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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

New York comic Mike Cannon travels from the Borscht Belt to Spokane

Two comics getting married on a Monday in the Catskills sounds like a joke, but that’s what standup Mike Cannon experienced to start the week. There must be a heck of a discount for a wedding on the first day of the workweek.

“You know it,” Cannon said while calling hours before the nuptials between Robby Slowik and Casey Balsham commenced in the mountains of New York. “It feels appropriate since Jackie Mason died over the weekend.”

The Borscht Belt comic passed away, but Cannon will keep the jokes coming Friday and Saturday at the Spokane Comedy Club.

It’s apt that Cannon attended a wedding since much of his material is about his wife and their 2-year-old, Cru. Their son is named after the protagonist of the film “Rad,” a BMX cult classic, which stars Lori Loughlin. That’s no joke.

“It’s worth seeing the movie just for the biker scenes where there is clearly a dude in a wig as Loughlin’s stunt double,” Cannon said.

Cannon’s humor is delivered in real time. “My comedy is of the moment,” Cannon said. “My son is 2, and he’s becoming a real human being. I’ll talk about him and how my wife, son and I left Brooklyn during the pandemic to live with her parents (in suburban New York). I’ll talk about that experience.”

Even though Cannon is 36, he and his wife have been a couple for over a quarter century. “We started dating kind of when we were 10 years old,” Cannon said. “We dated in high school and in college, and somehow we’re still together. She knows me as well as anyone going back to childhood.”

Cannon’s formative years inspire some of his bits. “I had an angsty childhood,” Cannon said. “I grew up the middle child between a pair of musical prodigies. My sisters are voice actresses. My older sister is a voice actress who does video games and cartoons. My younger sister does narration. They both have perfect pitch and can mimic anything.”

So what happened to Cannon? “I was the disruptive athlete who broke chairs while doing pratfalls around the house,” Cannon said. “I was a nightmare. I was different than my sisters.”

The common denominator among the Cannons is that each works in the arts. “It’s a great thing for all of us,” Cannon said. “We all do what we love to do, which is great. Right now I’m having so much fun talking about all of the things in my life, particularly my son, who is evolving.

“It’s fascinating. Parents can relate with what I’m talking about if they have a child or looking back at what their children were like.”