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Manteca comic on stage in Modesto
COMEDY--Anthony-K-PIC-LT
Mantecas Anthony Krayenhagen - photo by Photo courtesy Russell Reno

FAST FACTS

• WHAT: Chris Ricci and Pretending to Care present Stupid Cupid Comedy featuring Anthony K (Krayenhagen)

• WHEN: Saturday, Feb. 14

• WHERE: The Fat Cat Music House and Longue, 930 11th Street Modesto

• COST: Tickets, which are still available, are $10 and are available at the door. 

• WHAT YOU’LL FIND: Comedy of the highest order by some of the best comedians that Northern California has to offer.

They call it the green room. 

And in the space directly behind the stage of Modesto’s Fat Cat, the walls are actually painted green.

But there’s nothing really special about the space. There’s a table and a couch and enough room for a group of people to congregate and socialize before stepping out in front of what is, hopefully, a packed house. 

It’s who is actually in that space that makes it special. 

On Saturday Manteca comic – or Modesto comic or Ceres comic or Valley comic, depending on who you ask – Anthony Krayenhagen (Anthony K) will once again be playing a home stage in front of a hometown crowd. 

This isn’t the biggest place in Modesto that he’s conquered – last year he played the Foster Family Theater at the Gallo Center which reached capacity. 

A total of 444 seats to be exact. The same number, as fellow comic Chris Teicheira pointed out, of days that the American hostages were held in Iran in 1980. 

Fortunately it was just a coincidence. 

Before he walks confidently out onto the stage at the Fat Cat on Saturday, however, Krayenhagen will be walking away from a lot of the source material that brought the house down the last time he stood under those lights. 

The newly single twentysomething will be taking a different approach before the Valentine’s Day crowd, and according to Teicheira – his roommate and podcast comedy partner – will talk about some of the subtle changes that come after getting out of a long-term relationship. 

The bits don’t come easy for comedians. A lot of times they’re based on life experience, and before a comic hits a stage like the Fat Cat – where a packed house both upstairs and downstairs is hanging onto every word of a hometown guy who has had his name on the marquee for weeks – it has been honed and crafted and tore down and rebuilt at open mics and appearances and solo time while driving in the car to work.

It’s not as easy as stepping out onto the stage and letting everything just flow out. And that’s why those that make it seem that simple are considered among the best in the world – they’re the gold standard, and the ones that are talked about by the throng of comedians that come out to support a hometown guy like Krayenhagen when he steps out onto that stage. 

That’s where the Green Room magic happens. What is about to take place on the stage isn’t talked about. Comedy specifics or how one comedian just absolutely destroys those who have differing opinions  is hyped more than it should be. And the bond among those who know what it’s like to write down a piece, craft it, work it and spend the countless hours pouring of whether to put in a pause here, when he break for commercial couldn’t be stronger – a group of mostly young, aspiring artists all doing the behind-the-scenes work to make the crowd happy. 

He’s doing it all with new material. 

He’s doing it all with a new set.

Time to pick-up the Magic 8-Ball and see where he stand on this. 

Will it rain down the “belly laughs” that Chris Teicheira described several years ago? This weatherman says yes. 

Should you bring your kids to this show?

Decidedly not. Way too many adult themes. You’re better off going to the movies and finding something a little bit more family friendly if that’s what you’re into. 

But if you’re searching for comedy, and you want somebody local, there are plenty of place turn.

Currently there are two movie stars – Timothy Olyphant and Jeremy Renner – that claim the city as their hometown. 

Will there be a third?

“Home to Anthony Krayenhagen.”

“Home to Christ Teicheira – the guy from the dairy that writes amazing music from the tractor and sends them out with other unmentionables”

Could be. Could very well be. 

All of that, however, will come together over a few beers in the green room. 

That’s where it all starts and stops. That’s where the magic happens. 

That’s where the funny – and the drive to push it – is born. 

 

To contact reporter Jason Campbell email jcampbell@mantecabulletin.com or call 209.249.3544.