Jeff Blanchard pities balding men for popping hair-sprouters like Propecia. At tonight's
Mad Men of Comedy show with fellow yucksters Mark Reedy, Jason Dixon, and Quinn Patterson, he'll lampoon the drug's ability to cause impotence. "Now you gotta take another pill to get your dick hard, which can kill you because that can hit your heart. So you take a heart pill," says Blanchard. "You're better off just having an eight ball of coke. Girls will fuck you for that."Gutter humor comes easily for Blanchard, who's logged more than 30 years of work on TV, stage, and film. He's headlined comedy clubs from New York to Las Vegas and appeared in nearly a dozen TV ads for McDonald's, East Ohio Gas, and the Ohio Lottery. And in 1994, Blanchard founded the Something Dada improv troupe for fellow Northeast Ohio comics before he turned to stand-up comedy. "I had dabbled in it 15 years before. Then I came back to it, because I couldn't find any plays that I thought were interesting," says Blanchard. "I didn't think that theater was popping out anything cool." Today, Blanchard helps run the Cleveland Improv Institute, where students learn the art of ad-libbing scenes with other comics. He also maintains a steady schedule of gigs, including his ongoing Hearts of Darkness comedy series. "I don't give a shit what it is," says the 42-year-old Blanchard. "Put me onstage, give me that mic, and I'll talk." The men go mad at 8 tonight, 8 and 10:15 p.m. tomorrow and Saturday, and 7 p.m. Sunday at the Powerhouse, 2000 Sycamore Avenue on the West Bank of the Flats. Tickets are $10 to $15. Call 216-696-4677 or visit
www.clevelandimprov.com.
Jan. 2-6, 2008
