Alano-Martin will have five shows this weekend starting Thursday night with a benefit show for My Sister’s Closet. All of the proceeds from this show will go to MSC, a nonprofit that provides free workforce clothing and training to low-income and at-risk women seeking employment.
“The benefit show will do well because Bloomington people like to come out and support local businesses,” Jared Thompson, owner of the Comedy Attic, said.
Alano-Martin will also draw people in because Bloomington natives are familiar with his name, Thompson said.
Alano-Martin started his comedy career in Bloomington but now tours the states and has appeared on the Bob and Tom Show, Laughs and at several comedy festivals.
Before getting into comedy, Alano-Martin toured North America playing in bands and as a band tour manager for 10 years. This experience and his late start into the comedy scene gives his style a different edge than others, Thompson said.
Instead of sticking to just the basic relationship or political jokes, Alano-Martin uses his background in rock music to create jokes and pokes fun at his blue-collar background.
Thompson said he believes Alano-Martin is successful partially because of his background in music. Since Alano-Martin was used to working on something for a long time, it prevented him from becoming burnt out.
“One of the things you can really run the risk of doing is burning yourself out,” Thompson said. “And the younger you are the more likely it is you’ll get burned out. So if you’ve got experiences trying your hand and it taking time to get good at something, your expectations will be more at where they should be starting out.”
Alano-Martin said he is looking forward to performing again at the Comedy Attic, which he calls his home club. This will be his first time headlining the club for a full week, though he has headlined nights at a time and weeks at other clubs.
The Comedy Attic brings in a different type of audience and is slightly smaller than other comedy clubs, which is why Alano-Martin enjoys performing there.
“The Comedy Attic audience is one of the most educated audiences I’ve seen,” Alano-Martin said. “The audience is more willing to go with you on things that are a bit more experimental.”
Opening for Alano-Martin is San Francisco-based comedian Irene Tu. Alano-Martin asked Tu to perform and said he’s excited to do a show with her. They met at the first ever Limestone Comedy Festival.
Of Tu, Thompson said people should come to the show to see Alano-Martin, but also for Tu because her humor is a breath of fresh air in the straight white male dominated comedy scene.
“Her comedy is smart above all else,” Alano-Martin said. “She’s a very intelligent comedian. Might have been a bad idea to have her open for me because I’ll look real dumb.”
The benefit show ?Thursday is at 8 p.m., and tickets are $12. Friday and Saturday have shows at both 8 p.m. and 10:30 p.m., and tickets are $10.
Alano-Martin encourages people to come out to his show despite it being a holiday weekend.
“Well you know we can all agree that America is pretty much done,” Alano-Martin said. “It’s over. Stop hanging on to this Fourth of July thing. It’s a falling empire, and you need to laugh and forget about it.”
