Today we’d like to introduce you to Jeff Scott.
Thanks for sharing your story with us, Jeff. So, let’s start at the beginning, and we can move on from there.
I was born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1961. As a child, my parents indulged me in the things I liked most (puppets, magic tricks, marionette’s and monster movies). Using a few old clip-on lights and an old curtain, my Dad built me a little stage in our basement, for all my shows. When I was 13, my parents took me to see Vincent Price starring, as Fagan, in the musical “Oliver.” During the song “Reviewing The Situation,” Vincent mugged and hammed it up, much to the delight of the audience. Though I didn’t know what the term “mugging” meant, I was struck how this one single man on stage was able to get an entire audience of strangers, to laugh at what he was doing. I tapped my mother on the shoulder, pointing to the stage and whispered in her ear: “That’s what I want to do!” My fate was sealed.
My parents had already enrolled me in an after-school children’s theater program (which I attended from 3rd thru 6th grade). And after I graduated High School, I got a job teaching for that very same kid’s theater program. It was there that I meet my mentor, Michael Libassi (a local theater director). I then did a series of musicals with him, as a performer and his dance captain. At the same time, while my friends had their first jobs working at some boring store, I started performing mime. Mime was very big, especially in advertising, back then.
I got an agent and started to book many TV and print commercials. Eventually, I was doing so much, The Cleveland Plain Dealer did a story on me, calling me “Cleveland’s best-known mime” (haha).
At my mentors urging, I moved to Provincetown MA., in 1985, to further my performing career. I got a job playing ragtime piano for the tourists at a local hotel. One club had an open mic show, which I started performing regularly. There I met a guy doing a two week run of his drag show and was hired to be his pianist. During his costume changes, I’d perform at the piano, doing silly characters (like Wayland Flowers puppet Madame – an old Halloween costume I’d brought with me). His friends at the show told him they thought I looked like Pee-wee Herman. He helped me get a little gray suit, and we watched every TV appearance Pee-wee would make (this was way before the real Pee-wees TV show or the movies)…eventually adding a pee-wee impersonation to my list of characters.
From 1988-89, I was hired as a mime at Sea World of Ohio. A local morning TV show always did a live summer broadcast from Sea World every year. They had wanted to do a story on my Pee-wee impersonating, and when they found out I was also performing at the park, they had me on the live show, as Pee-wee. Directly after the show, the president of the park called me into his office and offered me a second job (hosting, as Pee-wee, the new, twice nightly laser and fireworks show). Two shows a night, seven nights a week. During the winter, when the Ohio park is closed, they sent me to perform in a show called “City Streets,” at the Sea World in San Diego, CA.
Somehow a look-alike agency in Los Angeles found out about me and contacted me to audition as the body double for a photoshoot. It was to model, as Pee-wee, for a dozen concept posters (for his upcoming second movie). I booked it, shot a bunch of posters as Pee-wee, finished my Winter in San Diego, and headed back to Ohio. Then I got a call from that LA. Agency saying the studio wanted to fly me out to shoot the final poster (“Big Top Pee-wee). Wow, I’m going to be on a poster. Obviously, they photoshopped the real Pee-wees face over mine, but neck down, including the suit, is all me! Fun Fact: I have a big scar on my left thumb, which is visible on the poster (photoshop guy didn’t catch that).
After my contract ended at the Ohio Sea World, instead of taking the show producer job they offered me, I moved to Los Angeles, CA., in the Fall of 1989. I did a series of odd performing jobs, including a three year run with The Hilarions (a sketch comedy troupe) at Theatre/Theater, in Hollywood. That was where I met my writing partner, Bill Fagan. Bill and I formed Mayday Productions, and for several years, wrote, and produced six of our original book musicals.
December 9, 1995, I started a new chapter in my career, when I was hired as one of the pianists at The World Famous Comedy Store. My first year at The Store was legendary comic Richard Pryor’s last year performing in public. Twenty-three years later, I’m the main pianist, and the unofficial archivist (on the history of our club). The Comedy Store’s original building was built in 1935, as Club Seville. In 1938 Bugsy Segal and his business partner Billy Wilkerson (owner of The Hollywood Reporter), bought the club, gave it a million-dollar remodel and size increase, and opened it as Ciro’s Night Club, New Year’s Eve, 1939. Surprisingly, after all these years, The Comedy Store’s main room looks remarkably like it did during the Ciro’s days (it’s just all painted black now).
The role of luck?
Lucky for me, my career got a quick advance, because my Dad worked in the PR department at American Greetings Card Company. An artist noticed a mime photo of me in my Dad’s office, which led to being hired to model for several greeting cards, a poster, and a calendar (sold worldwide in their stores).
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
In 1986, I was diagnosed HIV+ and coldly told: “You have two years to live. Here’s a pamphlet with some information. Good luck.” SHIT! I hadn’t even come out of the closet yet, and now my life is over?
I think, because of my new diagnosis, and the limited time I thought had left, is why I moved to LA., instead of staying in Ohio. Truthfully, I was driven to see how much performing I could do before I died. And, I’d already fallen in love with Southern California, so that’s where I moved. Because of the states overall size, and large gay community, I actually ended up with better health care. In 1994 I started taking HIV medications. In fact, I still take around 20 pills a day (the one pill a day routine didn’t work for me). I’m so fortunate to work at a place where I can be out and proud and open about my illness. And I always get the best medicine at work: LAUGHTER!
Please tell us about The World Famous Comedy Store.
The World Famous Comedy Store, on historic Sunset Strip, is the premiere stand-up comedy club. Unlike most comedy clubs, we have three showrooms. The Original Room, where I play piano, is a continuous show of comics, each performing 15-minute sets, and seats about 150 people. Our famed main room, also a continuous line-up, can seat almost 400. And upstairs, is the intimate Belly room, which seats about 70 people, we feature many different types of shows every night (like Comedy Central’s Roast Battle on Tuesday nights).
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
I was a hyperactive little kid, who’s imagination couldn’t be contained. My parents would go out shopping, never knowing what they’d come home to. Sometimes I had all the neighborhood kids sitting in the backyard, where I was attempting to do a magic show. Or, I’d turned the garage into a haunted house (in July). I remember sitting at a four-way stop, just down the street from our home, holding a sign for drivers to read (which said): “If you’re reading this sign, you’re not watching the road. Think about it!”
Contact Info:
- Address: The Comedy Store, 8433 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
- Website: www.jeffscottentertainer.com
- Phone: (323) 650-6268 The Comedy Store
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: jeffscottentertainer
- Facebook: https://www.
facebook.com/ jeffscottentertainer, https://www.facebook.com/ComedyStoreArchives/ AND https://www.facebook.com/Ciros-Nightclub-on-Historic-Sunset-Strip-137518503007422/ - Twitter: @jeffscott101
- Other: www.thecomedystore.com
Suggest a story: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
