LEARY REVVING UP FOR ‘COMEDY CHAOS’
Worcester’s own Denis Leary is amped for the annual Comics Come Home spectacle this fall — and partially because it’s due time for a cathartic vent sesh.
“I’m always venting my anger at someone or something,” said Leary, who’s hosting the event. “Getting to do it in front of 13,000 people is a privilege. I don’t see a shrink. The Comics Come Home crowd is my annual psychiatric appointment.”
The night of comedy, which was founded by Leary and Bruins President Cam Neely, elicits laughs, while raising money for The Cam Neely Foundation for Cancer Care. This year’s show, coming up on Nov. 18., is bringing Lenny Clarke, Jimmy Fallon, Craig Ferguson, Jim Gaffigan, Jared Freid, Lil Rel Howery, Robert Kelly and Jeff Ross to the stage.
As for what Leary is looking forward to this time around, he’s got his eyes on his fashionably bold friend and Boston favorite, Mr. Clarke. “I always look forward to what color Lenny’s pants, shirt and shoes will be,” Leary said. “For 23 straight years he has been a human festival of neon clothing.” And let’s not forget about latenight host and public Red Sox fan Jimmy Fallon, who apparently has Leary laughing before he even starts his set.
“For sheer comedy adrenalin,” Leary said, “whenever Jimmy Fallon is on the show, he will wait until a couple of days before to come up with a song for us to sing together and the first time we try it out will be during sound check at the Garden around 5 p.m. — then we tweak it and rewrite it so the first time we actually perform it is onstage live in front of the crowd. That’ll get your pistons firing.
“Right before I introduce him the two of us are already laughing at the total comedy chaos of what we are about to do,” he continued. “Plus the guy can sing his (expletive) off. When I’m onstage performing with him, half of my brain is always just amazed by his musical talent. The other half is thinking: what the (expletive) is the next line in this song?”
You had us at total comedy chaos.