A heavy hitter in the field of comedy, Dan St. Paul hopes to hit a home run and score lots of laughs every night while playing at Wiley’s on March 31 through April 2. Throughout his lengthy career in stand-up, St. Paul has maintained an impressive average of entertaining audience members.
A baseball enthusiast St. Paul is a season ticket holder of his hometown San Francisco Giants. He follows the sport closely and is best known for his routine of “The First Baseball Game.” In the voice of the late Cubs announcer Harry Caray, he calls the action between two teams of biblical figures. “Moses is already gaining a reputation for that lightening fast pick-off move, reminding runners that though shalt not steal,” says St. Paul in the bit.
The idea came from the thought of all the similarities that exist between baseball and religion. Also included is Abraham, who is expected to be asked to sacrifice, and a rain delay of 40 days and 40 nights. “The First Baseball Game,” is one of the top five most requested bits on the ‘Bob & Tom Show,’ on which St. Paul is a frequent guest.
In addition, St. Paul also performs a ‘Heaven vs. Hell baseball game,’ and ‘Fox News Baseball.’ The skits allows him the opportunity to act as a baseball announcer, a position that he holds a special respect for. “I know what it’s like to have to be saying something all the time. It’s a slow game, which has led the announcers to perfect the art of saying the same things over and over in different ways to sound like you have never heard it before,” said St. Paul.
Before becoming a comedian, St. Paul earned a pair of degree’s. Of Italian descent, he got his Bachelors in Italian from UC Berkley. “People ask me, why I majored in something I already knew? I didn’t want my education to get in the way of my college experience,“ St. Paul laughed.
He went on to obtain his Masters in Special Education from San Francisco State. St. Paul taught for two years and though he enjoyed it, he felt the need to fulfill a bigger purpose in life, which was revealed to him while attending a Shakespearian Play Festival. “I knew then that I needed to be on stage.”
On center stage, doing stand-up, St. Paul acts as both the pitcher and batter, leaving the audience to be the umpire. He aims to keep the strikeouts at a bare minimum “I like the energy and the immediate gratification of knowing if something works, or if it doesn’t. I also like having control over the content and not having to use someone’s words.”
However, it’s the roar of the crowd from delivering a game winning hit that St. Paul takes the most pleasure in. “I enjoy seeing people after the show that have laughed a lot and feel good. I like to make people feel good, maybe better than the medication they have been taking for the last few days,” he laughed.
A favorite place for St. Paul to play is Wiley’s, due to the crowd of people who are familiar with his work and are respectable of the acts. “Wiley’s has an audience that appreciates a good show and I know that I’m walking into a room of people that are there to see me.”
Don’t miss the comedic action of Dan St. Paul at Wiley’s Comedy Niteclub, March 31 – April 2. Thursday at 8 p.m. for $5, Friday at 9 p.m. for $10 and Saturday 8 p.m. & 10:30 p.m. for $12. Call (937) 224-JOKE for reservations. Visit www.DanStPaul.com for more information.
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