YOU HAVE TO BE SMART TO BE FUNNY - THAT'S PETE BARBUTTI

 Watch out Pueblo, comedian Pete Barbutti’s on a roll and he loves to tease you.  

  Barbutti's in town for a Denver fundraiser called The Italian Open, benefitting Children's Hospital.  He donates his time to it every year, even though he doesn't golf. 

  When a woman in the audience says she’s from the Steel City, Barbutti pats the baby grand and says, “This here’s a piano.  You folks usually don’t see stuff this size without John Deere written on it."

  Pete Barbutti is the guy you remember making Johnny Carson laugh.  If you want a refresher, go to YouTube or click on  www.barbuti.com.    He appeared on the Carson show many times, and was a well-loved visitor to the shows of Jay Leno and David Letterman.

  But comedy is only half the act.  Barbutti is a well-respected pianist.  He'll be appearing in a jazz cruise that sails the Caribbean in November thejazzcruise.com.  In addition to the regular type of performance, he has the unusual ability to play the piano with his nose.  It looks painful but it's funny.

  Half Irish and half Italian, “Napolitan,” he says, his comic routine can cover everything from his heritage to the over-dramatic drummers magicians use.   

  We talked over coffee at the open and I asked if he still kept up a regular performance schedule.

  "There's not that much work out there," Barbutti replied.  "The supper club circuit has disappeared.  It used to be, every city would have two or three places where there would be a band, dancing, and a comic.  I’m most comfortable in night clubs. Comedy is best in a smaller venue. It belong in rooms where they can see you.  The laughter can reach you immediately."

  For a kid who grew up in Pennsylvania, he became quite a scientist on the subject of comedy.  Barbutti teaches a class on it.  There are rules that hold true, he says, no matter where you're playing.

  "That's why everybody likes Vegas," he observes, " because it's a wide variety of people.  Homogenous audiences are difficult for comedy." 

  Would he ever play Pueblo?  This question was too easy to resist another jab.

  "Pueblo's where elephants go to die.  I would love to play Pueblo."

  I vote we start a supper club.