedy at the
Village Green comes to a
close, Blame thanks ev-
eryone for coming and the
crowd disperses.
Th e comics come to-
gether to say farewell to
one another and be paid
for their time. Th ey’re soon
out the door, eager for the
next show.
“Once you do it and you
get a few laughs, you’re ad-
dicted,” says Jay.
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