COURTESY OF HAWAIIAN HUT
Get ready to laugh with local comedian Jaz Kaner
Isle-born comedian
Jaz Kaner really thinks
jazz music is cool
Would you believe that comedian Jaz Kaner likes jazz music? Not "Jaz's music" -- although he is also a musician -- but serious jazz. Really.
'Make Me Laugh'
With Bu La'ia, Mel Cabang, Da Bruddahs, Bo Irvine and Jaz KanerWhere: Hawaiian Hut, Ala Moana Hotel, 410 Atkinson Drive
When: 9 p.m. tomorrow
Tickets: $15 advance and $20 at the door; available at all Tower Records and Video locations, and Hungry Ears Kailua
Call: 398-4143
"I'm kind of a jazz fan, which is really embarrassing now when I go to jazz clubs -- 'Hi, what's your name?' 'Jaz.' -- but I'm really into the music," the Hawaii-born comedian explained by long distance phone last week, helping promote tomorrow's "Make Me Laugh" comic fest at the Hawaiian Hut. His current interest in jazz has nothing in common whatsoever with his original limited-edition album, "The Warped Humor of Jaz Kaner," that he "produced" some 20-odd years ago by pasting Ripple Records labels on discarded radio station promo albums and then sticking them in an oven. (Kaner eventually commemorated the successful "sales" of the album by awarding himself a gold record -- created by using a can of spray paint.)
Kaner has included musical bits in his stand-up act for years, but confesses to have mixed feelings about the concept.
"I'm not particularly attracted to musical comedy the way that it's being done, the way some guys do it, but I've got a couple of pieces in my act that I really like. I'm working on funny music -- not funny lyrics, but actual wacky, weird, funny music that can be understood internationally. I think there's something there.
"(It's) the kind of stuff you'd play for warm-up before the show, and the audience is not listening until they hear something (out of the ordinary). Victor Borge was a good example of funny music (and) I think (Frank) Zappa took it to an extreme."
COURTESY OF HAWAIIAN HUT
Mel Cabang
His kids (there are currently three little jaz-ers) almost caused our interview to fall through. Kaner, who describes his family role as " 'Mr. Mom' around here." That is, when he's not on tour, he's watching the kids at home.
"It's spring vacation," he said, "but it's no vacation for me. They've been running crazy. How do you do an interview with people yelling in the background?"
Most of the kids had been "farmed out" that day when he called, although the background scream of a child could occasionally be heard. Kaner explained that although he sometimes feels "off the radar" in terms of the L.A. comedy club scene, his home duties are giving him plenty of material.
"It's given me a great idea for a sitcom about a guy, mid-life crisis, jazz musician, taking time to raise his kid and wants them to play music and be like him, and they want to be accountants and attorneys, and he's kind of a hip dad. I'm still ironing it out, but I'll call it 'Jazz Daddy,' and if it shows up somewhere on the next fall TV schedule, we'll know where it started."
COURTESY OF HAWAIIAN HUT
Also on the bill are those two funny guys "Da Bruddahs"
HAWAII-BORN, and a proud graduate of Roosevelt High School, Kaner has been living in Long Beach, Calif., since 1994. He moved back to Hawaii in 1993 after spending years on the mainland, but found after a year or so that it simply didn't make sense to raise a family in Hawaii and work on the mainland. It wasn't typical, he admits, but for one well-paid engagement he flew from Honolulu to Bangor, Maine and back.
"Honolulu was always a nice place to come back to, but there was always that (economic) cloud hanging over my head the whole time, so we moved to Long Beach because my wife wanted to finish college at Cal State-Long Beach, which she did ... it's allowed me to do a little of writing and venture into other things, and do stand-up at the same time without out having to take every little gig to support the family."
But the SoCal surf just doesn't compare with Hawaii's waves ("It sucks") and that makes a working week in Hawaii something to look forward to. Not only will Kaner join Da Bruddahs, Bu La'ia, Mel Cabang and Bo Irvine for the "Make Me Laugh" comedy concert tomorrow, he will also play solo dates on the Big Island and Kauai next week.
COURTESY OF HAWAIIAN HUT
Bo Irvine.
"I look for any excuse to get back home," he says.
"The theme of my life, if there is one, is just that sense of play. Jazz music is all ad-lib, it's ß, that's why the surfing thing. I'm a 47-year-old guy going on 9, and I know I'm going to be an overnight success any year now."
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