A FETE FOR AREA COMIC

Local comedian marks milestone birthday with a show at Cozzy’s

Getting older is no laughing matter — at least not the way it used to be, when for example Jack Benny claimed to be 39 for decades.

But Hampton comedian Averell Carter turns 50 next week, and he will celebrate in his favorite way — by getting together with friends and making people laugh at Cozzy’s Comedy Club. His birthday show is scheduled for Wednesday (two days after he officially becomes AARP eligible) and will feature short sets by other top local comics including Brett Leake, Bo Dacious and Mike Easmeil.

“I still feel good,” Carter said. “I just feel good slower. When I run up or down the steps, it doesn’t hurt. It’s just slower. But you just have to accept that.

“Four or five years ago, me and my son lowered the basketball hoop to 9 feet and had a dunk contest — and I wore them out. I was like Doctor J. But the next day, I couldn’t stand. I got up and fell right to the floor. That’s when I was 45, so you know it’s worse now that I’m turning 50.”

But he’s not complaining. Carter was a touring comic for about 15 years, but in 2013 he decided it was time to stay home with his family. Now he works 12-hour shifts at an auto parts plant and works in a half-dozen or so stand-up gigs

a year. Cozzy’s — one of the places where he cut his teeth as a young comic — remains a favorite hangout.

In 2015 he invited friends to join him on stage at Cozzy’s to celebrate his 25th anniversary as a comedian. So it seemed natural to do the same for his 50th birthday.

“It’s a great place to work, because the audience is right on top of you with no buffer,” he said. “The front row can reach up and tie your shoes. And the low ceiling, so you don’t feel like you’re in a cavern. When that room is full, and the people are laughing, it just rocks.

“And they’re all different people — black and white and Latino and different ages. But when they’re all laughing, you can’t tell. They’re just people who are having a good time. At the end of the night, they’re laughing together, and that makes it sweeter.”

Back when he was a touring comic, working up to 40 weeks a year, it was not hard to stay sharp and keep his timing. But Carter said that becomes harder when a comedian works sporadically.

“It ain’t like riding a bike,” he said with a laugh. “You take two weeks off of that bike and then you get back on, you’re fine. Take five years off, you can still ride, but you’re rocking back and forth a bit.”

He is constantly writing new material. Just because a comedian isn’t on stage as much, that doesn’t mean he or she stops coming up with bits and punch lines. Carter doesn’t tend to be political on stage, but draws material from his life and his family.

Before his set on Wednesday night, he will sit down and go over his notes. He may get up on stage for a few minutes this weekend at Cozzy’s “Sunday Funnies” night.

But when he gets up for his birthday show on Wednesday, he knows what to expect.

“It’s nervous excitement and joy,” he said. “If you do it right, the laughter comes. You get those first couple laughs, and you settle in. Then you’ve got some familiar jokes that you know are going to work, and you know it’s going to go like it’s supposed to.

“Spending that night with friends, everyone doing their thing on stage — that’s the best. I don’t know what more I could ask for.”