Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, August 19, 1995 TAG: 9508220018
SECTION: SPECTATOR PAGE: S-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB THOMAS ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES LENGTH: Medium
``Long time, no see,'' Alex Valdez cracks to begin his comedy routine, and the nightclub audience laughs. ``Good-lookin' crowd here tonight.'' Another yock.
How can a comic draw laughter from such routine lines? Easy. Alex Valdez is blind.
``Look Who's Laughing,'' an hour special devoted to disabled comedians, drew laughter and praise when it appeared on PBS last November. The show gets a reprise Tuesday on public broadcasting stations (at 10 p.m. on WBRA-Channel 15).
Independent television producer R.J. ``Randy'' Johnson was the driving force behind ``Look Who's Laughing.'' He explains that the show originated in the late '80s when he was producing a TV documentary on disabled actors called ``Breaking Ground.''
``Many actors who had disabilities were getting some guest-star roles on shows like `Highway to Heaven' and `T.J. Hooker,''' he said. ``The show appeared on KTLA locally and got two Emmy nominations here in L.A.
``We met some people with disabilities who were starting out doing standup comedy. I said to my co-producer: `We're doing interviews with disabled actors and cutting away to clips of shows they were in. If you could cut away to the same person doing jokes about their disabilities in a nightclub, you'd have a show that would be very watchable and very entertaining.'
``In the years into the early '90s, I kept my eye out, watching disabled comics get more and more exposure.
``The really important event was that Jay Leno took the risk - if you want to call it that - of putting a comic with disabilities on the `Tonight' show. First was Brett Leake, who has muscular dystrophy, and then Kathy Buckley, who has impaired hearing. Chris Fonseca [cerebral palsy] did `Arsenio' shortly afterward.
``Then I said, `Now is getting to be the time to make the push.'''
As with all independent producers, Johnson faced the problem of financing. The TV networks turned him down, as did several foundations. He finally got a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, as well as from Dustin Hoffman (``Rain Man'') and a foundation set up by Sen. Bob Dole, both concerned with helping the disabled.
When ``Look Who's Laughing'' first appeared on PBS, the critical response was enthusiastic.
Lynn Elber of The Associated Press wrote that it ``defies us to keep our prejudices about the talented men and women we're laughing with, not at.'' John J. O'Connor of the New York Times said, ``As bridge builders, these performers are extraordinarily skillful.'' And Drew Jubara of the Atlanta Constitution called the show ``by turns outrageous, provoking and moving.''
The show, which also includes J.D. England, a paraplegic, and Geri Jewell, who has cerebral palsy, retains its impact.
Valdez comments that he had given up drinking ``because I started hearing double.'' Buckley remarks that she spent two years in a class for retarded children until the school discovered her hearing loss - ``and they call me slow.''
The biggest hit is scored by Fonseca. His speech is halting and his body movements shaky, but his timing rivals Bob Hope's in his prime.
``My sister taught me to tie my shoes - together,'' he says. ``When I was 5, I ran away from home. Three days later, they found me at the end of the driveway. With my shoes tied together.''
Also: ``I used to think handicapped parking was a good thing. Until my wife found out they have it at the mall.''
And: ``I'm handicapped and a Mexican. You know what that means. If you make me mad, I'm gonna pull out my knife and we're both gonna get hurt.''
The standup routines are interspersed with interviews in which the comics explain how they entered the comedy field, how they convert their audiences from pity to laughter, and how they deal with their disabilities.
Fonseca and his wife comment about how people wonder if they are able to have sex. They offer proof: their newborn baby.
by CNB