Jimmy Pardo

Jimmy Pardo is reminiscent of the old-time comedians, though his material is very contemporary. "If you want to go back old-school," he explains, "it's a little more Don Rickles-y. A little Richard Lewis-y. They were both huge influences on me." A solid joke writer, Pardo merely uses one-liners to get the audience warmed up. "I have skeletons of stuff that I talk about pretty much every show. Getting married, having kids, blah, blah, blah. But if it's a great crowd and a good vibe in the room, I really don't hit them with a lot of material, because I work the crowd so much. I'm a decent joke writer, but my one real talent is improvising with the crowd. I'll still talk to people [and ask] 'Are you married?' and I'll mine stuff from there, finding out about their lives. Johnny Carson was my idol, so I find other people interesting. Not in real life. I couldn't stand to talk to any of these jackasses off stage," he laughs. "The last thing I want to do is sit down with a guy from Portsmouth and have a sandwich."
Oct. 15-20, 8 p.m.; Oct. 19-20, 10:30 p.m., 2007