By Tom Godfrey

Jeff Landry is one the unsung heroes of our Worcester scene. He does not play in a tribute band, and he does not scream into a microphone to be drowned out by over-distorted guitars. His place is alone, in front of a crowd; just him and a microphone.

“The only creative force and ego to deal with is my own,” Landry chuckles. Jeff is a comedian and his job is to make us laugh. Jeff is damn good at his job.

Landry’s comedy varies as to what comes into his “comedic crosshairs.” “Sometimes it’s topical,” he says, “but sometimes it’s autobiographical. It comes from people-watching, the news, or hearing somebody say something.” Watch your mouth if Jeff Landry is around. He adds that the current state of things is a big bag of comedy freebies. “It’s hard not to find something to laugh about when Rome is burning.”

Landry counts such comedic geniuses as George Carlin, Christopher Titus, Bill Hicks and Jon Katz as his influences.

“Rodney Dangerfield is great too!” Landry says.

Landry has a handful of comedy notebooks that he says are intermingled with Astronomy and American History notes ~ a reminder that life exists outside of art. Landry is a substitute teacher in the Worcester school system. When asked if the two professions have any similarities, he doesn’t take more than a second to answer: “Hecklers,” he says, “definitely hecklers.”

While Landry says that Worcester is very open to comedy, he has had some rough nights. Most memorable moment? When he pointed his mic to a drunk in his periphery, only to have the man take the mic, get on stage and start spouting gibberish. The man then told Jeff that his delivery was too dry. The man then asked the crowd, “Am I right?”

“The audience was full of this awkward, silent tension,” laughs Landry.

Landry adds that performing at a club not focused on comedy can be daunting.

“There is a lot of competition for attention,” he says. “If the game is on everybody is watching that. Keno is a big distraction too. Also, people sometimes think that I have built my routine to get in the way of their conversations.”

The first time Landry performed was in September of 2004. He and a friend from Framingham State College made the trek to the Emerald Isle in Dorchester.

“About midway through my set I jumped the shark,” he remembers. “Once you start bombing you are really just digging a bigger hole to try and get out of. The first few times you perform you really don’t know what the hell is going on.”

Landry stuck with it though. He has been a fixture at the area’s comedy open mics ever since. He regularly performs at 3 G’s Sports Bar and Mahoney’s. He has a few hosting gigs under his belt at both 3 G’s and the now-in-hiatus Tammany Hall comedy open mic.

“I had some new material so I was going to go to comedy night at Benders,” says Landry as he takes a sip of his draft, “but there isn’t a comedy night there anymore. There isn’t a bar there anymore either!”

Check out www.dailycomedy.com/u/jlandry and www.facebook.com/people/Jeff-Landry/581676789 for more on Jeff…