By ANDREW SPIESS
BG Independent News
With the PA loud and clear, Dave Crumbley approached the stage at the Hideaway—occupied by a microphone on a stand and the ubiquitous wooden bar stool—and asked the crowd, “Is it good to be alive at a comedy show in Bowling Green?”
The audience cheered, following Crumbley’s natural charisma. He brought up the energy of the audience by shouting past the microphone, pointing, and using other big gesticulations. He had a way of interacting with them with absolute positivity, making them feel welcome and comfortable to laugh.
Thursday was the first in a new series of weekly comedy shows arranged by Crumbley Comedy, a comedy booking and promoting organization based in the greater Toledo area and led by Dave Crumbley. Crumbley Comedy hosts shows in Toledo, Sylvania, Waterville, and now Bowling Green.
“Three years we’ve been running around doing different formats of events. And now we have a show almost every day, the vast majority of them free. And yeah, this was our first night here at the Hideaway in Bowling Green. You saw it packed out. Hopefully it gets even better.”
The show indeed filled every seat in the Hideaway and featured 11 comics from Toledo, Maumee, Lima, and Bowling Green among other towns and cities in northwest Ohio. Each comic performed five to ten minutes, with Crumbley hosting between each set, comprising 80 minutes of stand-up comedy.
Each comedian exhibited an obvious love for crafting jokes with satisfying setups and punchlines. Some of them told stories and others ranted through self-deprecating and observational humor, musing about a wide range of topics including student debt, race, their weight, having kids, and dating apps. The show ended with a headlining set by Luke “The Reaper” Mohler of the local improv comedy group, Bad Genetics.
Crumbley, originally from Dayton, spoke about his history with the building that houses The Hideaway—formerly Grumpy Dave’s Pub—noting that stand-up comedy has been performed there since the 1990s. He admitted that he spent eight years regularly performing stand-up in this building.
However, Crumbley has been performing for a total of 10 years, traveling nationally and internationally. Throughout Thursday’s show, he repeatedly invited everyone to try stand-up comedy by signing up, displaying a desire to spread and inspire a sense of humor in others.
“It’s professional comedians who come down to practice new material. It’s the best of the regional scene. It’s brand new performers. It’s people who have yet to perform,” Crumbley said about Crumbley Comedy. “This is not a gatekept thing at all. We need people to sign up for these shows. We always need new performers.”
“This is a very positive, chill learning environment. And you’ll work with really good talent and be able to learn from them, ask them questions, and people get good really quickly at Crumbley Comedy because they’re exposed to a lot of diverse talent who in some cases have been all over the country, all over the world.”
Follow Crumbley Comedy’s Linktree here to sign up to perform stand-up comedy and get involved with the local comedy scene.
