After his September 9, 2022, show in Russellville was canceled due to an injury, the James Gregory Show has been rescheduled for Sunday, January 15, 2023, at 3 p.m., at the Roxy Theatre.
Gregory's September date, along with several other scheduled appearances, was postponed after the comedian fell and injured his leg, requiring hospitalization.
He's rescheduled most of those dates and is back to performing a couple shows each week. Gregory offered his own unique flavor in describing his improving physical condition.
“Moving slowly, but still moving,” Gregory told the FFP last week. “But I'm excited to be back out there. In recent years, I started to prefer the closer to home, the better. The hard work isn't the show itself. The hard work is the traveling—packing the suitcase, getting in the car and checking into hotels. That takes the time and work. Being on stage is the easiest part of the day.”
Gregory wore many hats before he launched into comedy in 1982.
The legendary comedian, known as the “Funniest Man in America,” Gregory worked at a small country grocery store when he was 12. He went on to work for the United States Department of Defense, the United States Postal Service and he was in sales for more than a decade.
At age 36, Gregory became the emcee for shows at Atlanta's Punch Line comedy club. It was February 17, 1982, when Gregory did his first set as a stand-up comedian. 40 years later, he's still making audiences laugh.
Gregory did not dub himself the “Funniest Man in America.” Instead, that moniker had its origins with a Huntsville Times entertainment columnist named Billy Joe Cooley.
“In 1986, I was doing a show at a Huntsville comedy club and he was in the audience, but I didn't know it,” Gregory explained. “There was a paragraph in his Friday column that said he'd 'never heard of this guy Gregory before, but he's got to be the funniest man in America.'
“Back then, there was no Internet, so you mailed a press kit to the papers of the towns you were coming to perform. So I put that article in my press kit and a month later I was doing a show in St. Louis, and the St. Louis Post Dispatch mentioned that coming to the Funny Bone this weekend was the 'funniest man in America. Then it was in a Fort Worth, Texas, newspaper, and it appeared we may have found something,” Gregory added.
Gregory will come to Russellville's Roxy Theatre for the first time on January 15th. Tickets are available online at https://www.itickets.com/events/461964, or by calling 1-800-965-9324. Tickets are $50 for Gold Circle seats (first 12 rows) and $40 for general admission. More than 130 Gold Circle tickets have been sold, so only limited quantity remain for the premium seats.
The show's promoters said all tickets from the September 9, 2022, show will be honored at the January 15, 2023 afternoon show. The promoters also announced there will be no refunds on tickets previously purchased.
The 76-year-old Gregory makes his home in Woodstock, Ga., about 20 miles northwest of Atlanta.
When you see a James Gregory show, it's more than just a stand-up comedian firing off one liners. Gregory is a master storyteller who weaves humor and Southern common sense into his hilarious observations on 'life from the front porch.'
He talks about snooping in his vegetarian neighbors' refrigerator and finding a bottle of mustard. What does a vegetarian need with mustard? Aha! Hidden behind the carton of almond milk was a pack of weenies!
And Gregory has no problem poking fun at himself along the way.
They have officially categorized obesity as a disease! Fat people can't help it. It's like polio. Maybe someday they'll find a cure! Now, nobody really believes obesity is a disease. Where did I get this (patting his rotund belly)? Got too close to a fat person! They sneezed, and now I got it!
Gregory's stories are a crafty mix of modern problems looked at through a perspective of when life was simpler. Gregory describes that era as “before the death of common sense.”
His shows are primarily devoid of vulgarity, with the exception of a word or two here or there. It's family friendly humor that can be enjoyed by all ages.
“I have lived long enough to know people, know life,” Gregory said. “My comedy is based on my life experiences. It's real, it's funny and the audience loves it. That's why I'm still in business.”
And you can't argue with that...
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