Brooks Wheelan grew up in Iowa, but by no stretch of the imagination could he be mistaken for a hick -- which becomes immediately apparent when he confesses that he recently gave up smoking pot because he was tired of trying to locate his cell phone while he was talking on it.  Or when he explains that during winter lots of young dudes from Dubuque pee their names into the snow...but not Brooks; he pees women's names so that passers-by will think, "How-Did-She-Do-That?!!!"

I had never heard of Brooks Wheelan before he submitted a short video of his stand-up routine for showbizzle.com's first Comedy Search, which guaranteed that one comedian would be selected as the opening act for our third "Last Call with Jonny Loquasto" comedy show at the Hollywood Improv.  But Brooks is no novice.  He plays clubs in Irvine, Pasadena, and Culver City -- but our show on Saturday, June 19th was his first time doing stand-up in the Main Room at the Hollywood Improv.  He wasn't nervous; what he was was funny...and he set a great vibe that lasted throughout the show.

Next up there was the wild Lizzy Cooperman, who pounded her electric organ in the mock melodrama that is "her life" as she shifted from rant to rant, followed by Dov Davidoff ("Comedy Central Presents";"The Tonight Show with Jay Leno"; "Chelsea Lately"), John Caparulo ("Chelsea Lately"; Vince Vaughn's Wild West Comedy Show; Comedy Central special), and Bryan Callen ("MadTV"; "Entourage"; "E! Bank of Hollywood") -- total pros who came out on a Saturday night to work on new material.  This is what our favorite stud/host Jonny Loquasto envisioned when he began putting together the elements for a late-night comedy show based in Hollywood.

Jonny also saw our "Last Call" shows as a platform to introduce people to working comics who are on the cusp of going large, and we featured two of those guys on the bill: Eric Griffin and Brent Weinbach.  I've seen both guys perform at the Comedy Regimen -- I felt good that Griffin's newer stuff brought waves of laughter, and was duly impressed by the consistency of Weinbach's sets both nights.  Not to mention that his portrayal of a profane Russian tough guy ordering someone to "get the fuck out of his house" using every letter in the alphabet is side-splitting...and timeless.

Speaking of timeless, showbizzle.com is presenting our next "Last Call with Jonny Loquasto" at the Hollywood Improv on Saturday, August 14th at 11:30 PM, and are again holding a Comic Search to find the next funnyperson to open the show.  Brooks has set the bar high -- and we like it like that.

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