Squeaky’s offers laughs, no bad words
Squeaky’s might be all about clean comedy shows, but it still has its share of adult humor.
Even when the joke teller is under the age of 18.
Colton Sullivan is going to be a senior at North Central High School in the fall, but his jokes aren’t all kids’ stuff.
And even though he doesn’t use foul language, he has to be careful about offending his audience.
“I make jokes about everything from the economy and the recession to electric lawn mowers and hobos,” says Sullivan, whose impressions of John F. Kennedy, John Lennon and George W. Bush helped him win the ASB presidency at North Central.
“I try to keep it pretty universal. Most of the people in my audience are well into their 40s, there are not as many high school students at a lot of these shows. But I still make jokes about teenagers and my peer group, too.”
Sullivan is one of the featured comedians from the new Squeaky’s clean comedy group who will appear this weekend at Players & Spectators Casino, 12828 E. Sprague Ave. in Spokane Valley.
Also performing are Megan Flaherty and Lance Paullin, who may be familiar to local music showgoers from his appearances during intermissions at Platform Booking shows and at various community events.
Sullivan, who wouldn’t even be allowed into the 21-and-older show as a customer, is the baby of the bunch that consists of college students and graduates as well as a security guard at Whitworth University.
After one of Squeaky’s organizers caught his act during an area high school theater festival he was invited to join the budding all-ages comedy show.
Sullivan’s parents introduced him to comedy at a young age, starting with Marx Brothers movies around age 6. Among his influences are Jon Stewart, Jerry Seinfeld and George Carlin.
“It’s been an amazing experience to work with all sorts of different local comedians and performing at casinos and everything,” Sullivan says. “And it works out that it’s a clean show since I’m still in high school.
“The audience is very varied,” he adds. “I get everything, the teenage demographic, atheists, 30-year-old Tea Party members, Sarah Palin followers … and so I have to write with everyone in mind.
“That’s why I write my jokes without blatantly antagonizing a group of people. The point is to tell your jokes without making enemies, or to make fun of people without turning them against me.
“And that’s where the clean comes in,” Sullivan says. “As long as you don’t swear, anything goes.”
Folk eclectic
It’s not exactly the Monsters of Folk, but Platform Booking is bringing a show to Mootsy’s tonight that stretches the definition of folk music almost beyond recognition.
Headlining is New York transplant Leif Mulch, a punk-folk artist and self-proclaimed “interstellar storyteller” whom the New York Press called an “odd, quirky genius.”
Mulch got his start in music at church choir when he was a kid, and discovered rock music while attending high school in Taiwan. As an adult, he wandered all over New York, playing house parties, farmers markets and bars.
His songs are sometimes simple and sparse, other times incorporating loops, drum tracks and avant-garde art noise.
Also appearing is Jon Crocker, hailing from Alaska. Crocker self-recorded, mixed and mastered his latest self-titled album in his bedroom last winter while overlooking the frozen Bering Sea.
On the record, Crocker plays guitar, banjo, mandolin, piano, organ, bass, harmonica, accordion, psaltery, hand percussion from found objects including a Rubbermaid tote, a skillet, bells, wooden sticks, and a desk. He is also accompanied by a trumpeter friend on select songs.
Oh, and Crocker also plays a banjolele, which is a hybrid of a banjo and a ukulele.
The bill is supported by local acoustic rogue Matthew Winters and newish psych-folk band HORSES, tonight at 10 at Mootsy’s, 406 W. Sprague Ave. Cover is $5 (21 and older only).