This appears in today's paper in Hendersonville. We are soooo excited about this event!
Published Friday, June 13, 2008
Comedy writer Gary Poole still making people laugh
By Lindsay Lancaster
Times-News Staff Writer
What began as a way to attract girls became a career and a way of life for comedy writer Gary Poole.
He's
written for comic books such as "The Munsters," "Flash Gordon" and "The
Twilight Zone" and has penned numerous books, including one of the
Hardy Boys mysteries.
"By age 10, I realized I could make people
laugh - and I realized girls liked that," Poole says with a chuckle.
"My motivation was getting girls, I guess, and that started my whole
career."
Now 76, Poole is still making people laugh and he doesn't intend to stop any time soon.
Being a comedian is just one of those jobs you can't retire from, he says.
"It defines who I am."
Poole
will be signing copies of his books at 2 p.m. Saturday at a Sense of
Humor comedy boutique in Asheville. One of the books he'll be signing
"Life is too Important to be Taken Seriously" (1992).
"It's a collection of some of my poems," Poole says. Some are thought-provoking, some are serious and some are funny.
Poole will also be autographing his book "Laugh Yourself Well" (1999).
The Gaffney, S.C., native, who lived in New York City for 30
years, now resides in Spartanburg, S.C. And now Poole has come full
circle and he's working in radio - the way he got his start in comedy.
"I'm on the radio in Spartanburg at 103.3 FM with Bill Drake," Poole says. The show is called "Awake with Drake."
"We do take-offs on old-time radio programs, we do soap operas, the Lone Ranger, crazy interviews," he says.
Poole
got his start in comedy writing and illustrating a comic strip for his
high school newspaper, "The Indian Post." Poole also had a show called
"The Gary Poole Show" on his local radio station WFGN-AM for 15 minutes
three days a week.
"I loved it - I learned how to write from
doing this," Poole says. "I learned how to write scripts by taking
notes while listening to shows like Jack Benny, Bob Hope, Burns &
Allen, Red Skelton, etc."
Copying down the jokes he heard in a spiral notebook was a way of studying.
"I
would learn the structure of jokes and learn how to switch jokes
around, change the punchlines, make different jokes out of the same
premise. I did all the characters, I did all the voices."
Poole developed a talent for imitating voices as a child.
"I
would watch something on TV and I would try to imitate it," he says.
Poole does some mean impressions - from Jimmy Stewart to Bugs Bunny and
other Warner Bros. cartoon characters.
When Poole was working his first gig on the radio, he went all out to impress his audience.
"I even did sound effects," Poole says.
He recalls carrying in a box of his mother's plates, pots and pans to the radio station for sound effects.
At
17, Poole moved to New York City to study at the American Academy of
Dramatic Arts. He appeared in many commercials, plays and television
productions.
His first big gig was working for Network Television Preview Theater.
"I
was testing pilot films in front of an audience," he says. "Then I got
involved with writing a comic strip, and from that, my agent sent me to
Gold Key Comics."
At Gold Key Comics, Poole wrote for everything
they published, including for "The Munsters" comic book and all the
Warner Bros. characters. Then he began working on Gold Key Comics'
Golden Magazine aimed at 10-to 12-year-olds.
"I started as
feature editor, and within a year, they made me editor-in-chief," Poole
says. "Every month, it was like putting together my own show."
His
first book was "TV Comedians," about comedians like Robin Williams and
John Belushi. He later wrote "The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again,"
based on a screen play that starred Don Knotts and Tim Conway.
About two years ago, Poole was going through his mother's attic when he stumbled upon something special.
"I found those 11 spiral notebooks that I had written in pencil
of all the jokes from the radio shows," Poole says. "This is a treasure
I have here - this is a history of that time in comedy."
Poole
contacted McFarland Publishing and told the company about an idea he
had of a book featuring all of the jokes. McFarland Publishing loved
the idea, and the book is available now: "Radio Comedy Diary."
Writing comedy and being funny still comes naturally for Poole, as it always has.
"I
enjoy it - it's fun for me," Poole says. "I found that I had a talent
for it. And I just made up my mind at a very young age (that's what I
wanted to do)."
Coming up with material isn't difficult for Poole because he's got a comic-eye, as he calls it.
"You
have a mindset that just finds comedy in everything," he says. "I'm
constantly turning things around and seeing the humor in them. ... It's
the way my mind works now - I can't turn it off."
Some of his other books include the Hardy Boys book "The Sky Blue Frame," a biography about Mary Lou Retton,
One
of Poole's current projects is a book he will title "The Comedy
Writer's Notebook," which will be about the thought processes that go
into writing comedy.
But what it really all comes down to for Poole is having fun.
"I enjoy making people laugh," Poole says. "It's been a crazy career. ... I'm not done yet."
A Sense of Humor is located at 84 W. Walnut St., Asheville. For more information, call 225-5666.
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