By Nathan Alexander
If you are a fan of Louisville comedy, you’ve probably heard of Creig Ewing or attended one of the many shows he produces.
Creig works hard to showcase the pool of talent in Louisville, Nashville, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Bloomington and beyond. Creig has brought standup comedy to venues all over the city and this Thursday, he will be headlining Laughs at Mellwood, a brand new, monthly standup comedy showcase at The Mellwood Tavern.
He will be joined by local favorites Ehrin Dowdle, Bonita Elery, and Alex Grove. Seating is limited so get your tickets here!
Creig was kind enough to answer some questions. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Louisville Laughs: When did you start comedy and why?
Creig Ewing: I’ve been doing it about 6 years. I started comedy when I was in my 50s. I always wanted to do it, but was told it was hard so I put it off. I was an English major in college and I wanted to write comedy papers, but I was discouraged by professors.
I had some friends who did standup, but I never had the guts. Then I just decided, “Hey I’m gonna try it. I’m gonna write things out and see if it works.”
Louisville Laughs: So at first you wanted to just write? Or was standup always the goal?
Creig Ewing: At first I wanted to write comedy, and I was the sports editor at The Courier Journal and we had this page where we’d have smaller fun items, so I’d throw some funny things in there about UofL or UK without being too mean. I thought, ‘Well if I can do this, I can figure out standup. No one has cancelled their newspaper subscription because of my stupid jokes so far.’
Then I started posting my own humor on Facebook and Twitter and people encouraged me to take the stage and try standup.
Louisville Laughs: When did you start Louisville Laughs? What made you want to start producing your own shows?
Creig Ewing: I started it after about one year doing standup I put on a show at a Holiday Inn, and it didn’t seem too hard. It was harder than it looked. The first show I actually said the wrong name for the very first comic.
After that I joined Tim Northern and others to put on a festival here, and we started the company Louisville Is Funny. Unfortunately, it didn’t survive COVID so after bars and clubs started opening back up, I decided to start Louisville Laughs on my own.
Louisville Laughs: How have your comedy goals evolved since you started?
Creig Ewing: When I started, I just wanted to get three laughs in my first five minute set. Then I wanted to be able to host, then feature, and now the goal is to headline. I’m really doing more producing and booking shows than I am focusing on my being on stage.
I’ve kind of unintentionally made that shift. With the shows I put on, I try to give people a shot that are newer, or in between hosting and featuring, or in between featuring and headlining and give them a chance to develop so they can get more opportunities.
Louisville Laughs: You’re clearly one of the hardest workers in Louisville comedy. You throw these shows to help young comics develop, but comics can be very annoying. My question is why do you work so hard to help these terrible people?
Creig Ewing: You must be reading my posts. I like helping them and I see myself in a lot of them. I didn’t know anything when I started, and I thought I was George Carlin, but you get humbled quickly. People just need to learn, so I want to give them the opportunity to do so.
What’s frustrating to me is I think confidence on stage is the main thing that a comic needs, and you see people who are really funny, but you wish they could be more confident. Then you see other people on stage and think, “Why is this person so confident? They’re not funny!”
Louisville Laughs: Who are some of the people that helped you out when you were getting started?
Creig Ewing: Tim Northern let me help out running festivals and things. Eric Kimbrough closed out the first show I was on, and he does things so differently than I would so he’s a great source to see what he does because comedy isn’t just one thing.
Melissa Doran used to be here in town and I really love her attitude. She’s got a certain Jersey spirit that’s really fun to watch on stage. And I’ve worked a lot with Mandee McKelvey. She’ll sometimes reach out to connect other comics with me and I always take her suggestions seriously.
Keith McGill and I now do classes together, and he is great help to comics. I still use several of the suggestions he had for my jokes. If Keith is at a show, ask him before you go up for feedback and he’ll give it to you.
Louisville Laughs: Is there a joke you wish you had written?
Creig Ewing: For me, it’s less about the writing, but there are some people who’s confidence and attitude I really admire. I’ve seen Keith McGill come on when the crowd is just not receptive and do great. I wish I had his ability to just get a crowd totally on your side.
Louisville Laughs: Do your friends and family find you funny or do you save it for the stage?
Creig Ewing: That was the criteria that made me decide I could give standup a try, when I could finally make them laugh. Because for 50 years they did not laugh. So at first I would work things past them, but now I make them laugh all the time.
Louisville Laughs: What’s a piece of advice that made a difference in your comedy career?
Creig Ewing: Just getting up there and doing it. I think that you see people who get good quickly, and they’re the people who are constantly on stage. There are good joke writers who maybe only get on stage once per month and they develop more slowly. Constantly edit, edit, edit your jokes. Don’t use words that don’t serve the joke and always work to make a joke better.
Louisville Laughs: What keeps you excited about comedy in Louisville?
Creig Ewing: I think we have a really strong scene. We have all different types of comics and it’s amazing to me that we have four comedy clubs for a city this size. We have The Caravan Comedy Club, Planet of the Tapes, Louisville Comedy Club, and Laugh Louisville.
Louisville Laughs: We also have comedy coming back to The Mellwood Tavern! Thursday, January 25th get your tickets here! Have you done standup at The Mellwood Tavern before?
Creig Ewing: Yes, we used to have a great open mic at The Mellwood Tavern. They have a terrific setup in the downstairs area for shows. We’d actually routinely get told to quiet down because the upstairs used to be apartments. Now they’ve renovated the space and it’s called the Rendezvous Room with it’s own bar and it looks like a great place for a show.
Louisville Laughs: What is your goal with a Creig Ewing show? What do you want the audience to take away from the Creig Ewing experience?
Creig Ewing: I want them to think, “Dang, that Creig sure is funny. And he had a new joke! I wasn’t expecting that.”
I want people to see that we put together a good lineup of funny and diverse comics. Not just the same people you’d see somewhere else in town. I take pride in having lineup of diverse funny people from all over and comics that they might not have seen before.
Get your tickets before it’s too late. Doors open at 6pm so come get some friend chicken and a drink and be ready to have a good time!
You can find Creig on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram!
Follow Louisville Laughs at their website, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for all information on upcoming comedy shows in the city!
Follow Laughs at Mellwood for all the info on this exciting, new monthly showcase!