Accidental comic to provide laughs for a cause

Local News

October 24, 2007

By Wade Coggeshall The Hendricks County Flyer Wed Oct 24, 2007, 04:47 PM EDT

BROWNSBURG — Rik Roberts’ vocation in standup comedy happened completely by accident.

Working a white-collar job by day for Simon & Schuster publishing in Columbus, Ohio, Roberts took his guitar to an open-mic night at a local club to perform. Only after finishing his set did he learn it was strictly a comedy joint.

“If somebody said you’re going to do comedy, I don’t think I would’ve even tried it,” Roberts says. “But having gone in there by accident and doing it, I figured I’d keep on trying.”

It’s turned into a career that’s taken him nationwide and made him a funnyman not just in nightclubs, but at corporate events and fund-raisers. Roberts is performing at 7:30 p.m. today at The Crown Room, 900 E. 56th St., Suite 200, as part of a benefit show for U.S. soldiers serving overseas. Admission to the show is an AT&T; worldwide calling card of any denomination or a cash donation at the door.

Those who can’t attend can still make tax-deductible cash donations to the “Support the Troops” fund by calling the Hendricks County Community Foundation at 718-1200. The money will be used to buy additional calling cards that will be shipped overseas.

Roberts had a bit of a rabble-rousing nature in his youth.

“I was a pretty good instigator,” he says of his school days. “I would get the plan together and let everyone else execute it and get in trouble. I’d sit back, watch, and laugh.”

But comedy wasn’t in his plans. He graduated from West Virginia’s Bethany College with a degree in communications. Once he got a taste of comedy, though, he didn’t look back.

Roberts has emphasized chaste humor almost since he started standup.

“When I first started, I did whatever I could to be funny,” he says. Then he started modeling his jokes after some of his favorite comics like Steve Martin and Bill Cosby.

“There’s plenty of stuff you can make fun of that’s clean,” Roberts says. “There’s not enough comics doing clean comedy right now.”

It’s led to Roberts doing most of his shows at corporate events and fund-raisers, rather than the standard club circuit.

“Nobody’s excluded if you do clean comedy,” Roberts says. “They may or may not like it — just like any other kind of comedy. But they’re not going to be offended by it.”

Fund-raisers are perhaps his favorite gigs. He’s helped churches, Alzheimer’s groups, even a community college that was raising money for children who can’t afford textbooks. Military benefits such as this are also dear to his heart.

“I’m at a point now where I can donate some of my time, and I enjoy doing it,” Roberts says. “It makes every laugh a little extra cool, knowing (those in the crowd are) there to help.”

———

Online:

www.rikroberts.com

www.elitecomedy.com

www.myspace.com/standupforourtroops

wade.coggeshall@flyergroup.com

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