Laughs Comedy Spot welcomes comedian Emo Philips on Sept. 11 and 12 at the club, located at 12099 124th Ave. N.E., Kirkland.
Philips started his stand-up career five thousand shows ago in the comedy clubs of Chicago. His big break came in 1984 with an appearance on “Late Night with David Letterman.” In quick succession came an award-winning comedy album on the Epic label E=MO Squared, a half-hour “Cinemax Comedy Experiment,” and a one-hour HBO special, “Emo Philips Live at the Hasty Pudding Theatre.” Around this same time Emo started making annual trips to the UK and became just as big a star there by appearing on the “Bob Monkhouse Show,” “Friday Live,” and “Saturday Live.” In 1989 he was the undisputed hit of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, quickly selling out over a dozen shows at a 600-seat venue and leaving the promoter scrambling to add more. This led to a two-week run at a West End theater, a UK tour, a Channel Four Special, and a series of television advertisements for Sony.
Emo guest-starred on an episode of “Miami Vice,” playing a crooked game show contestant in cahoots with Phil Collins. He also had a memorable film cameo as the shop teacher who demonstrated table-saw safety to Weird Al Yankovic in the cult-classic “UHF.” Jay Leno has called Emo the best joke writer in America. In a comedy survey commissioned by GQ Magazine, three of Emo’s jokes were judged, by a panel of his peers, to be among the best seventy-five of all time — and one of those three was recently voted, in a British poll, to be the funniest joke about religion ever. In the world of animated television, Emo voiced “Shannon the Bully” on “Home Movies,” and has appeared as himself on “Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist.” He is especially thrilled, however, to be the voice of “Dooper,” a regularly- occurring character in the upcoming series “Slacker Cats,” not only because of the disturbingly strong connection he feels to the crazy, homeless feline, but also because of the extra creative freedom one can only achieve by changing species.
Showtimes are 8 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. and tickets are $20. For information, contact www.laughscomedy.com or 425-823-6306.
