Dan's Papers - August 22, 2008 - Yuck it Up at Bay Street Comedy Series

The summer might nearly be over, but there are still plenty of laughs to be had at Bay Street Theatre in Sag Harbor throughout the next month.

Jamie Kennedy, writer, producer, actor and comedian, is one of the remaining featured performers scheduled for Bay Street's current comedy season. He'll be coming to Sag Harbor on August 31.

And fans of his off-kilter - and often very adult - humor won't be disappointed. You can expect him to perform some of his impressions and bizarre characters and to regale the things going on in his life. "Like, I've got this really hot cousin," he joked. "And when I look at her, I think, 'How retarded would our kids be?'"

As an indication of what you might expect at his upcoming show at Bay Street, countless times during a recent phone conversation with Kennedy he'd stop and say, "I guess you can't really print that in Dan's Papers." And you can tell he was smiling when he said it.

At his upcoming show, Kennedy will also be showing a clip of his movie Heckler, a documentary about heckling that will be released on DVD September 9. The documentary was an accidental project for Kennedy. While filming a stand-up special, Unwashed, for Comedy Central, he noticed some interesting heckles were caught on film. "They were pretty funny," he said. "They were funnier than the act."

From there, he decided to pursue the subject of heckling for a documentary, interviewing fellow comics such as Lewis Black, David Cross and Patton Oswalt. But he didn't stop there. He also interviewed sports stars, musicians and even George Lucas. "As I started doing it, I realized I had the makings of something pretty cool," he said. What started as a 12-minute short film that received good, critical responses at film festivals, such as the Aspen Comedy Festival and the Tribeca Film Festival, grew into a feature-length film. "It took three years of my life. It was a real passion project."

Growing up in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, Kennedy had a unique start in the entertainment business. He moved to Los Angeles to become a movie extra, thinking it would be easy to break into film and television that way. Of course, this notion was misguided, and he wound up taking on random jobs, such as waiting tables, telemarketing and working as a page.

Then, in an attempt to further his fledgling stand-up career, he invented one of his first characters - Marty Power. Power was an alter ego of sorts for Kennedy, who used the character to pose as his own agent when trying to book shows and gain the attention of real agents and managers. He eventually got his break in Baz Luhrmann's Romeo and Juliet and as Randy in the Scream movies. Prior to that, he had bit roles in various TV series, including "Married... with Children," "Unhappily Ever After" and "Ellen." ("You know, back when she still had boyfriends," Kennedy said.)

Over the years, Kennedy has become especially well known as a funny man who wears many different hats - actor, writer and even producer. His hit sketch comedy series on the WB "The Jamie Kennedy Experiment," which he produced, wrote and starred in, now enjoys a cult status. But he shouldn't be pigeonholed as solely a comedic actor. He's proven his chops in many other projects, such as Three Kings and Boiler Room. "People who really know me, know I can mix it up," Kennedy said. "In Scream, I was the funny guy. But that was still an edgier movie. Three Kings I thought was a very funny movie, but it was also dark and meaningful...Last year I was on 'Criminal Minds.' I played a psycho. People went on IMDB and wrote about 'what a creep Jamie is.' I guess that means I did a really good job."

Coming up, you can see Kennedy as a regular on "Ghost Whisperer" with Jennifer Love Hewitt this fall, and he's also signed up as producer of Northwood, an indie drama starring Nick Stahl.

Early on, Kennedy learned that in order to have more opportunities for himself as an actor, he needed to create the projects himself, which is why he started writing and producing. "It's funny, all these different things I do, mostly it's out of necessity and ADD," he said. He credits other funny men in show business - Adam Sandler, Ben Stiller, Tyler Perry, Woody Allen - as people he looks up to. "I read a lot about Woody Allen and he said, 'If I didn't make my own movies, you'd never know my name.'"

But, he's quick to add, "It's not easy. You have to prove yourself to people. And sometimes you win and sometimes you lose."

Also coming up at Bay Street is Judah Friedlander, Eddie Griffin, Jeffrey Ross, and Brian Posehn. For more information or to purchase tickets, go to www.baystreet.org or call 631-725-9500.