Shawn Hansen's Comedy Corner with Rick Cormier

By Shawn Hansen, The Valley Patriot

Published November 2009

Comedian Rick Cormier of Chelmsford is the guy you should see if you want to spend the night laughing.

“I started about five years ago. My wife and I were talking about divorce and I needed some other diversion I guess,” said Cormier.

At the early stages of his comedic career debuting at Lou’s Place in Tewksbury, Cormier said, “Lou’s Place…that reminds me of an ancient Chinese proverb. Man who not pay mortgage lose place.”

Developing his parodies he started submitting them to amiright.com followed by soundclick.com and has roughly 30 parodies to this day.

“To much acclaim, a lot of them got a lot of favorable reviews and then I started recording those,” said Cormier.

Cormier said his first parody was written for a friend who was getting married for the second time. He explained that his wife’s name was Maureen as everyone called her Mo.

“What I did was a parody to Frank Sinatra’s ‘My Way’ and called it ‘Mo’s Way.”’  Cormier said it was a big hit singing the song at his friends wedding so he figured he would perform parodies live. “Please Mr. Postman to She’s Lindsey Lohan” and “I left my heart in San Francisco to I wrecked my heart with spam and Crisco” are other parodies Cormier put together.

In Cormier’s career as a comedian he has appeared at a comedy studio in Boston, Giggles Comedy Club, Elks Halls, VFWs and Knights of Columbus’ and the Lowell Brewery. He has worked with comics such as Dave Russo, Larry Lee Lewis, Steve Sweeney, Ira Proctor, Paul Nardizzi, Mike Donavan, Artie Januario, and Johnny Joyce.

“I just wrote a theme song for the Johnny Joyce Roast,” said Cormier. His song fit perfectly because of the letters in his name. “You know its M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E. Well his name is J-O-H-N-N-Y J-O-Y-C-E, Johnny Joyce.”

Looking at other comics, Cormier said he always has been a fan of Rodney Dangerfield, Red Skelton, Bob Hope, Milton Berle, Rich Little, Billy Crystal, Steve Martin, Jonathan Winters, and Monty Python.

Cormier likes Frank Sinatra and The Beatles, and does “A day in the exodus.” He said this is the story of Moses set to a day in the life of The Beatles and has a lot of sound bites in it that he got off the Internet.

“I put Cheech and Chong in there. I did both Cheech and Chong and I have Charlton Heston in there from the 10 Commandments,” said Cormier. 

Sometimes Cormier does his own soundtracks and will work with mini-tracks isolating each instrument individually making the sound better and more realistic.

Aside parodies, Cormier also impersonates Stewie Griffin and Arnold Schwarzenegger and would like to incorporate more voices into his acts. Some of the jokes he does includes: “I've got a friend who is a mime... he's not talking to me.” “My ex-wife is a housekeeper...she got to keep my car too.” And “There are lots of new Blackberrys out there but, my favorite is still Halle.”

In life, Cormier is looking for a full time job while he sticks with comedy part time. He would like to become a recording engineer and has the qualifications to do so.

“I already know how to do it. I know the software, and can work with audio files. I know how to mix and edit. I know all of that stuff,” said Cormier.

Also, appearing at Giggles Comedy Club Nov. 6, Nov. 25, Nov. 27, and Nov. 28 will be one of Boston’s favorite comedians, Lenny Clarke. Clarke’s upcoming shows noting Friday, Nov. 6 will be the show to see, Steve Castraberti, owner of Giggles Comedy Club said, “That will be an interesting show because he’s going to do “Comics Come Home” to benefit the Cam Neeley Foundation Saturday night.”

Castraberti said a number of comedians will show up that night to keep their routine sharp and prepare for “Comics Come Home” the following night at the Agganis Arena at Boston University.

“Adam Ferrera from Rescue Me and perhaps a few other guys that are going to be doing the Saturday night show will be here,” said Castraberti explaining that comedian Bill Burr may be there as well.

Castraberti said Clarke does his traditional night before Thanksgiving show which usually includes a dozen comics because everyone wants to say they worked with Lenny Clarke. For the night before Thanksgiving show, Paul D’Angelo, Al Ducharme, Tony V, Artie Januario, and Brad Mastrangelo, Kevin Knox, Johnny Pizzi are scheduled to appear with Clarke as more comics could appear at the show.

“We’ve been doing standup here for 20 years. Myself, and my partner Mike Clarke, who happens to be Lenny’s brother, which gives us access to Lenny,” said Castraberti explaining that Lenny doesn’t do comedy anywhere else.

Comedy shows at Giggles are on Friday and Saturday nights with the exception of an occasional holiday night and fundraising night. For fundraising, Giggles Comedy Club is offered to charitable events, sports organizations, or schools for the night for a flat rate and will be given unlimited pizza for a 75-minute show.

While enjoying a night out filled with laughter from different comedians, you can also order a bite to eat at the restaurant side of Giggles whose been in business since 1961.

If you are interested in going to a comedy show at Giggles, call 1-781-233-9950, or visit their Web site at www.princepizzeria.com/giggles-comedy.cfm. They are located at 517 Broadway in Saugus, Mass. 01906. Most shows are $20 per person, excluding special events. For Rick Cormier

Journalist Shawn Hansen’s joke of the month: “Yeah, so the other day I covered Town Meeting. At the meeting, people were talking about Article 15, Article 29, Article 8, and Article 26… I said, rookies… I have written 62 articles in my career.”

If anyone would like to have a joke published in my monthly column, send jokes to smjokes@aol.com. In the email, include your first and last name, and where you’re from. Each month I will pick one or two jokes to run in my column.  Thank you in advance for your joke(s), and keep it clean.