• Comedian James Gregory performs at the Montgomery Performing Arts Centre on Thursday, July 21, at 7:30 p.m.
• Ticket prices range from $23 to $33 and are available at ticketmaster.com
• For more ticket information, contact the MPAC box office at 334-481-5100.

James Gregory will always be known as the “Funniest Man in America,” a comedian who has been practicing his own brand of clean comedy for more than 33 years.

“When I say clean, I don’t mean Christian,” said Gregory. “Just a clean, decent show with no bad language.”

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Of course there will probably be a few burps, some wheezing and a necessary cry of “I ate more than I planned to!” at some point in the show.

When they’re not bent over laughing, what should get the attention of people across the River Region is how much this Georgia native loves Alabama. It’s where he earned his name. Where he’s played shows throughout his whole career.

It’s also where he’ll be bringing a whole batch of fun for his show at the Montgomery Performing Arts Centre on Thursday, July 21, at 7:30 p.m.

“I love Montgomery,” said Gregory. “I love the whole state of Alabama.”

We recently had a chance to chat with Gregory about his life, his comedy, and how he’s got no plans to stop touring anytime soon.

How long has it been since you’ve been in the Montgomery area?

“I think I was there about two years ago. I’ve done shows over at the Renaissance Center several times over the years. I’m very familiar with Montgomery.”

How have the tours been going for you lately?

“They’re always good. Always good. I’m always busy.”

Ever get tired of the road?

“Well, I’ve always said that no matter what job you have, and no matter how much you love your job, there’s no such thing as a perfect job, you know what I mean? Every once in a while there’s a bad day. The travel is probably the worst part of my whole career. Once I get to the venue, and once I get on stage, I’m a happy guy.”

I’ve read that while your act has Southern subjects, you don’t consider yourself to be a Southern comedian. What’s the difference?

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“I think people have just put that label on me forever and ever and ever, and I think it’s because I have a Southern accent, you know. But I am not one of those people. I do not do jokes on or make fun of Southerners. I never use the word South or Southerner. I don’t make fun of Yankees. I don’t pick on the folks up in New York. I just do a show, which I think it just based on down home humor. Common sense humor.”

I understand you started out in sales. What was it you sold?

“I was in sales for about 10 years. I was not a clerk. I did not sit at a cash register at a retail store. I did what was called the in-home presentation type sales. This was back in the ’70s… I sold encyclopedias at one time. And there’s no such thing now as encyclopedias…. I have sold fire alarm systems. Burglar alarm systems. I’ve sold everything that involved in home sales.”

Did meeting people like that help you later on when you were developing your comedy act?

“I think so. By the time I got into the comedy business, I didn’t know anything about comedy at the time, but I was not afraid to talk to people. I had made a living talking to strangers… I’ve never had stage fright, effectively. My problem was trying to be funny.”

You started out trying comedy at The Punchline Comedy Club.

“Yeah. It’s kind of interesting about the Punchline in Atlanta, Ga. A lot of folks don’t realize this because comedy clubs have been so popular over the years, or at least were. Prior to 1982, there was no such thing as live stand up comedians appearing anywhere below the Maxon-Dixon line. The only place you could see comedians prior to 1982 was Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Boston or Chicago… When I was a kid, I loved watching those stand up comedians on television. But it never occurred to me that I wanted to be a part of the business. So when a club opened in 1982, the shows were Tuesday and Sunday, but every Tuesday was what they called open mic night or amateur night. So me and a couple of my friends would go out there every Tuesday, not to be part of the show, but to watch the show. And I had friends who always thought that I was funny, and they kept daring me to go up on stage.”

Amateurs don’t get paid, right?

“You can’t just knock on a door at a comedy club or theater and tell someone who owns the place, ‘I’m a comedian. How much does that pay?’… We all go through the starving years, you know, where the first few years you work and work and work, and it seems like you’re barely making any money, or making no money. A lot of people who started in this business can’t last very long because they cannot go that long without having income coming in.”

Do you still play the clubs?

“Most of my work are theaters these days. There’s only two or three comedy clubs where I still perform…. Unlike nightclubs, there’s no age restrictions in theaters… With theaters, parents can bring their kids. If I’m going to sell two tickets to Mr. and Mrs. Jones, I’ve sold two tickets. But if those two people bring their two children, I’ve sold four tickets. And then they leave happy, and they will tell other people.”

Give us the story about how you became known as the “Funniest Man in America”.

“In 1986, I was performing at a club in Huntsville, Alabama… I was doing a show on a Wednesday night, I believe. And in the audience, and I didn’t know he was in the audience, but in the audience was a newspaper journalist (Billy Jo Cooley). He was a guy who did a column twice a week for the Huntsville Times. He was an entertainment columnist. He was always writing about what was going on in that part of Alabama… He did that for about 30 years. He saw my show. Friday, the newspaper came out and he wrote a column about my show. He was very impressed with the show. And he mentioned in that column, ‘I had never heard of this guy, but he’s got to be the funniest man in America.’… Anytime we had something good printed about us, we would take it and make copies of it, and we would include that in our publicity. I made copies of that and I higlighted that paragraph about the funniest man in America, and I would send those out to the upcoming cities that I was going to. A few weeks later, I’m working in St. Louis, Missouri. In the St. Louis Dispatch, a very renound newspaper, there was a listing of the upcoming events. And it said, ‘coming next week at the Funnybone is the funniest man in America, James Gregory.’ They said that. I didn’t say it. And then a few weeks later I went to another place and they said the same thing. And I got this idea. I said, you know what? I’m just going to use that… So I just took that paragraph and I started promoting upcoming engagements as the funniest man in America, and included those comments… It kind of mushroomed being the funniest man in America.”

I had a chance to talk with Bill Engvall recently, and he emphasized how important giving a clean comedy show has been to his career. That’s something you emphasize in your shows as well, isn’t it?

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“Right. Absolutely. And I’ll tell you why that is. It has nothing to do with morality… In private, I use foul language quite a bit myself, OK. But I learned rather quickly what happens. There’s some people who just don’t like foul language. In other words, they won’t go back to that same show… But no one, no one, leaves the show and says he was funny, but I’m not going back because he’s not dirty. To me it was just a business thing. Why would I want to alienate a percentage of the people.”

Do you do much political comedy?

“I don’t call it political. I do a little bit of social commentary if I can keep it funny and make a point. I never mention an individual’s name on stage. Never mention an individual’s name. Never use the word Democrat or Republican… I don’t mention who’s running for office. Anything like that at all. I can do some humor about the crazy people out there and now crazy this country is getting… There’s no point in me alienating half the audience. Most people go to a show to get away from the nightly news.”

What is your definition of funny? What makes you laugh?

“A lot of things make me laugh. When I see somebody win the lottery for example, and they win $12 million… And someone asks them now that you’ve got $12 million, what are you going to do with all that money. And they’ll say things like, ‘The number one thing we want to do is replace the screened porch. We want to trade our pickup and get a new pickup. And then if there’s any left…’”

Do you have a favorite routine?

“I think I love the routine, and I have to do it every show, that’s what I call funeral home gossip. We always respond to any tragedy in life with food, like a covered dish. Whether someone is sitting in the hospital or somebody dies, and you show up at their home, it’s just a tradition that we bring a covered dish, as you know. But once we get there, we spend more time talking about the food and who brought which dish than we do talking about the poor fellow who passed away. I could do a whole routine about funeral home gossip. Also, I always close my show with a routine about our favorite relative, who is an aunt who has always been overweight, who is going to start her diet tomorrow.”

Got to ask, in years past did people ever get you mixed up with the actor James Gregory? I know he was born about 35 years before you.

“I’m glad you know who he is. He was a great actor, by the way. I bet a lot of people know him because he was on a sitcom. Remember ‘Barney Miller’? Remember that show? I know him because he was such a character actor over the years. He played a part in so many westerns. ‘Gunsmoke’ and ‘Big Valley.’… But I will say this though. Years ago in Orlando, Florida, I was in Orlando at the time. You’re in the newspaper business, so you know how this works. Usually, most newspapers have a photo of a lot of people in case, when somebody dies, they can put that photo in their newspaper. I’m assuming that’s what happens. So James Gregory passed away. The Orlando Sentinel newspaper wrote the obituary, but put my picture on it… And I got so many calls that day because people around the country thought that maybe I had died… But overall, nobody gets me confused on that.”

Any new projects coming up?

“No major projects. I just do what I’ve always done. You know, just tour the country meeting all these fine folks. I don’t work quite as busily as I used to, but that’s by choice. But I’m still out there almost on a daily basis. I took a few weeks off recently, like a four week vacation for he summertime. But if you check my website anytime and check my tour schedule for my appearances, you’ll see that I’m always busy. People ask me all the time, am I doing to retire? And I go yeah, when I get the right six numbers on Powerball.”

Anything you’d like to say to all your fans here in the River Region?

“Just tell them that I love, I love the great state of Alabama. It’s been a second home. A lot of people may not know this. When I started my career as an amateur, and then they started paying me to be the MC, which means that I was the first guy on the stage, the first paid job outside of my state of Georgia was in the state of Alabama. I went to Birmingham and I got paid to do comedy for the first time outside of my state. And I’ve been coming to Alabama at least every six months somewhere in this state ever since 1983. I’m in my 33rd year of visiting all those folks in Birmingham, in Huntsville, in Mobile, Montgomery. I just love it. Just absolutely love it.”

You can follow James Gregory online at funniestman.com.

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