Comedian to come home

Gallagher will perform Nov. 4, at the Lorain Palace Theater

Only a few people may know that Leo Anthony Gallagher Jr., better known as Gallagher, lived in Lorain as a youngster.

Gallagher, a comedian who rose to fame smashing watermelons during his acts, recently spoke about his memories of Lorain and his career during a phone interview with The Morning Journal.

Gallagher will perform “Gallagher Comes Home: The Last Smash” at 8 p.m., Nov. 4, at the Lorain Palace Theater, 617 Broadway.

“My grandmother, my father’s mother, was the head housekeeper of the Antlers Hotel in Lorain,” he said. “My parents met at a skating rink in Grafton and we lived at 615 Lehigh Ave.”

Gallagher, 71, who lives in Los Angeles, said he fondly looks back at his childhood in Lorain.

“I remember my teacher, Mrs. Callen, putting me in a reading group and I don’t remember learning to read, but I knew it was something I was good at,” he said. Gallagher said he recalls being in the cub scouts. “I remember being friends with my Den mother’s son and he ended up giving me a picture of us as kids

years later,” Gallagher said. “I also remember going on a train to Cleveland for one of our scout trips. That was the beginning of my life on the road.”

He said his family moved to Florida when he was nine.

“My father wanted to be in warmer weather year round,” Gallagher said. “It was also a situation where I could see the old steel mill from where we lived, and my parents believed the mill contributed to the trouble I had breathing.”

Gallagher’s family moved to South Tampa, and he graduated from the University of South Florida with a degree in chemical engineering.

“I love chemistry,” he said. “I was a chief chemist by the age of 21, and it wasn’t a situation where I wanted to abandon that job for a life of fame or anything like that.”

Gallagher said he was led to comedy one night when he saw comedian Jim Stafford perform.

“Jim used a joke that he took from one of George Carlin’s acts and I had a feeling I could help him,” he said. “I slightly changed the joke and it got a

lot laughs.

“Jim approached me afterward with a job offer and I wrote for him for five years.”

Gallagher said he wrote his Sledge-O-Matic act during his time traveling with Stafford.

“Sledge-o-matic rhymes with veg-o-matic, and that’s pretty much where that came from,” Gallagher said. “Once Jim became famous, I took my act and aimed for TV.”

Gallagher said he uses prop comedy to prevent someone from stealing his act.

“It’s a situation where I would travel and do shows at the smaller venues, and often times, the more famous comics would watch my act before they performed at the larger sites,” he said. “This is often where you see a comic steal an act, but the prop prevents that because you can easily point to the prop and call the comic out on it.”

Gallagher’s most frequent prop is a watermelon, and he has perfected his watermelon smashing technique over the years.

“I learned, after about 20 years of doing it wrong, that smashing a full watermelon isn’t the way to go,” he said. “The juices fly further if I slice the watermelon into thirds.

“That’s just a small example of how the act has changed

over the years. I think I’ve spent around $250,000 on watermelons, but it’s all been worth it.”

Gallagher said he largely shaped modern entertainment.

“It’s all about the presentation,” he said. “I sought to get the crowd involved and really display some showmanship.

“I look for crowd feedback and I make sure they are having a good time. There are a lot of comics who don’t worry about these things, but I feel it makes a difference.”

Gallagher said he has returned to Lorain and it brought back good memories.

“I saw the streets I walked as a kid and the house I lived in; it was surreal,” he said. “I always love coming back to Lorain and putting on a good show; it’s my hometown.”

Artie Fletcher, a manager and comedian, also will perform with Gallagher.

“It should be a great show,” Fletcher said. “This tour will be Gallagher’s last, so this is all about him saying a big farewell to the fans.

“We’ll be meeting with fans an hour and a half before the show to sign autographs and take pictures. It’ll be a great time.”

Tickets for the show range from $42 to $25. For tickets, visit http://lorainpalace.org/ schedule-events.