By John Benson
Correspondent@News-Herald.com

You never know what you’re going to get from Northeast Ohio-based stand-up comedian and Kirtland native Jeff Blanchard, who returns to Bogey’s Comedy Club for shows this weekend at the Willoughby Hills venue. In fact, that uncertainty also applies to Blanchard, who is never quite sure what kind of response his opinionated comedic style will elicit from audiences. “I am not into pop culture; I’m more current event-driven,” said Russell Township resident Blanchard, a 1984 Kirtland High School graduate. “Especially when I’m doing shows in the Cleveland area, we’ll talk about the town. I figure I know a lot about it — I might as well make it Cleveland-centric. So I tend to take what I believe is common sense and just push it. So it’s political, social, it’s more stream-of-conscious. It’s not written, and I don’t know what I’m going to say.

“I don’t even know what I’m going to talk about,” he continued. “People say, ‘You do a lot of religious and political stuff, so did anyone ever get into your face?’ And I said it happened two times when somebody was really upset. One was some guy who is living in Ashtabula got mad about the jokes I made about Sarah Palin. And the most surprising was the woman who got (expletive) off because I made fun of Bon Jovi. She just went out of her mind.”

Getting a reaction out of people is something Blanchard has been doing seemingly his whole life. Not only did he take acting classes, from ages 6 to 18, and appear in numerous productions at the Fine Arts Association, but he began his stand-up career in 1986 at the old Hilarities location in downtown Cleveland. From that point, the comedian-actor took any gig he could to help support his love affair with improvisational comedy. Blanchard was co-founder of the popular improv comedy troupes Cabaret Dada Improvisational Theater and Something Dada Improvisational Comedy Co.

“As unorganized and unfocused as it sounds, I was just happy performing and I didn’t really care what medium it was as long as I got to perform,” Blanchard said. “I never really went for the biggest paycheck. I went years working at Sea World in the summer producing and announcing shows because it would afford me enough money that the rest of the year I could do whatever theater shows I wanted and not worry about getting paid.”

Today Blanchard, whose acting resume includes film roles in “The Babe Ruth Story,” “Striking Point” and “Counterforce,” is part of the new WNCX-FM 98.5 morning show with partner Scott Miller.

As far as his return to Bogey’s Comedy Club, Blanchard said he’s setting the bar high and encourages crowd participation.

“We’re going to change the world, man,” Blanchard laughed. “You have to have something to say. So we’ll come out. I’ll talk to everybody, and we’ll hash a few things out. I’m one of those comics that doesn’t care if you want to talk, as long as you have something to say. But hey, if you want to try to heckle then we have to go. It’ll be a battle.”

He added, “We’ll also talk about the gambling issue and some of the stimulus package nonsense and the cash for clunkers stuff. I always say everyone is afraid right now to poke fun at President (Barack) Obama because they’re afraid to be dubbed a racist, but since I found out he’s biracial, I’ll just make fun of the white part. So I’ll be OK.”

Details

Who: Jeff Blanchard with Rick Allen and the MC is Mike Gershe.

When: 8 & 10 p.m. today and Saturday.

Where: Bogey’s Comedy Club, 28060 Chardon Road, Willoughby Hills.

Tickets: $8 to $15.

Info: 440-944-9000 or www.bogeyscomedyclub.com.