Carrot Top: There's no place like home

If you saw Carrot Top the last time he played Orlando in December 2015, you can expect a different show when the stand-up comedian stops here Tuesday.

“It’s always evolving, political stuff, new props, new jokes, topical things,” he said in a phone interview.

President Donald Trump inspires bits.

“Trump is like having a puppy: ‘What’d you do now?’ Every morning you wake up, ‘Oh God, what did he do now? What’d he chew?’” said Carrot Top, 52.

Yet the comedian, whose real name is Scott Thompson, cautions that he hasn’t turned into a political comedian.

“I don’t get in too deep with that, but I never have my whole career,” he said. “I think most people don’t want to talk about it. I think they come to my show to escape it. They come to have fun. If you went to see Bill Maher, that would be the norm. With me, my concept is to let them know I’m up with what’s going on, and then I move on.”

Before the last Orlando show, Carrot Top estimated that he hadn’t performed in Florida for a decade. This time around, Orlando is the first of five dates in the Sunshine State.

He said he hopes to play Florida regularly. After all, he has a home in Winter Park that he visits during breaks from his 40-weeks-a-year gig in Las Vegas. He plays six nights a week at the Luxor Hotel, where he has been based for 11 years.

“When I get to do these road shows, it’s more fun than it is stressful,” Carrot Top said. “It’s not like I’ve been on the road all year. It’s more of a treat, a change of scenery.”

When asked if he wanted to play Orlando again, the comedian thought back to 2015: “We had a blast. There’s nothing like going home.”

The comedian, who was born in Rockledge, grew up in Cocoa Beach and graduated from Cocoa High School in 1983. Playing his home state gives the Florida Atlantic University alumnus a chance to do a different kind of show.

“I love doing the story of my life, how I got to where I’m at, and the fact that I actually started in Orlando, shucking oysters,” he said. “And here I am doing a show. It’s always a fun memory lane kind of thing. I’m pulling together some more props from the era when I first started.“

He began in stand-up in 1986 and recalls that props were crucial from the start. He went on with a Crime Watch sign that he’d stolen, held it up and asked the audience how good their Crime Watch was.

“That was kind of my first visual. I did an observational take on it. People paid attention when I held up the sign,” he said. “I thought if I’d do more visual stuff, that would be fun. I came up with the prop idea.”

He describes the props as “absolutely essential” to the act and says early fans can see how much his act has evolved.

“I’ve been doing it for 30 years. I’ve gotten more comfortable, not in being a storyteller, but I do a lot more stand-up,” Carrot Top said.

These days he uses props, music and a big video wall behind him. “There are so many ways to get a joke across without having to tell it,” he said.