A special comedy event is being held on Thursday, March 6th beginning at 8:00 pm at Crossroads, 78 North Avenue in Garwood. The event will feature ventriloquist Otto and George and comedians Jimmie Allinder, Rich Carucci, Keith Carnevale and Rich McDonald. It is sure to be a night of laughs with these many talents.
It all started for Otto Petersen when he was a 7-year old living in Staten Island. He was watching his favorite daytime children’s show, Winchell Mahoney Time. Two puppets called Jerry Mahoney and Knucklehead Smiff fascinated him. He knew there and there that’s the job for him! He then got a Danny O’Day doll, the kind with a string sticking out of the back of his neck that opens his mouth. He lives in a suitcase in his closet until this very day. But still something was wrong. He needed a real wooden boy like Geppedo, not a boy with wood. He went to a really cool Magic store at 1540 Broadway in the middle of Times Square, NY on the 17th floor called Louis Tannen’s. It was up on the 17th floor. There was George, locked in a glass cabinet. He was $350 and he wanted him. It took five months performing with the plastic doll which he now calls Chester to raise the money he needed to get his first real puppet. He has never looked back.
Since then, Otto and George is an adult-themed ventriloquist comedy team composed of comedian Otto Petersen (born July 29, 1960) and his dummy George Dudley. Petersen began performing with George as a street act in Manhattan and Brooklyn in the early 1970s. In the late 70s, the act moved into night clubs and began to evolve into the current act. Performing for over 30 years, Otto is well renowned as both a comedian and a ventriloquist. One notable aspect of his ventriloquism is that his lips still move while he speaks with the George voice, but the illusion of there being a different speaker is made with the sharp contrast in the George voice with his own. Otto speaks with a low, rather nervous voice whereas George speaks in a loud, harsher voice. He has performed in the streets to clubs and all over the USA and Canada and has been everywhere. He has been on TV and radio, Stern, Opie & Anthony.
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The event will also feature Stand Up Comedian Jimmie Allinder he is known to have the power over his fans; Comedian Rich Carucci is a second generation comedian whose grandfather was a vaudevillian song/dance and comedy act. Rich was a childhood actor who appeared on several Chef Boyardee commercials, off-broadway plays and The 1972 Ed Sullivan Easter Special, 'Clowning Around" with singer Tiny Tim, actress Lucie Arneaz and comedian Chuck McCann. He got into comedy writing while residing in Denver Colorado in the early 1990's and was published in several local papers & magazines. He began his standup comedy career in early 2001 and quickly became known as "The Steamroller of Comedy" for one good reason, he flattens everything and everyone in his path. Audiences near and wide are left gasping for air at Rich's in-your-face and at the same time personable style. No one and no subject is safe from "The Steamroller". Rich delivers blue collar everyman style entertainment that people can relate to and his no-nonsense sometimes politically incorrect (but never mean) humor endears him to audiences of all kind.
Comedian Keith Carnevale opens for Otto and George. When he isn’t, he can be found installing your floors. That’s right, the talented funny man from New Jersey works double duty as stand-up comic and “floorist”. Known to be on his grind, he was featured in a showcase with the hilarious Rachel Feinstein, also an Americas Comedy guest and featured at the Gotham Comedy Club in Manhattan.
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Comedian Rich McDonald, aka, Big Rich from Jersey, is addicted to making people laugh. Rich is a proud member of the Dumb Kids in the Back and he approaches every performance with the specific goal of making every single audience member "laugh their face completely off." Rich is also a stand-up comedian. He has performed throughout New Jersey and at famous venues in New York City such as Comix Comedy Club, New York Comedy Club and Parkside Lounge.
Tickets for this special comedy event are only $15 when purchased online at www.ticketfly.com or by visiting www.crossroadsatgarwood.com. Advance ticket purchase is highly recommended. Tickets can be purchased at the door for $20 per person. Food and beverages can be purchased separately throughout the evening.
