LEXINGTON, KY - By and by, hard times have come a-knocking on the doors of many old Kentucky homes. A few brave souls are answering that knock-knock with a joke.
So who's there? It is the Hard Times Comedy Tour, a group of Central Kentucky comics who have made it their mission to provide good times during tough times. The tour has multiple shows in Lexington and some in surrounding Kentucky towns, plus a side-trip to Indiana. The next stop on the tour is Thursday at Mia's in Lexington.
"Hard Times just means something cheap and affordable," comedian Rays Mills said.
At a $5 or $6 a per person cover charge, the comics aren't going to get rich off of their share of the box office. But Mills, Darrin Hensley, Audra Meighan, Matt Linville and Mike Thompson also are trying to further their comic careers. With four of the five not having a day job, that's important.
"The national unemployment rate might 10 percent, but for Hard Times, it's 80 percent," Hensley said.
Before Saturday's show at the Thoroughbred Theatre in Midway, the comics jabbed Mike Thompson, employed in his family's catering business, about driving a Lexus. "But it's a '97 Lexus with 160,000 miles on it."
Before doing Hard Times, the comics got know each other as opening acts at Comedy Off Broadway in Lexington and at other clubs. They mostly book and promote the gigs themselves and divide the stage time evenly.
"It's such a hippie little thing," Hensley said. "Everybody gets a chance to open (the show) and close."
The tour also gives them a chance to do more material and take the stage more often than they had been performing.
"It's been my first time to do an extended set," Thompson said before the Midway show, which was the third stop on the tour.
While there are naturally some jokes about the economy (Linville relates that he has learned that "women like dudes with, you know, jobs or whatever,") it is not really a theme for the shows, Hensley said.
"We were not wanting to hit people over the head with a theme," said Hensley.
The Kentucky comics take their shots at everybody, from UK basketball fans to Barbaro.
And Thompson jokes that if he doesn't make it as a comic, he'll "have to fall back on something more stable, like inventor."
Hard Times Comedy Tour
July 16, 8 p.m. Mia's, 127 North Limestone, 859-455-9903. Tickets, $5.
July 17, 8 p.m. Carnico Country Club, Carlisle, Ky, 127, 859-289-5400. Tickets, $5.
July 18, 7:30 and 10:15 p.m., Bear's Place, Bloomington, Ind., 812-339-3460. Tickets, TBA.
July 31, 9 p.m., Malabu Pub, 239 Surfside Drive, 859-278-9003. Tickets, $5.
Aug. 14, 8 p.m., O'Neill's Irish Pub, 2051 Richmond Road, 859-266-4488. Tickets, $5.
For more information, go to www.myspace.com/hardtimescomedy